Yam substitute

Best substitute

Taro, cocoyam, eddo or malanga

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

Best for boiled yam

Different taste

For boiled yam, yam porridge or asaro, a floury potato such as a russet at 1:1 by weight is the best supermarket swap, added later in the cook because it breaks down faster. Taro or cocoyam is closer still in texture if you have an African, Caribbean or Asian grocer nearby. For pounded yam specifically, the only substitute that really works is instant yam flour or plantain flour, because mashed potato goes gluey and slack and will never stretch the way pounded yam does.

Other yam substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Floury potato (russet or Maris Piper)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The best widely available option for yam in boiled, fried and porridge dishes.
What changes
Best for
yam porridge and asaro, boiled yam with stew or egg sauce, yam in soups, fried yam chips
Similar mild starchiness, so the dish tastes right in outline. The differences are real though: potato holds more water and is far more fragile, so instead of staying in neat cubes it dissolves into the sauce and thickens it, and it tastes sweeter and less earthy than yam. Add it in the last fifteen to twenty minutes, keep the simmer gentle and stir as little as you can. It does not work for pounded yam.
3Cassava (yuca)
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Another West African staple root, comparable in starch and density.
What changes
Best for
boiled sides, pounded swallow dishes, stews, fried chips
Very close in body and dryness, so it stands in well for boiled or fried yam. It is sweeter and stringier, with a woody central fibre you need to cut out, and pounded cassava comes out noticeably stickier and glossier than pounded yam. Peel thickly, remove the core, and boil until completely soft; cassava must always be cooked thoroughly and is never eaten raw.
4Green plantain
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Firm, starchy and widely available in the same shops that sell yam.
What changes
Best for
yam porridge, boiled yam dishes, yam in soups and stews, pottage
Green plantain holds its shape in a pot better than potato does, which makes it a good structural stand-in for cubed yam in a porridge. The flavour shifts: there is a faint banana note and a touch more sweetness, so the dish tastes noticeably fruitier. Use fully green plantain, since anything yellow will be too sweet and too soft.
5Instant yam flour, plantain flour or fufu flour
Different taste
About 1 cup flour to 2 cups boiling water, replacing roughly 500g fresh yam
The only honest substitute for pounded yam when you cannot get a tuber.
What changes
Best for
pounded yam and iyan, amala, any swallow served with soup
For pounded yam this is not a compromise so much as the standard shortcut, and the texture comes out genuinely close: smooth, stiff and elastic. The flavour is slightly flatter and a little toastier than freshly pounded yam. Add the flour to boiling water in a stream while stirring hard, never the other way round, and keep working it against the pot until it pulls away cleanly.
6Sweet potato
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, expecting a different dish
What most American shops mean when they say yam, and worth using deliberately rather than by accident.
What changes
Best for
mixed vegetable stews, roasted sides, porridge where sweetness is welcome
Understand what you are getting: sweet potato is sweet, moist and orange, and it breaks down into a soft puree rather than holding cubes. In a yam porridge it produces something closer to a sweet mash, pleasant but not the same dish. It is completely wrong for pounded yam, where it will make a sticky sweet paste with no stretch. If you want yam's neutrality, this is not the swap.

What is Yam?

Yam is A true yam is a large, rough-skinned, starchy tropical tuber with dense white flesh, sold as puna yam, white yam or isu, and it is not the same plant as the orange sweet potato that American supermarkets label a yam.

Cooking tips

Read the label carefully when shopping in the United States. A tin or a root labelled yam in an American supermarket is almost always a sweet potato, which is a different plant with different sugar, moisture and behaviour. Real yam is sold in African, Caribbean and Latin American markets as puna yam, white yam, isu or name, and looks like a rough bark-covered log.
Cut the yam into rounds first, then peel each round with a knife. The skin is tough and there is a firm layer beneath it that can taste bitter, so peel more generously than you would a potato. Trying to peel a whole yam is awkward and wasteful.
Peeled yam browns and goes slimy on the surface within minutes, so drop the pieces into a bowl of cold water as you go and drain them just before cooking. This also rinses off surface starch, which keeps boiled yam from becoming claggy.
Boil in well-salted water until a knife slides in easily, usually fifteen to twenty minutes for two-centimetre rounds. Yam goes from firm to waterlogged quickly, and overcooked yam will not pound properly and falls apart in a stew, so start checking early.
Raw yam sap irritates some people's skin and makes it itch, so wear gloves if you are peeling a lot of it. A whole uncut yam keeps for several weeks somewhere cool, dark and dry with air around it, and should never go in the fridge, where it will turn dark and soft.

Frequently asked questions

Is a yam the same thing as a sweet potato?

No. They are unrelated plants. A true yam is a large tropical tuber with rough brown or grey skin and dense, dry, starchy white flesh, and it tastes mild and faintly earthy. A sweet potato has smooth thin skin, moist orange or white flesh, and it is distinctly sweet. American supermarkets label some orange sweet potatoes as yams for historical reasons, which is the single biggest cause of failed West African recipes outside Africa.

Can I use potato instead of yam?

For yam porridge, boiled yam or fried yam chips, yes, at 1:1 by weight, and a floury potato like a russet is the best choice. Expect it to be softer, sweeter and more prone to falling apart, so add it later in the cook and stir gently. For pounded yam, no: mashed potato turns gluey and slack when you work it, and it will never develop the stretchy elasticity that makes pounded yam what it is.

What can I use for pounded yam if I cannot find yam?

Instant yam flour, sold as poundo yam or pounded yam flour, is the substitute that actually works, and plantain flour or a general fufu flour will also give you a good swallow. Whisk the flour into boiling water in a thin stream, stirring hard, then work it against the side of the pot until it pulls away in one mass. Fresh taro or cassava can be boiled and pounded instead, though both come out stickier than yam.

How do I tell if a yam has gone bad?

Cut into it and look. Good yam is uniformly white or pale cream and firm. Discard it if the flesh is brown, grey, soft, slimy or dry and spongy, if it smells sour or fermented, or if there are dark rings running through it. A little browning right at a cut end is normal and can be trimmed off. Yams often store for weeks, so a soft patch usually means a bruise that has spread.

Can I leave the yam out of a stew or soup?

Yes. In a soup or stew yam is providing starchy bulk and something substantial to chew, not a distinctive flavour, so potato, plantain, cassava or taro will all cover it, or you can simply omit it and serve more rice or swallow alongside. The place you cannot omit it is a dish named after it, like yam porridge or pounded yam, where it is the entire point.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Yam substitute

Other yam substitutes

2Floury potato (russet or Maris Piper)

3Cassava (yuca)

4Green plantain

5Instant yam flour, plantain flour or fufu flour

6Sweet potato