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Easily turn sweet potatoes into creamy sweet potato baby food, packed with flavor and nutrients. This straightforward and tasty sweet potato puree is a great start when introducing solid foods to your little one.

Sweet potatoes are excellent first foods. They are affordable, nutrient dense root vegetables that can be quickly prepared in a variety of ways. Though both carry several health benefits, sweet potatoes are even higher in antioxidants than white potatoes. They’re delicious for babies and parents alike, and this simple recipe for sweet potato baby food will quickly become a regular part of your meal time routine.

Experimenting with homemade baby food recipes can be an up and down experience. I’ve been there…all you want to do is nourish your baby’s growing body. This is supposed to be fun, right? But then suddenly more baby food makes its way onto the floor than in your baby’s mouth. Rinse and repeat.

The good news is sweet potato baby food is a real winner. Those little palates love the natural sweetness of the vegetable, and there’s so much you can do with them from adding light seasonings to switching up the texture. A smooth puree might be perfect for brand new eaters while a chunky puree is just what your older baby needs. Sweet potatoes are also a great add-on to mix with other purees, like spinach baby food, for a well rounded meal.

When you make your own baby food, you end up with a better taste than the store bought varieties and you’ll save money too! In this post, we’ll show you how to pick out the perfect sweet potatoes, quickly prepare sweet potato baby food, and store it in a convenient way that prevents freezer burn.

What you will need

This homemade sweet potato puree is as easy to make as it is delicious! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Saucepan: Any kind of saucepan will be fine for this recipe as long as it’s large enough to hold the amount of sweet potatoes you’re boiling with enough water to cover them.
• Kitchen knife: You’ll want a sharp knife to peel and cut through the tough, raw sweet potatoes. You can also use a vegetable peeler for getting the skin off.
• Blender or food processor: A good blender or food processor is extremely helpful when making your own baby food recipes at home. Either blending appliance will work just fine to make sure you end up with a smooth puree. A quality blender is a great investment if making homemade baby food is important to you.
• Baby food jars: Small glass jars are perfect for serving. You can portion out your sweet potatoes right after blending and store your puree in your fridge for short term meals.

For ingredients, you’ll need:

• Sweet Potatoes: We used 2 large sweet potatoes for this recipe, but you can adjust that based on how much sweet potato puree you’ll be making.
• Milk: Milk is our blending liquid of choice for this recipe because it gives our puree a nice and creamy texture while packing extra nutrients, like Calcium and Vitamin D into the puree. Feel free to use anything from breast milk to whole milk, or your own preferred liquid. You can even use the same water that you boiled your sweet potatoes in, and get some of those nutrients that cooked out right back into your puree.

Benefits of sweet potato puree

In addition to their appetizing flavor, sweet potatoes carry a host of nutritional benefits. Some of them include:

• Beta-carotene: this is converted to vitamin A in your body and used to form light-detecting receptors inside your eyes.
• Vitamin C: important in building a strong immune system, may also help lessen the severity and duration of the common cold
• Fiber: dietary fiber is helpful in maintaining a healthy digestive system and fighting against constipation

How to make sweet potato baby food

1. Peel sweet potatoes

Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler remove all of the skin from your fresh sweet potatoes. Sweet potato skin is edible, but the skin is rough and may make the blending process more difficult. Those chunky leftover pieces can become a choking hazard for your baby, so peeling the sweet potatoes first is the safest option.

2. Chop the sweet potatoes into 1″ cubes

Chop the peeled sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes. You can do this by cutting the sweet potatoes into rounds, then chopping each of those rounds into small pieces. This will make the cooking process easier, allowing the veggies to boil evenly once you add them to heat.

3. Cook the raw sweet potatoes until fork tender

Consider these various cooking methods to make sweet potato baby food. Each method will produce a different, but equally delicious flavor.

Boiling

In a medium saucepan over high heat, boil the sweet potato cubes until soft and tender (8-12 minutes). Cooking time may vary based on the amount of sweet potatoes you use, but they will be ready to remove from the heat when they can be easily pierced with a fork with no resistance.

Steaming

To steam sweet potatoes you expose them to heat without submerging them in water. You can place a steamer basket in the bottom of a saucepan and fill the pan with just enough water to barely touch the basket. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid. Continue to cook for about 30 minutes until the sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.

Roasting

Roasting is another popular method for homemade sweet potato recipes. To roast sweet potatoes, all you need to do is place the cubed veggies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake them in the oven at 400°F. After about 10-15 minutes, the cubes will start to brown and you should flip them for even cooking and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Roasted sweet potatoes will also be ready when a fork can easily pierce them with no resistance.

