Peel sweet potatoes. Slice sweet potatoes into one-inch cubes.
If using a steamer basket, add water to the Instant Pot and place sweet potatoes in the steamer basket. Otherwise, add sweet potatoes and 1 cup water directly into the Instant Pot. Lock the lid in place and set the pressure valve to "sealing".
Select "high pressure" and set the timer to 3 minutes. When the 3-minute timer is up, do a quick pressure release to remove all steam at once. Careful, a lot of hot steam will come out!
Drain water from the Instant Pot. Add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Use a potato masher to mash to desired consistency. Add milk as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, for smoother mashed potatoes.
Garnish with pecans and cinnamon. Enjoy!
Notes
I recommend using a steamer basket for this recipe to make clean-up easier. If you don't have a steamer basket, you can place the sweet potatoes directly into the Instant Pot.
For ultra-creamy sweet potatoes, I like to puree the cooked sweet potatoes in a blender (a standard blender like this works well). This will remove any stringy sweet potato bits. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of milk to make blending easier.
To toast pecans, set your Instant Pot to "saute". Add ¼ cup pecans. Toast for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
To make dairy-free: Swap out butter for vegan butter or coconut oil and use your favorite unsweetened, unflavored non-dairy milk.