Treat your family or friends to a perfectly cooked Air Fryer Sweet Potato topped with luscious toasted marshmallows. Brown sugar, butter, and pumpkin spice take our recipe over the top. Use your air fryer to perfection so that your oven is free for more great food!
You don’t have to go far to make the most this stuffed sweet potato in the air fryer to pair with spiral glazed ham, turkey tenderloin or Air Fryer Whole Chicken.
You can also make our hugely popular Black Bean Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes using this same method.
🍽️ Why This Works
Simple | You don’t have to stress about this side dish because it will come together really fast and without any complicated steps.
Flexibility | Free up your oven and Instant Pot for other jobs when you use your air fryer. Leave off the toppings and make it simple with just butter for another recipe option.
Delicious | Our recipe makes the best Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes. They are cooked to perfection and are melt-in-your-mouth good.
🍠 Ingredients
📝 Ingredient Notes
Sweet Potatoes – Try to find uniformly sized potatoes so they cook at the same rate. They don’t have to be exactly the same size, but it does help to get them close. Any variety will work but the darker the sweet potato the sweeter it will be. You can also use yams.
Brown Sugar – Dark brown sugar has a more intense flavor and you can choose your preference between dark and light.
Butter and Salt – These basics are necessary to hit all the right flavor profiles.
Pumpkin Pie Spice – Kick it up a notch with a little Pumpkin Spice to celebrate the season and turn your Air Fryer Sweet Potato into something new.
Marshmallows – Mini Marshmallows add a level of decadence we enjoy.
Pecans – Crushed pecans, walnuts or slivered almonds will all work and add a little crunch.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Air Fryer | Rapidly becoming one of our favorite kitchen appliances, this handy machine uses air movement to speed up the cooking process and crisp up foods without oil. I use my Ninja basket to hold three of these. It will be the same for a Cosori, Power XL or NuWave baskets. When using the tray version like the Instant Vortex, this will take a bit less time and will hold six of them.
Mixing Bowl | Because all the sweet potato innards will need mixed with our special ingredients.
Spoon or Potato Masher | To achieve the perfect consistency.
🔥 Instructions
Learn how to cook sweet potatoes in the air fryer. It takes just a few simple steps and a couple minutes before you can walk away and they will cook to tender perfection.
Step One: Wash your sweet potatoes, pierce them with a fork and place them in the Air Fryer.
Step Two: Add them to the Air Fryer and cook at 370° for 45 minutes. Let cool.
Step Three: Remove the sweet potatoes, scoop out the flesh and mash it. Be careful to keep the skins intact. You’ll use them again.
Step Four: Add the butter, brown sugar and pumpkin spice to the sweet potato flesh. Mix everything thoroughly. A hand mixer is a good idea.
Step Five: Fill the potato skins with the mashed mixture and return the sweet potatoes to the Air Fryer.
Step Six: Top with marshmallows and cook again at 350ºF for five minutes or until the marshmallows are toasty. Top with crushed pecans if desired and serve!
❗ Recipe Tips and Tricks
Don’t overfill the air fryer because you don’t want to block the movement of air. Ours holds three sweet potatoes without overcrowding.
You can prick your potatoes with a fork, but sometimes it is easier to pierce them with a sharp paring knife. For best results, try to pierce them deeply four or five times on each side. Use great care if you are using a sharp knife because it’s easy to cut yourself. You can also use a metal skewer.
Your air fryer may be slightly different. If the sweet potatoes aren’t tender and ready to mash you can always add time in four or five minute increments until you get the results you want. The next time you make Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes, simply adjust the time from the beginning.
If you want crispy exterior skin on your sweet potato, make sure it is completely dry between washing it and air frying it. You can pat it dry with a towel, or set it on a cooling rack to drip dry while you work on preparing other foods.
Long and thin sweet potatoes work best just like we use for the Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries. Fatter ones will cook less evenly. Small sweet potatoes work great and you can fit more in the air fryer basket without overcrowding. Two to three large ones will fit.
Pro Tip: If you have a convection oven setting on your oven, it works the same as an air fryer but on a much larger scale. So, if you need to make a bunch of sweet potatoes, place them on a sheet pan (uncrowded) and use the same directions as listed on our recipe card. You may have to increase the time slightly to accommodate the extra potatoes.
🧑🍳 Storage and Reheating
Place leftover sweet potatoes in the refrigerator in a plastic freezer-quality bag or airtight container.
Reheat these individually in the microwave or air fryer. A microwave will take two or three minutes. An air fryer will take five to ten minutes but will allow you to keep that crispy skin.
Consider mashing your leftovers altogether for a different take on this classic. Mashed sweet potatoes can also be used to make sweet potato frittters if you add an egg and handful of flour to three or four potatoes and mix with a hand mixer. Scoop into a hot skillet and fry in medium-hot oil. When you flip them, mash them using your spatula to create flat fritters. Serve with ketchup (savory) or syrup (sweet) or any toppings from our list!
