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Boniato substitute

Best substitute

Japanese Sweet Potato (Satsumaimo)

Use the same amount by weight as the boniato you are replacing

Best for boniato frito and fries

Close match

Japanese sweet potato is the closest swap and a very good one at 1:1 by weight, because it has the same purple-red skin, white flesh and dry, fluffy, chestnut-like texture. Any white-fleshed sweet potato labelled Hannah or O'Henry works just as well. If you only have russet potatoes, use them 1:1 for savoury dishes and add a teaspoon of sugar per pound to hint at boniato's mild sweetness. Orange sweet potato is the swap to avoid unless you have no choice, because it is much wetter and much sweeter and will change the dish noticeably.

Other boniato substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Boniato with ratios

  1. 2White or Hannah Sweet Potato

    Close match

    Use the same amount by weight

    Pale-skinned, cream-fleshed sweet potato varieties such as Hannah, O'Henry or the ones simply labelled white sweet potato.

    What changes
    Best for
    boiled with mojo, mash and puree, fries, soups and stews, roasting

    Practically interchangeable, and in some shops boniato is what they are selling under this label anyway. The flesh is dry and fluffy in the same way, and the sweetness is restrained. The one difference worth flagging is that these varieties are usually a little more watery than a true boniato, so for fries or a fluffy mash you should roast or steam rather than boil them, or pat them dry before frying. Skin colour makes no difference to how they cook.

  2. 3Russet Potato

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by weight, plus 1 tsp sugar per lb if the dish wants sweetness

    The standard floury baking potato, the most available option anywhere.

    What changes
    Best for
    boniato frito, boiled starch sides with mojo, sancocho and stews, mash, soups

    A genuinely reasonable swap, because the thing that makes boniato distinctive among sweet potatoes is precisely that it is dry and fluffy like a russet. Texture is close: both go floury and absorbent, both make a light mash, both fry well. The gap is flavour, since russet has none of boniato's faint sweetness or its chestnut note, so a dish comes out cleaner and plainer. In yuca-style boiled-and-dressed dishes with garlic mojo, nobody will complain. A teaspoon of sugar per pound in the cooking water or the mash bridges most of the difference, and in a savoury stew you can skip it entirely.

  3. 4Malanga, Yautia or Taro

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by weight

    Starchy tropical corms with hairy brown skin and firm white or pink-flecked flesh, sold as malanga, yautia, dasheen, eddoe or cocoyam.

    What changes
    Best for
    sancocho and ajiaco, soups, boiled root platters, fritters and alcapurrias, purees

    The right answer inside a Caribbean one-pot, where boniato is one of several roots in the bowl and swapping one for another is completely normal. Malanga is nuttier and earthier than boniato with no sweetness, slightly slippery on the tongue, and it thickens the broth more, so a sancocho made with extra malanga comes out heavier and more savoury. Both need thorough cooking, and raw malanga and taro irritate bare skin, so peel them under running water or wear gloves. Not the swap for a dish where boniato's sweetness is the point.

  4. 5Yukon Gold or Waxy Potato

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by weight, added later in stews

    An all-purpose or waxy potato with yellow flesh and a slightly buttery flavour.

    What changes
    Best for
    stews and sancocho, boiled sides, salads, soups

    Better than russet where you need the pieces to hold their shape, which is most stews, and its natural buttery quality reads a little closer to boniato than a plain white potato does. It is denser and moister though, so it will not give you a fluffy mash or a floury fried chunk, and it turns the dish slightly yellow instead of white. Add it about ten minutes later than the recipe would add boniato, since it cooks faster and will start to break up.

  5. 6Orange Sweet Potato (Least-Best, With Fixes)

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by weight, but drain hard and cut other sugar

    The common orange-fleshed sweet potato, often mislabelled yam in American shops.