4. Blend sweet potatoes with milk until smooth

Transfer cooked sweet potatoes from the stovetop to the blender or food processor. Add milk and blend until you reach a smooth consistency. If the puree still appears to be chunky after 2-3 minutes of blending, your puree may need additional milk. Try adding in one tablespoon of milk at a time and blending until the desired consistency is reached.

5. Transfer for serving and storage

You can now transfer your smooth, creamy puree to bowls for serving and short term refrigerator storage, or to freezer-safe containers for longer term storage. Make sure the sweet potato puree has cooled to a safe to touch temperature before feeding it to your baby.

How to store sweet potato baby food

Sweet potato puree can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. You can also keep sweet potato puree in the freezer for up to three months.

For a meal prep option, you can cook the sweet potato cubes and freeze them in an airtight container until you’re ready to make the puree. These cooked cubes will also keep in your freezer for up to three months.

My favorite method for freezing sweet potato baby food, and most baby food purees, is to spoon the puree into an ice cube tray, wrap it in plastic wrap, and freeze it. Once frozen, you can transfer the sweet potato cubes to an airtight freezer bag, like a Ziploc bag, for longer term storage.

Not only is this method for freezing baby food very easy, but its convenience is unmatched. One standard ice cube holds 1 ounce, or 2 tablespoons of food. That means you can easily keep track of the portion sizes of your baby food and when it’s time to plan your baby’s meal you can just pop out as many of the cubes as you need at the moment.

Another great thing about the ease of storage is that you don’t need to heat up your sweet potato baby food for the next mealtime. Just thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before serving.

If you’re feeding your baby directly from a serving jar, it is also important to remember to throw away any leftovers from the same jar that came in contact with the serving spoon. Once the food is exposed to the bacteria from your child’s mouth through his or her saliva, the bacteria can continue to grow in the jar while stored. A safer option would be to spoon a portion of the baby food into a separate dish and feed directly from that new dish. This way, you can throw away any of the food your baby doesn’t eat with minimal waste.

When can babies eat sweet potato?

Babies can start eating sweet potatoes at any point after you start introducing them to solid foods. It’s important to talk to your pediatrician about whether your baby is developmentally ready for solid foods. Some signs that it may be time to introduce solids include your baby’s interest in foods that you’re eating, his or her ability to sit up with no support and your baby’s willingness to try chewing.

We recommend introducing sweet potato baby food puree at around 6.5 months. Check out our food introduction guide for more information about which foods are appropriate for which ages, from pear puree to chicken baby food, and more!

If you’re following a baby led weaning approach, you can also prepare mashed sweet potatoes or sweet potato wedges for your little ones to grasp and eat by hand.

Choosing the best sweet potatoes

Because sweet potatoes you’ll find at the grocery store can come in different shapes, sizes and colors, here are a few tips to help you pick out the best ones:

• Buy sweet potatoes with orange or red skin. These will cook up sweeter than the drier tan or purple sweet potatoes you may find.
• Smaller to medium-sized sweet potatoes have less starch than larger ones. They’ll also produce a sweeter taste.
• Sweet potatoes are fundamentally different than yams. While the two are often confused, a yam is not a potato at all. They are different vegetables that are also not nearly as sweet as sweet potatoes.

Can I use frozen sweet potatoes?

Yes. Frozen sweet potato cubes are a healthy and convenient option with the same nutrition as fresh sweet potatoes. One advantage to buying frozen is that the work is already done for you as far as peeling and cubing. This creates less waste and hassle. Frozen veggies may even be more affordable and more easily available than their fresh counterparts. They’re definitely worth a try.

More baby food recipes

Whether you’re starting to introduce solid foods, or just looking to add variety to your baby’s diet, we have plenty of recipes that babies love, just like this one. These recipes pair wonderfully with sweet potato puree so you can serve them at the same time and round out the flavors:

• Broccoli Baby Food
• Pear Puree
• Chicken Baby Food

Tips for making the perfect sweet potato puree for baby

• Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked sweet potato cubes from the saucepan to the blender. This will help keep excess water out of the blender so you don’t end up with an extra watery puree.
• Larger sweet potatoes typically contain more starch and less of the sweet taste we all love. When in doubt, shop on the smaller side for the more baby-friendly, sweeter tasting veggies.
• Add sweet potatoes to other pureed foods for picky eaters. The naturally sweet taste that babies love can help babies develop a taste for other flavors, like turnips. You want the wonderful health benefits of turnips like Calcium and Vitamin C, but if your baby is resistant to the flavor, you may coax them into a big spoonful of turnips baby food by mixing that puree with sweet potato puree.
• If your baby is ready for even more flavor, don’t be afraid to spice up your sweet potato baby food recipe. A dash of cinnamon, nutmeg or even cumin can enhance the flavor and make your little one’s tastebuds sing.