Deleted podcast downloads keep coming back

I had this issue as well. I finally tried the following at it’s worked:

1. delete the downloads from Apple podcasts
2. checked for updates in Settings, applied the update that hadn’t triggered yet

with the update executing on the phone, it seems to finally have removed the podcast episodes and cleared the data from my storage.

it’s not intuitive though and there’s no reason it should be this complicated.

Hello! Perhaps you have automatic downloads turned on. Here's how to turn them off for just one show:

1. Open Podcasts
2. Find the show you want to remove automatic downloads for
3. Tap the three dots at the top of the screen > Settings > Automatically Download > Off

Here's how to turn them off for all the shows you follow:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Podcasts > Automatically Download > Off

Take care!