How Long Does Sweet Potatoes Last?

Whole, raw sweet potatoes stored in a cool, dark, well-ventilated spot — not the fridge, similar to regular potatoes — keep for 3-5 weeks, and refrigerating them actually shortens their life and can give them an unpleasant, hard core when eventually cooked, a cold-sensitivity sweet potatoes share with regular potatoes.

Soft spots, a shriveled or wrinkled skin, and sprouting eyes are the early signs of decline, similar to a regular potato, while dark, sunken patches with a somewhat fuzzy texture and a sour smell signal actual mold and mean the potato should be discarded rather than trimmed around. Because sweet potatoes are more prone to rot than regular potatoes if handled roughly, checking for the softest end of a stored batch periodically catches a decaying potato before it spreads its moisture to its neighbors in storage.

A sweet potato stored in a paper bag rather than a plastic one breathes better and is less likely to develop the excess surface moisture that speeds up mold — plastic bags trap the humidity that a root vegetable like sweet potato actually needs to avoid, unlike a leafy green that benefits from that trapped moisture.

A sweet potato with a slightly rough, corky patch on its skin (a natural blemish sometimes called scurf) is a cosmetic growing condition rather than a sign of rot, and the flesh underneath is typically unaffected even though the patch itself doesn't look appealing.

See Sweet Potatoes's full storage & shelf-life guide (with spoilage signs) →