Millet sweet potato porridge is a nourishing breakfast. Creamy, naturally sweet, gluten-free and vegan. This millet sweet potato porridge is simple to make in a rice cooker using only 2 ingredients. Program the rice cooker ahead of time, and you will wake up to hot porridge in the morning! Stove top cooking method also included.
When I grew up in China, I ate porridge at breakfast almost every morning. In fact, porridge is a common food in every family. This is because porridges are nourishing, comforting and easily digestible. There are many ways to combine ingredients to make porridges of endless variations.
Millet is a common porridge ingredient, and a nutritious ancient cereal grain (technically a seed). Previously, I shared the health benefits of millet (TCM explanation), a plain millet porridge recipe and popular ingredient pairings of millet in another blog post. Here I want to introduce a slightly sweet porridge by combining millets and sweet potato. In addition, I want to demonstrate through this recipe that a good rice cooker can do more than cooking rice. Prepping ahead can greatly save time in the morning.
The Rice Cooker I Use
You can’t use just any rice cooker to make this millet sweet potato porridge. Most rice cookers sold in North America are really simple with an “on/off” switch. In comparison, Asian rice cookers are much more sophisticated and multi-functional. Once you learn to appreciate all the extra features, you will not want to live without them.
I have been using the same rice cooker for over 15 years. Although I had to replace the inner pot because it just worn out eventually, the rice cooker itself worked wonderfully this entire time. The rice cooker I own is a zojirushi. I dare to say, it is the most famous and trusted Asian rice cooker brand.
Here are some features I really love about my rice cooker:
- Neuro-fuzzy technology: A fancy way of saying that the computer inside the rice cooker can “think” for itself to make fine adjustment to temperature and heating time to cook perfect rice every time. I can honestly say that the rice made in my rice cooker tastes better than the rice made on the stove or in my instant pot.
- Available programs for white rice, brown rice, sweet rice, sushi rice, etc.: As we eat whole grain brown rice and red rice all the time in the house, the “brown rice” setting is the one I use most often.
- A separate program to make porridge: This setting takes about an hour to slow cook the grains into a porridge. The “porridge” setting is what we will cook the millet sweet potato porridge in.
- You can program 2 timers into the rice cooker: I programmed the 1st timer at 7am, which I use for making breakfast porridge the night before. I programmed the 2nd timer at 5pm, which I use for making rice ready just before dinner.
- Keep warm function: Whenever cooking is done, the rice cooker automatically switches to the “keep warm” setting.
The zojirushi rice cooker was an expensive investment at the time when I bought it. Looking back, it’s worth every single penny.
Millet Sweet Potato Porridge Ingredients and Substitutions
Millets
I highly recommend using Chinese foxtail millets to make this porridge. In contrast, the kind of millets grown in North America and sold in most grocery stores has a rough texture and isn’t as tasty. Foxtail millets can be found in Chinese grocery stores. I even found some certified organic Chinese millets in Toronto.
Sweet Potato
Sweet potato adds a hint of natural sweetness to the porridge. For this reason, my kids love the millet sweet potato porridge. You can use any kind of sweet potato, or substitute with butternut squash, kabocha squash or pumpkin.
How to Make Millet Sweet Potato Porridge in Rice Cooker
The following images illustrate how to make millet sweet potato porridge using a rice cooker.
- Add washed millets into the inner pot of the rice cooker.
- Next, add filtered water into the inner pot of the rice cooker.
- Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into small pieces.
- Then add sweet potatoes into the inner pot of the rice cooker.
- Start the rice cooker using pre-programmed “porridge” setting (this program takes 1-hour cooking time).
- When cooking is done, the rice cooker will play a ringtone, and then automatically switch to “keep warm” setting until it is manually turned off.


Prep Ahead Using the Rice Cooker Timer Feature
If you could, wouldn’t you love waking up to hot breakfast? If time isn’t a constraint for cooking in the morning, wouldn’t you eat healthier? I honestly think the solution is in preparing breakfasts ahead of time.
It doesn’t mean we have to cook the food on the previous day and eat leftovers. But we can use a programmable appliance to make breakfast while we sleep. Congee and porridge are ideal breakfasts to be cooked overnight. For example, this millet sweet potato porridge made in rice cooker, or Forbidden Rice & Red Bean Congee made in Instant Pot.
On the zojirushi rice cooker, press the “timer” button to toggle between “timer 1” and “timer 2” to choose the timer you want to use for breakfast time. Then, use the “▲” and “▼” buttons to adjust finish time. Once you set the finish time, press “cooking” button to start the rice cooker. The rice cooker will start cooking while you sleep, and finish cooking at the time you set on the timer.
Related: More Chinese Congee and Porridge Recipes
- Instant Pot Forbidden Rice & Red Bean Congee
- Nourishing Liver, Vegetable & Sweet Rice Congee
- Millet Porridge: A Chinese Postpartum & Digestive Healer
Related: More Time-Saving Breakfast Ideas
- Baked Eggs in Portabella Mushroom Caps (Paleo, Keto, Whole 30)
- Immune-Boosting Chicken Broth Seaweed Egg Drop Soup
- Overnight Banana Spelt Pancakes: Fermented for Better Nutrition and Digestion


Millet Sweet Potato Porridge in Rice Cooker
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup foxtail millets
- 4 cup filtered water
- 1-2 sweet potato (depending on size)
Instructions
Preparation
- Rinse the millets.
- Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into small pieces. 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes yield about 2 1/2 cup.
Rice Cooker Method
- Add washed millets into the inner pot of the rice cooker. Next, add filtered water into the inner pot of the rice cooker. The water level should be at porridge line 1.
- Then add sweet potatoes into the inner pot of the rice cooker.
- Press the "menu" button to toggle to pre-programmed “porridge” setting (this program takes 1-hour cooking time). To start cooking right away, press the "cooking" button. To set the timer for later (eg. breakfast next morning), press the “timer” button to toggle between “timer 1” and “timer 2” to choose the timer you want to use, then use the “▲” and “▼” buttons to adjust finish time, then press “cooking” button to start the rice cooker on the timer.
- When cooking is done, the rice cooker will play a ringtone, and then automatically switch to “keep warm” setting until it is manually turned off.
- Before serving, use a laddle to stir the porridge for a minute to achive a harmogenous consistency. Slightly press on the sweet potato pieces to blend into the porridge.
Stove Top Method
- Add washed millets, sweet potato pieces, filtered water into a sauce pan. Cover with a lid.
- Bring the pot to a boil, and then simmer on low heat for 40 minutes.
Notes
- The rice cooker comes with a measuring cup (180ml). For this recipe, I am using imperial system measurement, 1 cup = 240ml. This is for those who don't have a rice cooker, I would like to provide a widely adopted measurement so that the recipe can be made in a regular fashion on the stove top.
Nutrition


Hi
Do you have steps to make this porridge uding Instant Pot
Thanks for visiting my blog! Try cooking under “high pressure” for 20 minutes in Instant Pot.
We also love porridge for breakfast and enjoy ancestral grains, or soaked grains, often in this way. I just received millet in the mail and look forward to trying this!
I’ve never tried millet but this looks so good I have to go buy some now!
This looks very satisfying and actually like an amazing fuel up before my long runs, thanks for sharing I’m going to make it this weekend.
Delicious, comforting and so satisfying! So good!
This is so simple but comforting! It’s so perfect on chilly nights.
I just made millet for the first time the other day – and I have to say I’m a fan. This porridge reminds me of things I’ve eaten in Taiwan – tasty!