Canning Sweet Potatoes
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
Need a way to preserve sweet potatoes, so you don’t need a root cellar, and so they are ready to go for a meal? Here’s how to start canning Sweet Potatoes!
Canning Sweet Potatoes
The method for canning sweet potatoes is very simple. You preserve sweet potatoes in a sweetened syrup that you can control the amount of sugar that goes into it (and you can avoid any corn syrup that you might find in a canned version!).
Either way, making them homemade tastes much better than the store-bought canned variety. As the holidays roll around, you’ll have plenty on hand to use for casseroles or yummy pies!
Keep reading for the complete guide to canning sweet potatoes!
Ingredients for Canning Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes. These should be a large size with very few imperfections.
- Water. This is to make your syrup to can the potatoes in.
- Brown sugar or Raw sugar. You can replace this with honey or maple syrup if you prefer something less processed. You can also leave out the sweetener altogether and only can with hot water.
- Jars, Pressure Canner, Canning Utensils (funnel, jar lifter, jar rims, lids, etc). This recipe makes 4 quarts but can be doubled to fill up your canner.
Instructions for Canning Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes are a low-acid food and need to be pressure canned for safety. Once properly canned, sweet potatoes will have at least a 2 year shelf life before they start to degrade.
First, clean your potatoes and remove any imperfections.
If you find that peeling raw sweet potatoes is a little difficult, then boil them first for
10-15 minutes. Remove from the water, allow to cool, and peel. They should be soft on the outside but should not be mushy. The insides should still be moderately firm.
Otherwise, peel the sweet potatoes and boil for 10-15 minutes.
In a large saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Stir periodically until the sugar completely dissolves.
Remove your sweet potatoes from their boil.
Cut your sweet potatoes into large chunks, trying to make them as uniform as you can. Ensure they are not so large they cannot fit in your jars. *Do not puree the potatoes; this will make them too dense to can.*
Wipe any sweet potato remnants off the openings of your jars, if necessary, with a paper towel or clean rag. This must be done to ensure a proper seal. Pack all of the sweet potato pieces into the jars. Add a pinch of salt or a bit of lemon juice if you are concerned with discoloration.
Pour your syrup (or boiling water) into the jars. Leave 1-inch headspace. As I mentioned above, you can also do this with plain water (instead of sugar water), but it does need to be boiling hot before it goes in the jars.
Be sure to check your jars for air bubbles and remove any you find. The opposite end of most kitchen utensils works just fine for this.
Wipe your rims, and attach your canning lids. Make sure your rims are tight and secure but not overly tightened. Process quarts at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes in a dial gauge pressure canner. (Adjust pressure for altitude.) Pints can be processed at 65 minutes. Follow the instructions for your canner if using a weighted gauge canner.
*Please check with your local extension office, the national center for home food preservation, or the usda to get the correct times/temps/altitude adjustments for your area.
Do not remove the jars from the pressure canner for several hours after canning until the pressure has completely gone down. I like to leave mine overnight just to be safe. Any jars that don’t seal can be put in the fridge and used right away. I’d caution against re-canning them as they will get pretty mushy.
Canning Sweet Potatoes
How to make your own home canned sweet potatoes.
Ingredients
- 10 pounds sweet potatoes
- 7 ½ cups water
- 2 ½ cups brown sugar
- 4 quart jars sterilized
Instructions
-
First, clean your potatoes and remove any imperfections.
-
If you find that peeling raw sweet potatoes is a little difficult, then boil them first for
-
10-15 minutes. Remove from the water, allow to cool, and peel. They should be soft on the outside but should not be mushy. The insides should still be moderately firm.
-
Otherwise, peel the sweet potatoes and boil for 10-15 minutes.
-
In a large saucepan combine the water and sugar. Stir periodically until the sugar completely dissolves.
-
Remove your sweet potatoes from their boil.
-
Cut your sweet potatoes in large chunks. Make sure they are not so large they cannot fit in your jars. *Do not puree the potatoes, this will make them too dense to can.*
-
Wipe any sweet potato remnants off the openings of your jars if necessary. This must be done to ensure a proper seal.
-
Pour your syrup (or boiling water) into the jars. Leave about a ¼ to ½ inch headspace.
-
Be sure to check your jars for bubbles and remove any you find. The opposite end of most kitchen utensils works just fine for this.
-
Wipe your rims, and attach your canning lids. Make sure your rims are tight and secure. Process quarts at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. (Adjust pressure for altitude.) Pints can be processed at 65 minutes.
-
*Please check with your local extension office to get the correct times/temps/altitude adjustments for your area.
-
Do not remove the jars from the pressure canner for several hours after canning until the pressure has completely gone down. I like to leave mine overnight just to be safe.
How to Use Canned Sweet Potatoes
After canning you can use the pieces to make sweet potato pie, mashed sweet potatoes, or any other sweet potato meal that your family loves. Just puree pieces so they will work in most recipes.
