Homemade Sweet Potato Baby Food
Posted Sep 13, 2017, Updated Jun 28, 2024
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Easy homemade sweet potato baby food puree. This sweet potato baby food recipe has only two ingredients, sweet potatoes and water! Homemade baby food is less expensive, more delicious, and more nutritious than store-bought varieties.
I am always a bag of mixed emotions once I begin feeding my babies solid foods. On the one hand, it’s so fun to introduce our kids to new foods and experiences, but on the other, it’s just another reminder of the irreversible passing of time. Sigh.
I want to help take the guesswork out of feeding your babies and show you just how easy it is to make your own baby food at home, starting with this homemade sweet potato baby food (also try baby food carrots and pear puree).
When my first baby was ready to eat solids I did a ton of research before I started. So I’m hoping that my experience feeding six kids helps other moms as well.
I promise you will learn to love making food for your baby! This homemade sweet potato baby food is the perfect recipe to start with because sweet potatoes are a favorite food of babies everywhere, so your little one is sure to love them!
How to Make Sweet Potato Baby Food
Making homemade baby food is really simple. To make baby food sweet potatoes begin by cooking the potatoes, then add water, blend and store.
Cook the Sweet Potatoes
There are a few way you can prepare sweet potatoes to make baby food.
#1 Roast. Wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and bake them until they are soft. Then open up the foil to let the potatoes cool.
#2 Crockpot. With my last baby I started cooking the sweet potatoes in my crockpt and it is now my favorite method. Put about a fourth of a cup of water in the bottom of the crockpot and then add as many sweet potatoes as you’d like. Then let them cook on high until they are soft (2-4 hours depending on the size of your potatoes). Remove and let them cool slightly.
#3 Boil. You can also peel and boil the sweet potatoes until they are fork-tender. Then, drain in a colander and use to make sweet potato puree.
Add Water & Blend
I suggest blending the sweet potato puree in a Vitamix, or another high-powered blender so it’s smooth, especially for younger babies.
As your baby grows, you can use a food processor and leave some texture to help them get used to chewing.
Add water and blend/process for about 60 seconds. Check the consistency, scrape the sides and blend longer or add more water if necessary. At this point your food is ready to feed your baby. However, I like to save a small portion for now, and then store the rest for future feedings.
How to Freeze Sweet Potato Baby Food
To keep baby food fresh longer this, scoop the puree in 2 Tablespoon portions into the wells of a silicone ice cube tray. I have used regular ice cube trays in the past, but it’s much easier to remove the food cubes from molds made of silicone.
Once the pan or tray is full, pop it in the freezer and wait for the cubes to freeze completely.
Once the puree is frozen, remove the cubes of Homemade Baby Food Sweet Potatoes from the molds and transfer them to an airtight container or a freezer-friendly plastic bag.
To Reheat
When it’s mealtime, simply remove the desired number of cubes from the freezer and heat them in the microwave on high for 30 seconds per cube.
Important: be sure to test the temperature of the puree before feeding it to your baby! You might need to let it cool slightly after heating it!
Sweet Potato Baby Food Recipe FAQs
Yes, sweet potatoes are nutritional powerhouses. They contain fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and potassium.
Babies can eat cooked and pureed sweet potatoes as early as 4 month of age. Remember, breastmilk and formula is still the main source of nutrition for your baby so I suggest nursing first, then feeding solids during mealtime.
Yes, a 5 month old baby can eat sweet potatoes that have been cooked and pureed.
Yes. Make sure to slowly add more solid foods to your baby’s diet. But if sweet potatoes every day is part of a balanced diet for your baby then that is ok.
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Sweet Potato Baby Food
Ingredients
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes
- ¼ to ½ cup water
Instructions
Cook the Sweet Potatoes*
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- Thoroughly wash your sweet potatoes.
- Wrap each sweet potato individually with aluminum foil.
- Place the sweet potatoes on a pan and put them in the oven.
- Bake for 1 to 2 hours, or until potatoes are soft to the touch.
- Remove potatoes from foil and let cool.
Make the Sweet Potato Puree
- Scoop out the flesh of the sweet potato and put it in a high-powered blender, or food processor fitted with the "S" blade.
- Add ¼ cup water and blend on low speed, then increase to high, until the mixture is smooth. Adding more water if necessary.
- Serve, or store/freeze for later.**
Video
Notes
- Sweet potatoes. I always use organic sweet potatoes when making this recipe. You can use yams, purple sweet potatoes, etc.
- Water. if you have introduced apples to your baby, apple juice can be used in place of water.
- Adding Flavor. If you’d like, you can add garlic powder, ginger, cinnamon, etc. Just be sure to add them one at a time so you can determine if your baby is allergic to the spices.
- Crockpot. Put about a fourth of a cup of water in the bottom of the crockpot and then add as many sweet potatoes as you’d like. Then let them cook on high until they are soft (2-4 hours depending on the size of your potatoes). Remove and let them cool slightly.
- Stovetop. You can also peel and boil the sweet potatoes until they are fork-tender. Then, drain in a colander and use to make sweet potato puree.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
3 Reasons to make Homemade Baby Food
1. It’s Less Expensive
Let’s start by discussing cost. One pound of organic sweet potatoes costs $0.98 on sale, which yields about 20 TBS of food (10 oz). One 2.5 oz jar of organic sweet potato baby food is $1.00. Which means that jarred sweet potatoes are 4 times more expensive than Homemade Sweet Potato Baby Food! Over the handful of months that your baby will eat purees, the savings is huge.
2. Real Ingredients
There are two ingredients in this recipe, sweet potatoes and water. That’s it. No fillers, no stabilizers, no preservatives, no food dyes. Just nature’s best root veggie roasted to sweet perfection and blended until it’s silky smooth!
3. Taste
Homemade baby food tastes the best. If you don’t believe me, compare a jar of sweet potatoes with homemade puree and you’ll be sold!
Could you also use formula/breast milk instead of water to smooth out? Im very excited to try this, thank you <3
Where can I get the jars
These are vintage jars I bought many years ago.
how can I make puree without a blender?
You can use a blender, food processor, or a handheld mixer to make the sweet potatoes smooth enough for a young baby to eat.
My 4 mo old baby loved this! This is so easy to make. I tasted the difference between a store bought jar and this, and I’ll never go back to store bought again. Also it ends up being cheaper! Thanks for the recipe. I also made carrot puree too. Can’t wait to try your others! 🙂 xx
Thank you Elena! YES! The taste difference is amazing. Especially for peas! 😉
How long do the sweet potatoes stay good in the freezer for?
2 months!
Amazing! My baby loves it.
My daughter, Esmeralda Victoria, loves this. She loves sweet potatoes. She love veggies but she doesn’t really like fruit or meat though. Any suggestions?
I really wouldn’t recommend baking in aluminum foil. The aluminum soaks into the potatoes then ingested. Aluminum never comes out of your system unless you do a regimen of charcoal. Yuck. Also has been found to cause Alzheimer’s. So just take the time to peel and roast with a a bit of olive(cold pressed) or coconut organic. If those oils are bought in bulk it reduces cost.
Thank you Amanda! I often try to avoid aluminum while baking or even in everyday life (like the kind of deodorant I choose)! However I do use it occasionally, like for baking potatoes! You absolutely can cook the sweet potatoes by a different method if you’d prefer!
Thanks for the recipe! How do you advice to store the food in fridge instead of freezer and it is good for how many days ? Thank you !
My girl Sophia is 6 months old today will definitely try this baked potato recipe! (from Nigeria)
She will love it! 🙂