There is a story behind this recipe. My husband’s grandma used to make dried sweet potato when they were kids. According to my husband, she sun dried the cooked sweet potatoes on the rack on sunny days. Sometimes when the weather was not ideal, she had to move them back indoor. The whole process took weeks, but the result is the sweetest, most cherished treat. After she passed, nobody in the family made the dried sweet potato for years until he started experimenting it based on his memories of how Grandma made them.
These dried sweet potatoes have a chewy and slightly fudgy texture that I truly enjoy. While we don’t have weeks to sun-dry them slowly like Grandma used to, after numerous experiments, we’ve found a way to recreate her dried sweet potato. The best part? It only takes one ingredient—sweet potato—and just a single day. Yes, only one day!
You might also like Ube Bagel or Hojicha Purin.
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Where is this Dried Sweet Potato from?
Dried sweet potato, made by boiling or steaming the sweet potatoes first and then drying them without any added sugar, is commonly found across East and Southeast Asia. It is popular in regions such as China (红薯干), Japan (干し芋), Korea (고구마 말랭이), Taiwan (地瓜干), Vietnam (Khoai Lang Sấy Dẻo), and Thailand (มันเทศอบแห้ง), where it is made using local varieties of sweet potatoes. The drying process intensifies the natural sweetness of the sweet potato, creating a chewy, naturally sweet snack.
How I pick good sweet potatoes
Sweet Potato - This is the only ingredient here, so I highly recommend using good quality sweet potatoes.
- Japanese sweet potatoes and Korean sweet potatoes are sweeter, starchier, and drier, with a nutty flavor and a denser texture, while regular sweet potatoes are creamier, more moist, and have a milder, earthier sweetness. Therefore Japanese sweet potatoes and Korean sweet potatoes are more ideal here.
- The sweet potatoes should ripen for 1-2 weeks just like ube that I used for Ube Bagel. Sometimes you don’t need to ripen the sweet potato if you see some brown sugar leaking at the ends. Those sweet potatoes are already at peak sweetness and don't require additional ripening.
- Pick the sweet potatoes that are round and medium-sized. The large ones might be too fibers, and the small ones have a higher skin-to-flesh ratio, leading to more waste when peeling. Also try to get similar shape and size to ensure uniform cooking.
How to make Dried Sweet Potato?
Rinse sweet potatoes with water to remove any dirt from the skin.
Steam the sweet potatoes over low heat for 45 minutes. (Start the timer after the water is completely boiling.)
Once the sweet potatoes are fully cooked through, soak in the iced water for 5 minutes.
Peel the skin off. (Check Recipe Tips)
Cut the sweet potatoes into long strips, like the size of fries.
Arrange the sweet potato strips on the drying racks.
Dry in the dehydrator at 113°F for 10 hours. Add more time if they seem too moist.
I chopped some of the dried sweet potato, and added them into this layered Hojicha Sweet Potato Cake.
Equipment
There are many kinds of dehydrator online. I like the ones that has fan in the back and a door in the front like this one.
You can also use air fryer. The one I test with was only an air-fryer attachment on top of the instant pot.
Storage
Dried sweet potato can stay in air-tight containers or bags for 2 weeks in the dry and cool space. However, if you want to save them for a long time, you can freeze it for several months. And simply thaw it right before eating.
Recipe Tips
Avoid overcooking sweet potatoes! Once you can easily poke through the thickest part of sweet potatoes, it means they are all cooked through. If you keep cooking, the outside of sweet potatoes will start to become mushy, which makes them harder to handle during the next steps of preparation.
Remove the inner skin fully! (Like the one on the left) Sweet potato skin has an inner and outer layer. Right beneath the outer layer, there’s a thin, slightly translucent layer that clings tightly to the flesh. When you peel a sweet potato, you might notice this layer still sticking to the surface. Although the inner skin is edible, it is better to remove it before drying because the inner skin often peel off during dehydration, which creates a tough leathery layer.
Add more dehydrate time accordingly! Depending on the thickness of the sweet potato, some of them might need more time than others. You can add 1 or 2 hours to dehydrate them more.
Recipe FAQ
Yes, I have tried making dried purple sweet potato with the same way. It worked, but it is not as sweet as Japanese sweet potato.
Dehydrator is definitely better for this low-temp, long-timed drying process, but I have tried making it with air fryer, and it was totally fine.
When my husband first tried making it, he used an air fryer, which did not have many racks to fit all the sweet potatoes. So he invented this way of stacking to maximize the space. I call it “campfire stack”, but I think campers call it “log cabin”. Basically he arranged the sweet potato sticks parallel to each other on the base layer, and stack more on top, perpendicular to the lower layer. Continue layering sweet potatoes in alternating directions until he maxed out the air fryer space. Leave at least 0.3 inch space in between the sweet potato sticks for airflow.
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Recipe Card
Dried Sweet Potato
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 round, medium-sized Japanese sweet potato
Instructions
- Clean: Rinse sweet potatoes with water to remove any dirt from the skin.
- Steam: Steam the sweet potatoes over low heat for 45 minutes. (Start the timer after the water is completely boiling.)
- Ice: Once the sweet potatoes are fully cooked through, soak in the iced water for 5 minutes.
- Peel: Peel the skin off. (Check Recipe Tips)
- Cut: Cut the sweet potatoes into long strips, like the size of fries.
- Dehydrate: Arrange the sweet potato strips on the drying racks. Dry in the dehydrator at 113°F for 10 hours. Add more time if they seem too moist.
Notes
Remove the inner skin fully! (Like the one on the left) Sweet potato skin has an inner and outer layer. Right beneath the outer layer, there’s a thin, slightly translucent layer that clings tightly to the flesh. When you peel a sweet potato, you might notice this layer still sticking to the surface. Although the inner skin is edible, it is better to remove it before drying because the inner skin often peel off during dehydration, which creates a though leathery layer.
Add more dehydrate time accordingly! Depending on the thickness of the sweet potato, some of them might need more time than others. You can add 1 or 2 hours to dehydrate them more. 
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