Unlike regular potatoes, you can actually freeze cooked sweet potatoes without a change of texture and reheat in the microwave as needed whether that be the whole ones, fries or even sweet potato cubes like we do in the Air Fryer Roasted Root Vegetables.
Meal Prep
Whether you are an old hat to meal prep or just starting out, make sure to take a quick read of our Meal Prep 101 for all our favorite tricks to save time and money.
Frozen leftover Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes are perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast or lunch. Make them in batches for a week or month and freeze them individually in air tight containers. We have a lot of freezer tips for storage times and best practices that can be found in our post with free printable Freezer Tips 101.
Save time or cooking appliances on the day of your meal by cooking the sweet potatoes ahead of time. Refrigerate them until you are ready. Then, on the day you will serve them, scoop out the flesh, mix them up, add the marshmallows and reheat in the air fryer.
Additions and Substitutions
- Raisins.
- Dried cranberries.
- Chocolate Chips.
- Crushed Walnuts or Cashews.
- Flaked Coconut.
- Cinnamon instead of pumpkin spice.
- Honey or Maple Syrup instead of brown sugar.
- Toasted Pumpkin Seeds or Sesame Seeds.
Variations
Change it up completely with a different flavor profile.
- cinnamon with cardamom
- hot honey (it’s spicy) with lime
- ginger with garlic and onions
- tahini with maple syrup
- caramel syrup and bacon
- maple syrup with bacon
- chili peppers and crumbled goat cheese
- Za’atar
- chili soup
- barbecue pulled pork or brisket
- candied nuts and arugula
- taco meat or chorizo
- sausage, peppers, and onions
- balsamic glaze with goat cheese
If you do not have an air fryer, you can bake your sweet potatoes in the oven. Should you have a convection oven setting, you can use it with the same temperature and time listed for this recipe. If you do not have convection, you will need to up the temperature to 425º for 45 minutes to make these in your oven.
If you don’t have an air fryer and don’t want to heat up your kitchen, you can use the Instant Pot. Simply cook on high pressure for fifteen minutes, mash and mix the flesh, stuff the skins, and pop them in the oven on broil for a couple of minutes to melt and brown the marshmallows!
Make sure to snag your {FREEBIE} Air Fryer Cooking Times Printable, Deep Fryer to Air Fryer Conversion Printable and Oven to Air Fryer Conversion Printable.
Serving Suggestions
Serve our tasty Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes alongside any smoked, grilled, fried or baked protein. You can even have it on its own for a light lunch or snack. These also work great as part of special holiday meals alongside roasted turkey or duck. These are all great choices:
Air Fryer Sweet Asian Chili Chicken Wings
Honey Balsamic Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies {Meal Prep Instructions}
❓ Recipe FAQ
For a “baked” sweet potato, it will take about 45 minutes plus an additional five minutes to toast marshmallows if desired.
Yep! Just follow the step-by-step instructions in this post.
First, you need to wash them really, really well. I like to scrub mine with a vegetable brush. Second, you need to pierce the sweet potatoes several times with a fork or sharp paring knife. This prevents them from exploding.
This is a great question! All of the potatoes can be combined in a mash with a bit more butter for a yummy sweet version of mashed potatoes. You can also add the sweet potatoes to a hash or add a little flour with an egg and make sweet potato fritters!
370º for 45 minutes works perfectly! If your air fryer has different options, choose the closest temperature and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
Yes. Sweet potatoes have beta-carotene which is rich in vitamin A and gives them that lovely orange color. They also have fiber, are low calorie, and have a low glycemic indext making them perfect for diabetics.
I would not. It is possible to do, but it prevents the skin from crisping up.
All your burning questions: Can You Put Parchment Paper in Air Fryer? Can You Put Foil in the Air Fryer?
Related Recipes
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Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Sweet Potatoes
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Butter
- ½ tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ½ tsp Salt
- Mini Marshmallows optional
- Crushed Pecans optional
Instructions
- Wash the Sweet Potatoes to get all of the dirt off. Check for any bad spots and remove before going forward.
- Pierce the potatoes with a fork. I like to poke the potatoes several times to allow the air to escape.
- Add them to the Air Fryer and cook at 370° for 45 minutes. Allow to cool. Remember to use oven mitts when removing as they will be very hot.
- If eating plain with butter, slice open and add butter to serve.
- If eating with marshmallows and sugar proceed with: once cooled, slice the potatoes open and scoop out the inside. Keep the skin intact as you will put the filling back in.
- Add the scooped-out potatoes, butter, brown sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice to a mixing bowl. Mix until well-combined.
- Scoop that filling back into the sweet potato skins, top with marshmallows and crushed pecans and cook at 350° for five minutes or until the marshmallows have melted and browned.
- Top with optional crushed pecans and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
I love making this recipe for Thanksgiving. It is just perfect!