    What changes
    Best for
    mash and puree, roasted wedges, soups where sweetness is welcome

    Worth being honest here, because this is the swap most people reach for and the one most likely to disappoint. Orange sweet potato is much wetter, considerably sweeter and stringier, and it turns bright orange, so a boniato mash made with it comes out soft, sticky and dessert-like rather than dry and fluffy, and boniato fries made with it will not crisp at all. If it is what you have: roast it rather than boiling it, so it loses water instead of gaining it; cut any sugar, honey or condensed milk in the recipe by half; add a knob more butter to compensate for the missing floury body; and expect an orange plate. For frying, use a potato instead.

What is Boniato?

Boniato is A Caribbean sweet potato with rosy-pink or reddish skin and dry, snow-white flesh, sold as boniato, batata, camote or Cuban white sweet potato, and far drier and less sweet than the orange sweet potato most supermarkets stock.

Cooking tips

  • Do not boil boniato in a lot of water if you want it fluffy. Its whole appeal is dryness, and it absorbs water readily. Steam it, roast it, or boil it in just enough salted water to cover, drain it immediately and let it sit uncovered for two minutes to steam off. Waterlogged boniato is gluey and disappointing.
  • It oxidises fast, faster than a potato. Cut flesh browns within minutes, so keep the peeled chunks in a bowl of cold water until you cook them, and peel it just before you need it rather than in advance.
  • For boniato frito, cut thick wedges, boil or steam them until barely tender, cool them, then fry in hot oil. Frying raw boniato gives you a browned exterior and a chalky centre, exactly the same trap as with cassava and breadfruit.
  • Boniato drinks butter, oil and garlic mojo in a way orange sweet potato cannot, because the dry flesh has room to take it. That is the reason boiled boniato with garlic mojo is such a good dish, and the reason you should be more generous with fat than you think.
  • Buy it firm with taut skin and use it within a week or two, kept cool and dark but not refrigerated, since cold makes the flesh hard and sweetish in an odd way. Soft patches, wrinkled skin or any smell of alcohol means it is past it. Boniato does not store as well as orange sweet potato.
  • It is always cooked, never eaten raw, and it needs to go properly soft. Test with a knife tip rather than a timer: like most tropical starches it stays firm and then gives way fairly suddenly.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave boniato out?

In a sancocho, ajiaco or mixed stew, yes, because it is one root among several and potato, malanga, yuca or plantain fills the gap. In boniato frito, boiled boniato with mojo, or a boniato mash, it is the dish, so use Japanese or white sweet potato instead. Remember that it also thickens broth, so leaving it out of a soup makes it thinner as well as less sweet.

Is boniato the same as sweet potato?

It is a sweet potato, just a different type. Boniato is a white-fleshed, dry-fleshed variety grown across the Caribbean and Latin America, sold as batata in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and camote in parts of Latin America. The orange sweet potato most Americans picture is a wetter, sweeter, softer variety, which is exactly why swapping one for the other changes a dish so much.

What does boniato taste like?

Mildly sweet with a chestnut-like, faintly nutty flavour and a dry, fluffy, almost cottony texture closer to a baked russet potato than to a candied sweet potato. It is far less sugary than orange sweet potato, which is why it works comfortably in savoury dishes and takes garlic, oil, salt and citrus well.

Can I use regular orange sweet potato instead of boniato?

You can, but it is the least accurate option and you should plan for it. It is wetter, sweeter and stringier, so roast rather than boil it, halve any added sugar in the recipe, and do not expect it to crisp when fried. For a mash it makes an acceptable if much sweeter dish; for boniato frito, a russet potato gives a far better result.

Where do I buy boniato?

Latin American, Caribbean and Asian grocers, usually loose in the root vegetable section next to yuca, malanga and plantain, and often labelled batata, camote or white sweet potato. Large supermarkets in Florida, New York and other areas with big Cuban and Puerto Rican communities stock it routinely. If nothing local carries it, Japanese sweet potato from an Asian grocer is the swap to buy.

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