Ready for more? Try Canning Potatoes and make sure you check out all the free Canning and Preserving Recipes we have on Little House Living!
I recommend a Presto Pressure Canner and the book Putting Food By for all your canning projects!
Recipes to Make With Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe
- Sweet Potato Toddler Snacks
- Potatoes, Green Beans, and Chicken Sheet Pan Supper
Did you make this recipe and enjoy it? Be sure to leave a star rating on the recipe card and share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and through Email using the sharing buttons below.
Have you ever tried canning sweet potatoes? What do you use canned sweet potatoes for?
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This blog post for Canning Sweet Potatoes was originally posted on Little House Living in August 2013. It has been updated as of August 2023.
I’m wondering why you wouldn’t use the water you boiled the potatoes in for your syrup. It seems to me that there would be a lot of good nutrients and flavor in that water.
That’s what I’m doing.
Do you know if you can can butternut squash? I actually did very well with my squash crop and have some left over. Thanks, Connie
I looked it up in Putting Food By and it looks like you can. They must be pressure canned (after they are cut in chunks like Sweet Potatoes) and you don’t use a syrup solution…just water and salt if desired. Pints are 30 minutes and Quarts are 40 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.
I would love to can sweet potatoes raw and not use sugar. Can you outline the process for me? I am new to canning and don’t have a canner; i have only used a stove top method of boiling water.
You cannot safely can sweet potatoes using just the boiling water bath method. They are a low acid food and MUST be pressure canned to avoid botulism completely. Sorry.
You can safely can with a waterbath canner. The Amish don’t own pressure canners but have been putting up food for hundreds of years! Water bath for three hours. This includes meat as well. I’ve done this for years myself.
How long after getting the sweet potato’s out of the ground, can I can them ? Also I do not have a pressure canner, but will be using a water canner. I am planning on letting them boil for about an hour. Do you think this will be long enough ? Thanks for your help. Dale
Sweet Potatoes are considered low acid and need to be processed in a pressure canner to be safely preserved.
Can do a water bath only it will take 3 hours or 180 minutes. That is the way my grandmother and her mother before did it and they lived to be over 100. Your kitchen, your rules.
Thank you for this helpful information. I am curious if that same amount of time is good for all foods you process water boil method?
I would love to have your recipe. Salt? Citric acid, etc? I LOVE the ways of canning from my grandmother, great grandmother era. Thabk you so much for sharing.
Love to know that nethos I only do water bath canning right now and haVe an abundance of sweet potatoes I waNt to cann
Sorry for the typo it was suposed to say method
Boil for three hours
Bless you. I had a bushel of sweet potatoes sitting here waiting for me to can. I am 65 years old and have been canning foods all my life and never knew you could pre-boil them to make them easier to peel. I have some arthritis in my hands and had been wondering how I would ever peel all of those. Thank you soo much!
Been canning sweet potatoes for years, however I have never put any sugar or salt in the jar. I have one jar that is 12 years old and it is still good. I keep one jar of anything I can that is different just to see how long I can keep it. I have a quart of green beans that is 42 years old, I had 2 but we ate one last year. Still good.
Can you use Honey instead of sugar, and if so how much?
Thanks for telling us how to can sweet potatoes, I just bought 30 lbs. because they were 29 cents a lb..
Your sweet potatoes are beautiful. However, I have to disagree with leaving the potatoes (or anything that you can) in the canner for hours or overnight after canning. By doing so, you run the risk of the batch developing flat sour.
Agree n they taste awful! Ive done it n what a disappointment! All that hard work 4 NOTHING. BOO!!!!!
I would like to eat healthy and cheaper !
Can you can sweet potatoes in regular canner in a water bath ? And how long ?
No. Because they are low acidity, they need to be canned in a pressure canner.
Yes, I do and the Amish don’t own pressure canners. Water bath them for three hours.
I just purchased 80 lbs of sweet potatoes to can. I usually do as you suggest and chunk my potatoes however my food processor will dice 1/2 inch cubes. I am thinking of cleaning the potatoes well and cubing the potatoes peels and all to can to get the most nutrients. Thinking due to the size they could be raw packed with syrup and pressure canned. What are your feelings on this?
The National Center for Food Preservation does not recommend raw packing sweet potatoes or canning them with a peel on. You can read more here: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/potato_sweet.html
I always raw pack my sweet potatoes, cover with boiling water and water bath can for 3 hours. No problems so far.
Tried oven canning one year, that was not successful. Lost quite a few jars so don’t recommend that method.
Same here. So many are quite ignorant of canning. Grandma and the Amish never owned a pressure canner!
First time canning I did a small batch in salt water uncooked but the next day they are cloudy is this normal
Yes, the cloudiness is caused by the starch in the potatoes and is normal.