Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Stuffing

Jammed with tender sweet potatoes and slow cooked to perfection, this sweet potato stuffing couldn’t be easier to prep for the holidays and it’s packed with flavor!

Time to let your slow cooker do some of the heavy lifting for Thanksgiving this year! Featuring all the sweet potatoes and a side of ease.

Stuffing is an essential side dish at Thanksgiving but everyone knows that oven space is limited on the biggest cooking day of the year. So we simplified it and made a slow cooker version!

It’s everything you love about a good stuffing from the moist texture to an incredible amount of aromatic flavors.

And the tender sweet potatoes? They break up the hearty “breadiness” a little bit and add an amazing soft and sweet element.

No buts about it, this stuffing needs to be on your menu.

This Sweet Potato Stuffing features…

• Tender sweet potatoes and a moist bread stuffing
• Sauteed vegetables and lots of flavorful seasonings
• Cooked to perfection in the slow cooker freeing up oven space

Making the Sweet Potato Stuffing

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Unsalted butter
• Yellow onion
• Celery
• Garlic
• Thyme
• Poultry seasoning
• Sage
• Sweet potato
• Dry bread cubes
• Eggs
• Chicken broth
• Parsley

Choosing Your Bread

This recipe works great with a variety of bread, but we recommend a milder bread such as white, whole wheat, or French bread.

Stuffing requires the use of dry bread cubes and you can make these by either letting your bread cubes sit out a few hours until stale or dry them out in a 350F oven 10-15 minutes.

Tips for Perfect Slow Cooker Stuffing

1. Cut sweet potato and bread cubes in uniform size – try to get these ingredients in 1/4-inch cubes so the stuffing cooks evenly.
2. Sauté vegetables – this builds a base of aromatic flavor for the stuffing.
3. Moisten bread cubes – start with 1 cup of chicken broth and add more as needed until bread cubes are moistened.
4. Start cooking stuffing on high – cook the stuffing on high 1 hour, then reduce to low and continue to cook 2-3 additional hours. This 1 hour cook on high helps toast up the exterior of the stuffing.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this stuffing.

• Try a different vegetable – try replacing the sweet potato with a squash such as butternut or delicata.
• Add sausage – add 1/2 lb browned sausage to the stuffing for a meaty kick.
• Make it vegetarian – replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth for a vegetarian-friendly stuffing.

Oven Instructions

Don’t have an instant pot? You can still make this recipe using our oven instructions below.

Follow all the recipe instructions through step 2 then spray a 9×13 baking dish with pan spray and spoon stuffing into pan. Bake stuffing at 350F 30-35 minutes until a light golden brown and stuffing registers 165F.

Once you try this slow cooker stuffing, I promise you there’s no going back! The amount of fragrant, homey flavors it builds during the slow cooking is unbelievable.

Ready to put that turkey to shame? This is it!

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

More Thanksgiving side dishes to try next!

• Mom’s Fresh Cranberry Sauce
• Asiago Rosemary Dinner Rolls
• Maple Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes

This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 11/2/23.