Microwave Sweet Potato

You can have it for lunch or dinner, as a side dish, as a main dish, and even as a healthy dessert with cinnamon and maple syrup.

Compared to oven-roasted sweet potatoes, which take about 40 minutes to cook whole, sweet potatoes only take a fraction of the time in a microwave oven.

And the best thing?

You can stuff microwave sweet potatoes with your favorite toppings, from black bean salad to couscous, from simple butter and sage to cinnamon and maple syrup.

Find the complete recipe with ingredients and instructions in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Sweet potatoes

We use orange sweet potatoes most of the time. However, you can also microwave purple or white sweet potatoes.

Black bean salad filling

We love stuffing our microwave sweet potato with a simple black bean salad filling that we toss in cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil. It’s fresh, nourishing and delicious.

For more fillings, check out the ”topping variations“ chapter below.

• Black beans
• Green bell pepper
• Corn
• Red onion
• Pickled red onion or jalapeños
• Avocado
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Cilantro
• Fresh lime juice
• Maple syrup
• Garlic & Ginger
• Salt

Wash the sweet potato with a brush under cold water to scrub the dirt away.

Dry it with a paper towel, then prick it with a fork several times.

This is important to allow the hot steam to escape and prevent the spuds from exploding in the microwave.

Arrange the sweet potato on a microwave-safe plate and microwave at max power for 5 minutes.

Slide a paring knife in the center of the potato to check for doneness.

The potato is cooked if the blade slides in easily through the center. If not, keep microwaving it in 1-minute intervals.

A medium sweet potato will cook in about 6 minutes, while larger potatoes will take longer.

You can microwave sweet potatoes whole.

Cooking more than one sweet potato at a time will extend the cooking time, almost doubling it, and the potatoes will cook unevenly, so we don’t recommend it.

When ready, slice the sweet potato in half with a knife and stuff it with your favorite topping.

Add black beans, diced green bell pepper, canned corn, chopped red onion, and diced avocado to a bowl.

Season with fresh cilantro and lime juice, maple syrup, grated garlic and ginger, and a pinch of salt.

Stuff the potato with the salad, top with sour cream, Greek yogurt, or vegan sour cream, and top with pickled red onions or jalapeños.

Mexican-Inspired Topping

Tasty and protein-rich Mexican-inspired topping with black bean quinoa salad, mashed avocado, and vegan sour cream.

Mediterranean-Inspired Topping

Light and nutritious Mediterranean couscous salad with crispy roasted or air-fried chickpeas and creamy and nutty tahini sauce on top.

We use a simple couscous or bulgur salad with tomato and cucumber, then top it with crispy chickpeas, sliced black olives, and crumbled feta cheese.

Chickpea Tuna Topping

Our delicious vegan tuna recipe is perfect to stuff microwave sweet potatoes.

You can even add melty cheese on top and arrange them on a baking sheet under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

Simple Savory Topping

A simple savory topping of butter (or dairy-free butter), sage leaves fried in butter in a pan for 2 minutes, and sea salt or kosher salt.

A simple sweet topping with a pat of butter, maple syrup (or brown sugar), cinnamon, nutmeg, and lightly toasted walnuts (or pecans).

You can also add chopped apple on top.

We took the sweet potato out of its skin for this one, then mashed it lightly with a fork for the spices and maple syrup to go in. It was a delicious dessert.

Other Ingredients

Other Ingredients that go well with microwaved sweet potatoes are extra virgin olive oil, Mexican salsa, black beans, paprika, black pepper, chives, garlic powder, spices, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, apples, bell peppers, cauliflower, curry, ginger, garlic, kale, and most nuts.

You can have a stuffed microwave sweet potato as a main course. In this case, ensure you add legumes to the stuffing (chickpeas, beans, lentils).

Alternatively, you can have the spud as a side dish, net to a main course or grain salad.

Finally, you can eat it as a dessert with cinnamon, butter, chopped nuts, apple, and maple syrup.

Cooking tips

• We find no need to wrap the potato with damp paper towels before baking it.

• There’s also no need to wrap it in aluminum foil or parchment paper after cooking it.

• The most important thing to have perfectly tender and moist spuds is not to overcook them, so check for doneness after 5 minutes and extend cooking time if necessary.

Pros and cons of microwave sweet potato

Pros

• Fast: Your sweet potato is ready in about 5 minutes.
• No chopping: You can nuke the sweet potato hole.
• Healthy: There’s no oil involved.
• Texture: Microwave sweet potato stays moist and gets all tender throughout.
• Versatile: Eat it as is, or cut it open and load it with toppings, or use it to make sweet potato mash, or use it for soups.

Cons

• No browning: Roasting in a standard oven or an air-fryer slightly browns the sweet potato, making it more flavorful.
  
• No caramelization: The sugar in the sweet potato doesn’t caramelize the same way as when roasted in the oven. The spud is less sweet and a little less tasty.
  
• The skin of microwave sweet potato is not as tasty as that of roasted sweet potato because no charring or browning is involved.
  
  However, if you like crispy skin, you can always microwave the sweet potato first, then drizzle it with olive oil and salt and broil it in the oven for 2 minutes per side until crispy and slightly charred. Yum!

Is microwave sweet potato worth it?

Absolutely! We are the biggest microwave sweet potato fans! It’s such a fast and healthy cooking method that we often eat sweet potatoes like this, even as a last-minute healthy dinner.

The secret to the tastiest microwave sweet potatoes is to cut them open with a knife and load them with a delicious topping. Check out our favorite toppings above!

Make ahead: You can microwave a few sweet potatoes in advance for meal prep and keep them in the fridge for days. You can also prep the filling ahead and store it.

Refrigerator: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.

It’s best to store it without the topping. Then, eat cold or reheat in the microwave for one minute.

• Sweet potato gnocchi
• Black bean salad
• Sweet potato soup
• Sweet potato wedges
• Sweet potato hash
• Sweet potato chili
• Sweet potato salad
• Sweet potato muffins

• Stuffed eggplant
• Easy stuffed bell pepper
• Zucchini boats
• Stuffed tomatoes