Cook sweet potatoes in minutes in the air fryer with this handy cooking hack.

Sweet potatoes can be a delicious alternative to traditional white potatoes. While they are often touted as “healthier” than their savoury counterparts, they actually have very similar calorie, protein, and carbohydrate contents – although sweet potatoes are higher in Vitamin A.

If you are diabetic or are watching your blood sugar for other reasons, it’s often recommended to choose sweet potatoes over white potatoes. The sweet variety has a lower glycemic index (GI), which measures how certain foods affect your blood sugar.

You can cook sweet potatoes in many of the same ways you would have white ones, including making sweet potato fries or mash. Many people also swear by baked sweet potato, to which you can then add your choice of toppings.

And according to one cooking fan on TikTok, there’s actually a simple way to cook sweet potatoes that guarantees they’ll come out soft and fluffy every time – in just 30 minutes.

In a video on TikTok, the cooking fan explained all you need to do is pop your sweet potatoes into the air fryer instead of using an oven. With this method, you don’t need to boil them first or wait for hours for the oven to soften them up, as they take just half an hour to go from raw to ready.

She said: “Forget everything you know about cooking sweet potatoes, we’re doing it in the air fryer now. Air fryer sweet potatoes are perfect every time.”

The woman went on to demonstrate the best way to prepare the sweet potato for cooking. She started by cutting the potato in half and drizzling olive oil over both halves. She then rubbed the oil over the potato to make sure both the front and back were covered.

Next, the woman sprinkled salt onto the potato and also rubbed that in to the front and back. She then lined her air fryer with a baking paper insert, and popped in her potatoes cut side down.

She recommended cooking for 30 minutes at 400F (200C), and said there was “no need to preheat” the air fryer beforehand.

She said: “They come out perfect every time. You’re going to want to check them to make sure they’re fork tender and then dress them however you want. You can do butter and cinnamon or you can go down a more savoury route like a baked potato.”