SeasonSort Week of Sep 4 · updated Fri

Sweet Potatoes

Peak season in the Midwest · down 22% this week

$0.98 /lb

This week

↓22%

Vs last week

117

Calories/serv

3 g

Protein/serv

Seasonality of sweet potatoes

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from September through December, and is sold in stores year-round. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.

Nutrition · per 130g serving

117

Calories

2.6 g

Protein

26.9 g

Carbs

0.3 g

Fat

4.3 g

Fiber

Per a typical 130g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, flesh, without salt).

Cheapest sweet potatoes this week, by region

Buying sweet potatoes in the Southeast saves about 59% versus the Southwest this week.

Buying sweet potatoes

How to pick a good one: Firm, with smooth unbroken skin and no soft or shrivelled ends. Medium, evenly shaped ones cook more predictably than huge irregular ones. Small dark blemishes are fine; soft dark spots are rot and will spread.
What a good price looks like: Typically $1 to $2 a pound, cheapest from October through January. Under $1.25 is a good price, and they store for weeks, so it is worth buying several. Note they are not interchangeable with potatoes on price: sweet potatoes are usually the dearer of the two per pound, and considerably dearer per calorie.
What you actually get: A medium sweet potato is about 200 g and serves one as a side. A pound gives roughly 2 cups cubed. The skin is edible and worth keeping for roasting; peeling costs about 12% of the weight and a good share of the fibre.

Storing and cooking sweet potatoes

How to store it: Cool, dark, and dry like potatoes, but not refrigerated — cold gives them a hard core that never softens. They keep for several weeks in a cupboard.
In the kitchen: They are much sweeter roasted than boiled, and the reason is time rather than temperature — the enzyme that converts starch to sugar works between about 60 and 75°C, so a slow start in a moderate oven gives a far sweeter result than blasting them. Roast whole at 200°C for 45 minutes to an hour. If you are cubing them, cut larger than you would a potato, since they soften faster.
Getting the most out of it: Roast them whole and slow rather than fast; the extra time converts starch to sugar and is the difference between bland and caramelised. They are nutritionally denser than regular potatoes, so they are the better buy in a week when both are priced similarly.

Cook with Sweet Potatoes · cheapest dishes first

See all 450 recipes with sweet potatoes →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.

Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.

Sweet Potatoes — FAQ

When can you buy sweet potatoes in season?

This vegetable is at its local-harvest peak from September through December, and is sold in stores year-round. This week the Midwest has sweet potatoes marked peak season.

What's the price of sweet potatoes right now?

As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of sweet potatoes in the Midwest is $0.98/lb, down 22% from last week. It's cheapest in the Southeast at $0.98/lb.

How many calories and how much protein are in sweet potatoes?

A typical 130g serving of sweet potatoes has about 117 calories, 2.6g protein, 26.9g carbohydrates, 0.3g fat, and 4.3g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.

What can I make with sweet potatoes?

SeasonSort indexes 450 recipes that use sweet potatoes, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.08 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.