Easy Roasted Sweet Potatoes in your air fryer made with olive oil, salt, and a touch of cayenne pepper in 10 minutes! Quick and super nutritious - perfect side dish for busy weeknights and holidays, with effortless meal prep.
Get ready - these little golden cubes of deliciousness disappear fast!
This post for air fryer sweet potatoes has been updated with new pictures and an improved layout for a better user experience.
If you've ever wished there was a way to roast up perfectly caramelized sweet potatoes that are slightly crisp on the edges and irresistibly tender in half the time, your air fryer is about to become your new best friend.
These roasted sweet potatoes made in your air fryer deliver all the cozy, roasted flavor you love without heating up your whole kitchen.
Whether it's Cherry Tomato Sauce or roasted sweet potatoes, you know I'm all about using simple ingredients and eliminating unnecessary steps to save time. 😅
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Side Dish Roast sweet potatoes the easy way! The key to making air fryer roasted sweet potatoes in less time and with less oil by is cutting them in small chunks and air frying them.
- Simple Ingredients Sweet potatoes, olive oil, and salt. That's it-not kidding!
- Kid-Tested Roasted sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness that everyone loves. Two of my kids like spice, so I sprinkle cayenne on some, but not the rest.
- Parent Approved I mean, is there anything better than having a healthy side dish that everyone loves ready in only 10 minutes? When my son heated up leftovers to have with his breakfast, I knew I needed to start making these on repeat.
Ingredient Notes
- Sweet potatoes Nutritional powerhouse! Sweet potatoes are a root vegetable that can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores. They typically have an orange flesh and are high in fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals, including potassium and beta carotene (vitamin A).
- Olive Oil A little goes a long way when roasting vegetables. I use extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil when making this recipe.
- Salt In my opinion, it's the pinch of salt added that makes these so tasty. Use sea salt or table salt.
- Cayenne Pepper (optional) Adds a little heat to these otherwise pleasantly sweet and salty air fryer sweet potatoes. Just remember, a little goes a long way. Just add a light dusting to the sweet potatoes before air frying them.
Seasoning Ideas
- Cinnamon Sprinkle a light layer of cinnamon and drizzle of honey or maple syrup on the chunks of sweet potatoes before placing them in the air fryer.
- Tajin Add Tajin seasoning to give air fryer sweet potatoes a delicious chili lime flavor. This sweet potato recipe adds great flavor to tacos and burrito bowls.
How to Make Air Fryer Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Here's a quick overview of the steps to make roasted sweet potatoes in an air fryer. For the full list of ingredients and specific instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Slice the sweet potatoes, then cut each slice into small rectangular-shaped pieces. The pieces should be about one-half to one inch in length.
- Place sweet potato chunks, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl and toss to coat.
- Spread sweet potatoes out in a single layer on an air fryer rack fit for your air fryer.
- Air fry for 8-10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Dietitian Tip
Sometimes it's not what we serve but how we serve it. For instance, just because someone doesn't like sweet potato casserole, doesn't mean they don't like sweet potatoes.
Thankfully, roasted sweet potatoes can be served with pretty much anything from burgers and barbeque chicken to salmon, sandwiches, and wraps. In fact, some restaurants have started to offer roasted sweet potatoes as a side in place of French fries - love it!
Here are a few other ways to serve air fryer roasted sweet potatoes:
- Tossed in a quinoa or kale salad.
- As a taco or burrito topping.
- Make a grilled wrap with roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, and cheddar cheese.
- Top a hearty Fall salad with roasted sweet potatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes are one of my favorite toppings when I'm in the mood for a hearty salad, especially in the colder months.
Helpful Tips
- Keep most of the skins on the sweet potatoes. There's no need to spend time peeling the entire sweet potato.
- Use a sharp knife to make it easier to cut through the sweet potato.
- Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the sweet potato chunks, denseness of the sweet potato, and which air fryer you use.
- Update: I want to clarify something in response to a comment at the bottom of this post. This air fryer roasted sweet potatoes recipe makes sweet potato chunks as crispy as possible without having to soak them first. To make sweet potatoes with truly crispy edges, you'll need to soak them in water for about an hour to remove excess starch before air frying them, just like you would do to make crispy sweet potato fries.
- I use a Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven. Different air fryers may require small adjustments in cooking temperature and/or cook time.
Questions You May Have
No, you do not need to soak the sweet potatoes for this recipe.
Soaking sweet potatoes is a recommended step when making homemade sweet potato fries, but not when you are roasting small chunks of sweet potatoes in an air fryer or oven.
Nope! Leaving the skin on when you roast sweet potatoes increases the fiber content, saves prep time, and helps the sweet potato chunks keep their shape.
Once the sweet potato chunks have cooled to room temperature, store them refrigerated in an airtight container.
Leftovers can be enjoyed cold or warm. To reheat leftover roasted sweet potato chunks, place them back in the air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for two minutes.
📖 Recipe
Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Air Fryer)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato One large, sweet potato or two small, sweet potatoes (about two cups when cut into pieces). Scrub well and leave the skins on.
- 2 teaspoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1 pinch salt table salt or sea salt
- 1 dash cayenne pepper optional
Instructions
- Slice sweet potato into one-quarter inch round pieces. Then, cut each slice of sweet potato into small rectangular shaped pieces. See notes.
- Place sweet potato chunks and olive oil in a medium or large bowl and toss to coat.
- Spread sweet potato pieces out in a single layer on the air fryer rack fit for your air fryer.
- Sprinkle salt on top of the sweet potatoes. Can also add a dash of cayenne pepper if you like spice.
- Air fry at 400°F for 8 minutes. Large pieces or sweet potato wedges may take an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Cutting sweet potatoes into small rectangular pieces reduces cooking time and it makes sweet potatoes more appealing to kids. See the step-by-step instructions photo in the recipe post for how I cut sweet potatoes into small pieces.
- Larger pieces of sweet potato will take longer to cook.
- There's no need to preheat your air fryer.
- Use a good quality knife to make cutting through the sweet potato easier.
- As for the cayenne pepper, a little goes a long way. If you or your kids don't like spice, don't add cayenne pepper. I often put cayenne on half and leave the other half simply salted, because one of my kids likes spicey food and the others do not.
- Always follow the manufactures instructions on how to use your air fryer safely.
- I use a Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven. Different air fryers may require small adjustments in temperature and/or cook time.
- To make one big batch of roasted sweet potatoes in the oven, these sweet potatoes can be roasted in the oven in a single layer on a baking sheet at 425 degrees for about twenty minutes.
Mike says
The sweet potato squares were tasty and soft in the inside but not crispy.
Kristi says
Exactly how they should be! Thanks for letting me know!