These candied sweet potatoes are basted in a sweetly spiced butter mixture and roasted until tender. A Southern classic.
When I was growing up, my mom would just put out canned yams, so I would always look forward to the holidays when my aunt Nisha would make the real-deal candied ones. Now that I’m making my own, I do them in the oven rather than on the stove, because when they bake up in that syrup, they come out even more tender and sweet.–Rosie Mayes
☞ Contents
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 medium (about 3 pounds) sweet potatoes or yams peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick
- 1 stick (4 oz) salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar or less to taste
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- In a 9-by-13-inch (23-by-33-cm) baking dish, arrange the sweet potatoes in 2 or 3 layers, overlapping them slightly.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Sprinkle in the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Remove from the heat and give the spiced butter a good stir. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes and turn to coat them thoroughly. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and baste them with the candied mixture in the dish. Cover again and bake until tender, 20 to 40 minutes more.
- Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and let them sit for about 10 minutes. Baste them again with the spiced syrup in the pan before serving.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Talk about a holiday comfort food that comes together in a snap and is…sort of healthy! This dish is fabulous and a front-runner for my go-to holiday sweet potato recipe. It’s very sweet—truly candied—so while it would be stellar on your Thanksgiving plate, it could also be a stand-alone dessert.
Delicious as-is, though I’d consider adding some grated ginger to the candied mixture next time, and perhaps serving with some very lightly sweetened whipped cream or creme fraiche.
Easy and delicious. These are traditional candied sweet potatoes that taste like childhood and are so easy to prepare. If you like things a little less sweet, you can absolutely cut down on the sugar.
The only thing I would do differently is cut back on the granulated sugar and I would use 8 to 10 sweet potatoes as my potatoes were swimming in the deliciously sweet candied sauce. I personally do not like it that sweet but they were still delicious. I can’t see any child, or adult for that matter, turning these down.
Originally published December 24, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Terri Lyons
These candied sweet potatoes reminds me of the candied yams in the South which are very sweet but so flavourful. This recipe delivered what was promised. Hands-off oven-baked sweet candied potatoes.
I made half the recipe to accommodate only 2 of us, so I used 2 large sweet potatoes and had lots leftover. I was peeling my potatoes and was surprised to find one of them was a white one. I haven’t seen a white sweet potato in quite a few years and thought it would make a nice change. The white potatoes are harder, less sweet, and starchier than their orange counterparts. The white took an additional 15 minutes to cook but luckily I don’t mind potatoes that are really soft so the orange turned out just fine for me. I removed the foil for the last 15 minutes to try and thicken the sauce.
These would be perfect served with a ham or a salty component to dinner and the two colours were quite attractive together. Hopefully I can find white sweet potatoes next time I make these.