How to Cook Japanese Purple Yams (Purple Sweet Potatoes)

These delicious and naturally sweet Japanese purple yams or purple sweet potatoes are some of the best potatoes to eat for their taste and highly nutritious value. They are easy to make with minimal prep and no additional ingredients. Learn how to make them by oven roasting, steaming, pressure cooking or microwaving.

Reasons to love Japanese Purple Yams 

• Kids love them! These are my kids favorite potatoes! They have been eating them since they were babies. With its naturally sweet flavor and fun color, it’s an easy eat. 

• Great for baby-led weaning. These are the perfect baby led weaning food to give to your babies and toddlers.  They are soft and sturdy, naturally sweet, making them the perfect starter food.

• Easy to cook. There are so many ways to prepare these potatoes -roast, steam, microwave, pressure cook and even in the rice cooker.  No extra seasoning or ingredients needed.

What are Japanese Purple Sweet Potato

• These vibrant purple potatoes originate from Okinawa Japan, a region famously known as a blue zone area where people tend to live longer lives with less cancer rate and heart disease compared to America. 
• They are called Beni Imo in Japan and also known as Japanese purple yam, Japanese purple sweet potato, Okinawan sweet purple potato or Hawaiian purple potato. 
• These potatoes are a beige tan color on the outside and the inside is purple, that turn even more bold purple once cooked. 
• They have a sweet flavor with a creamy, yam-like texture. 

Where to Buy Japanese Purple Potatoes

You can usually find these potatoes at an Asian market like HMart, Mitsuwa, Marukai, or 99 Ranch. 

They may be labeled as Okinawan purple sweet potatoes, Hawaiian purple yam or Japanese purple sweet potato.

Health Benefits of Purple Sweet Potato

The Japanese purple potato is a superfood and is a favorite among health experts like Dr. Oz. Benefits include:

• Rich in anthocyanin- this powerhouse antioxidant that provides the vibrant purple color in  purple potatoes and blueberries. According to the Cleveland Clinic, anthocyanin may be helpful for reducing blood pressure, reducing risk of heart disease,  preventing neurological disease and slowing cancer cell growth.  
• Support immune health - these potatoes are full of nutrients, which is agood source of vitamin B (B6, folate, thiamin and riboflavin) as well as potassium. 
• A low glycemic index food -good for regulating blood sugar 
• High in Fiber - makes this superfood a good choice for digestion and gut health. 

How to Choose the Best Purple Potatoes

Pick firm, even colored potatoes. Choose potatoes that are similar size and weight so they will cook evenly at the same time. 250-300 grams is the ideal size. 

How to Cook Japanese Purple Yams

There are many ways to cook these purple yams- but I highly recommend roasting in the oven as it brings out the best flavor. Roasting them will achieve a warm crispy skin with a creamy sweet flesh.  

Oven Roasted 

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Wash and scrub the potatoes.
• Poke hole in the potatoes with a fork. 
• Place the potatoes on a roasting pan and roast for 45-50 minutes. 
• Check at the 45 minutes mark, pierce a fork in the middle of the potato, if it goes through smoothly, then it is done. 

Stovetop Steamed

• Add about 1 inch of water to a large pot, and take it to a boil on high heat. 
• Once the water boils, add the steamer basket. 
• Place 4 potatoes onto the steamer basket.
• Cover and steam on medium heat for 40-45  minutes.

Instant pot (Pressure cooking)

• For a 6 quart instant pot - add 1 cup of water. 
• Add a steamer rack. 
• Place cleaned and scrubbed potatoes on the steaming rack. 
• Place and lock the lid on. 
• Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes, with a quick release.  

Microwave

• Poke holes in the potato with a fork.
• Microwave on high for 6-7 minutes. 

Tips

• Poking holes - I have not encountered any issues when I forget to do this, but for safety purposes, I recommend to poke holes prior to cooking to allow any trapped steam to escape and prevent any mini food explosions. 

• Wrapping in foil? - I do not ever wrap the sweet potatoes as it doesn’t make a difference in texture or cooking time. Roasting the potatoes unwrapped will give a nice crispy edible skin. If you are concerned about potato juice drippings when roasting, then that is the only time I recommend wrapping each potato with foil. 

• Cooking times vary - size and weight of the sweet potatoes will affect the cooking times. Smaller potatoes cook faster and large ones take longer.

How to Eat

• Enjoy these savory Japanese purple yams for breakfast, snack or as an easy side dish!
• Eat them whole with the skin on, cut into cubes or use a spoon to scoop out. 
• They taste amazing on their own with no additional toppings and ingredients needed.
• One of my boys does not eat the skin, so I peel it off and cut into smaller pieces. 

Storing

Keep them in an airtight container, or wrap them with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

What to serve with purple yams

• Rice cooker tomato rice
• Rice cooker chicken rice
• Oven roasted prime rib
• Cast iron roasted chicken

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