How Much Does a Sweet Potato Weigh? (By Size)

Weighing a sweet potato is the easy part when you have scales. This page is for when you don’t: a recipe asks for 500 g and you’re standing in the shop, or it says “2 medium sweet potatoes” and yours look nothing like medium. The weights below use USDA’s reference sizes, with the conversions you actually need in the kitchen.

How much does a sweet potato weigh by size?

USDA FoodData Central lists a 5-inch (about 13 cm) raw sweet potato at 130 g, and that is the closest thing there is to an official “medium”. Its reference portions for a small and a large sweet potato are 60 g and 180 g.

Size	Weight	Rough length	Rough width
Small	60 g (2.1 oz)	10 cm (4 in)	4 cm (1.5 in)
Medium	130 g (4.6 oz)	13 cm (5 in)	5 cm (2 in)
Large	180 g (6.3 oz)	15 cm (6 in)	6 cm (2.5 in)

Real sweet potatoes vary a lot. The US No. 1 grade allows anything from 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 cm) long, 1 3/4 to 3 1/2 inches (4.5 to 9 cm) across, and up to 20 oz (567 g). Many sweet potatoes in Australian and US supermarkets sit at the big end of that range, so if yours is the length of your forearm, treat it as two or three “medium” potatoes in a recipe.

How many sweet potatoes are in a kilo or a pound?

Divide the weight you need by the size of the potatoes you have. Using the USDA sizes above:

You need	Small (60 g)	Medium (130 g)	Large (180 g)
500 g	8	4	3
1 kg	16 to 17	7 to 8	5 to 6
1 lb (454 g)	7 to 8	3 to 4	2 to 3

So “1 kg of sweet potato” is usually seven or eight medium ones, or five or six large. Older versions of this page said four to six medium, which only works if your mediums are closer to 200 g each.

How many cups does one sweet potato make?

USDA puts 1 cup of raw sweet potato cubes at 133 g, which is almost exactly one medium sweet potato. One cup of baked sweet potato flesh is heavier, at 200 g, because cooking softens it and it packs down into the cup.

Form	Weight per cup	Medium potatoes per cup
Raw, cubed	133 g (4.7 oz)	About 1
Baked flesh	200 g (7 oz)	About 2

If a recipe gives cups and you want grams, those two figures are the ones to use. For mashed sweet potato made from baked flesh, the baked figure is the closer match.

Does a sweet potato weigh less after cooking?

Usually, yes. Baking, roasting and microwaving drive water out, so the same potato weighs less after cooking. USDA’s figures show it: a 5-inch potato that weighs 130 g raw is listed at 114 g of flesh once baked, about 12 per cent less, and that is before you count the skin you peel away.

Boiling and steaming lose less weight and can even add a little, because the potato sits in water. If a recipe gives a weight without saying raw or cooked, it almost always means raw.

How long do you bake a sweet potato?

The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission bakes whole sweet potatoes at 200°C (400°F) for 45 to 60 minutes, until a fork slides in easily. Size is what moves you around inside that range.

Size	Oven at 200°C (400°F)	Microwave on high
Small (60 g)	About 35 to 45 minutes	About 4 to 5 minutes
Medium (130 g)	About 45 to 50 minutes	5 to 8 minutes
Large (180 g or more)	55 to 60 minutes or longer	8 minutes or more

The small and large times are rough guides, not tested figures, so check with a fork or skewer rather than going by the clock. Prick the skin a few times first. For the microwave, the Commission suggests piercing the skin five or six times and turning the potato halfway through.

What’s in 100 g of sweet potato?

These are USDA FoodData Central figures for raw sweet potato, with the baked figures beside them. Baked numbers run higher because the same nutrients are packed into less water.

Per 100 g	Raw	Baked in skin (flesh)
Energy	86 kcal (360 kJ)	90 kcal (378 kJ)
Carbohydrate	20.1 g	20.7 g
Dietary fibre	3.0 g	3.3 g
Protein	1.6 g	2.0 g
Fat	0.1 g	0.2 g
Vitamin A (RAE)	709 µg	961 µg
Potassium	337 mg	475 mg
Vitamin C	2.4 mg	19.6 mg

The Australian Food Composition Database lists raw, peeled orange sweet potato at 273 kJ, 2.6 g of fibre and 1.4 g of protein per 100 g. The two databases measured different samples, which is why the numbers don’t match exactly. The deep orange colour comes from beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, which is why the vitamin A figure is so high.

How much does a bushel of sweet potatoes weigh?

USDA’s conversion tables use 55 lb (about 25 kg) for a bushel of sweet potatoes at harvest, and note that the weight drops during curing, so a bushel at market can weigh less. Most sweet potatoes are now sold wholesale in 40 lb (about 18 kg) cartons rather than bushels.

Unit	Weight	Medium potatoes (130 g)
Bushel at harvest	55 lb (25 kg)	About 190
Wholesale carton	40 lb (18 kg)	About 140

How should you store sweet potatoes?

Keep them somewhere cool, dark and dry, not in the fridge. The North Carolina SweetPotato Commission says refrigerating raw sweet potatoes gives them a hard centre and an unpleasant taste. Stored at home in a cool, ventilated spot, they keep for about two weeks.

Commercial growers store them at 13 to 16°C (55 to 60°F) and around 85 per cent humidity, which is why they last for months in the supply chain and only a couple of weeks in a warm kitchen. Cooked sweet potato is different: that goes in the fridge.

FAQs

Is one sweet potato 100 grams?

Only if it is a small to medium one. A small sweet potato weighs about 60 g and a medium about 130 g, so 100 g is somewhere in between. Most supermarket sweet potatoes weigh well over 100 g.

How much does a sweet potato weigh in pounds?

A medium sweet potato weighs about 0.29 lb (4.6 oz). A large one is about 0.4 lb, and it takes three or four medium ones to make a pound. Very large supermarket sweet potatoes can reach 1.25 lb (20 oz) each.

How much sweet potato is one serve of vegetables?

In Australia’s dietary guidelines, one serve of vegetables is 75 g, or about half a medium potato or other starchy vegetable such as sweet potato. A medium sweet potato is close to two serves.

Should I weigh sweet potato raw or cooked?

Weigh it raw unless the recipe says otherwise. Raw weight is what recipes and nutrition labels usually mean, and cooked weight changes with the cooking method.

Can you eat sweet potato skin?

Yes. The skin is edible, so scrub it well and leave it on for baking or roasting. Peel it for mash or soup if you want a smoother texture.

What size sweet potato is best for baking whole?

Medium sweet potatoes of a similar size bake most evenly, because the centre cooks through before the outside dries out. Very large ones are easier to cut into wedges or cubes and roast.

For ways to use them, try our squash and sweet potato sides, including a sweet potato and kale hash. If you’re weighing pumpkin too, see how much an average pumpkin weighs, and before cooking, check whether your potatoes have gone off.

Next read: what black spots on a sweet potato mean, and whether it’s still safe to eat.