Sweet potatoes are one of the most popular real food ingredients — but their round shape and dense flesh can make them feel tricky to cut. In this quick kitchen tip, Krista shows you her simple technique for cutting sweet potatoes into perfect bite-sized pieces for roasting, including a stacking trick that speeds up your prep time significantly.
What You’ll Need
- A chef’s knife — a sharp one makes all the difference!
- A cutting board
How to Cut a Sweet Potato — Step by Step
- Rinse well — scrub the sweet potato under cold running water
- Trim the ends — cut a thin slice off both ends to create flat, stable surfaces
- Check for rough spots — if there are any blemished or rough patches on the skin, trim those off too
- Slice into rounds — stand the sweet potato upright on one flat end and slice downward into rounds
- Stack and cut — stack two or three rounds on top of each other and cut into bite-sized pieces. Stacking is the time-saving secret!
- Aim for even sizing — cut pieces to roughly the same size so they roast evenly
What’s the Ideal Size for Roasting?
Bite-sized pieces — roughly ¾ to 1 inch — roast perfectly in the oven. Too large and the centers stay underdone; too small and they dry out. When in doubt, aim for pieces you’d comfortably eat in one or two bites.
Video Transcript
“Okay. When it comes to a sweet potato, I’ve just rinsed it off real well. And I normally just cut off the ends. And then I look it over. If there’s any rough spots, I might trim those as well. But then this is all I do — is first I slice it up. And then I normally try to stack a couple pieces together, but whatever you’re comfortable with. And then this is kind of ideal size for roasting — you just want them in all bite-sized pieces.”