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TL;DR (Quick-Answer Box)
- What it is: A fun, fried take on sweet potato casserole, this recipe encases a melted marshmallow in a spiced, mashed sweet potato mixture, all coated in crispy cornflakes.
- Why you’ll love it: It’s a creative, indulgent + easy-to-prep holiday side or dessert that offers a perfectly sweet, creamy, and crunchy contrast in every bite.
- How to make it: Bake and mash the sweet potatoes, mix with butter, sugar, flour, orange juice, bourbon (or sherry/vanilla extract) and spices, then form balls around marshmallows, dip in egg wash, coat in cornflakes + fry until golden.
Jump To
Inside-out sweet potatoes are crazily clever little bombs of sweet, gooey deliciousness that are perhaps better suited to no other day of the year than Thanksgiving. They’re essentially an irreverent and savvily deconstructed approach to everyone’s favorite iconic sweet potato casserole. Not only are the gooey, crunchy, buttery little bursts of melted marshmallow irresistible to children, they’re also ridiculously tempting for adults. Never fails to impress.
Can These Sweet Potatoes Be Made Ahead?
They sure can! Cookbook author Martha Hall Foose has a smart make-ahead trick: Bake and mash the sweet potatoes early (or the night before), slather the spiced mash over the marshmallows, place them on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for hours. Forget about them until the turkey’s resting—then roll in cornflake crumbs and fry. Or snag a guest, hand them an apron, and let them handle it. Simple, right?
More Gotta-Have Sweet Potato Recipes
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If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Inside-Out Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Deep-fry or candy or instant-read thermometer
Ingredients
- 6 sweet potatoes, unpeeled
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon bourbon, sherry, or vanilla extract
- 1 cup crushed cornflakes
- 8 large or jumbo marshmallows
- Canola oil, for frying (1 1/2 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Grab a fork and pierce each sweet potato several times all over. Place the sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Bake until the sweet potatoes are tender and easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 40 minutes, depending on the size of the sweet potatoes. Allow the sweet potatoes to cool in their skins. When cool enough to handle, use a knife to halve the potatoes lengthwise and then scoop out the insides from the skins into a bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes with a fork or potato masher until smooth.
- Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder, flour, orange juice, and bourbon, sherry, or vanilla extract.
- Place the crushed cornflakes in a shallow dish or pie plate. Beat the egg with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl.
- Working with your hands, smother each marshmallow with some of the sweet potato mixture, forming a ball. If the sweet potato mixture seems too soft to hold its shape, stir in some of the cornflake crumbs to thicken it. (You can cover and refrigerate the sweet potato-smothered marshmallows for up to 24 hours.) Dip each ball in the egg and then roll it in the crumbs. Refrigerate just until the oil is hot.
- Heat the oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat until it registers 375°F (190°C) on a deep-fry or candy or instant-read thermometer. Place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C).
- Fry the inside-out sweet potatoes a couple at a time, turning as needed, until lightly browned on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes total. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the wire rack and transfer the entire baking sheet and wire rack to the oven to keep the inside-out sweet potatoes warm while you’re frying the rest. Serve warm.
Notes
Baked Inside-Out Sweet Potatoes Variation
If you have the oven space on Thanksgiving, you can skip the time-consuming deep-frying and bake these little lovelies instead. [Editor’s Note: We know, we know, everything is better fried. But we have this on good authority—actually, it’s from cookbook author Martha Hall Foose, who developed this recipe herself.] Simply follow steps 1 through 3 per the recipe above and then preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper and generously spray the inside-out sweet potatoes with nonstick cooking spray. Bake until browned.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Did you know only 68% of the recipes we test make it onto the site? This recipe survived our rigorous blind testing process by multiple home cooks. It earned the Leite’s Culinaria stamp of approval—and the testers’ reviews below prove it.
The flavors of this fantastic inside-out sweet potatoes recipe are amazing. The accompanying picture is a little misleading because it makes the balls look small—when you actually start to add sweet potato around the marshmallows, they become rather huge. Don’t skimp on the amount of sweet potato or cornflakes, though, or cracks may appear during or after frying and cause the marshmallow to ooze out before you get to eat them.
I would really, really rather bake them…how long do you suggest?
Hi Kathy, I wish that i could give you some specific guidance for baking them, but our testers only tested them as written, fried. If you do try and eliminate the frying step, please let us know how they turn out. It could be a great help to other readers.
My family has made these for years, baked. Since the potatoes will be cooked already, you really just need to melt the marshmallow and crisp up the corn flakes, adding some butter on top of the balls just before baking them really helps the browning part. Good luck! These are my families secret holiday treat.
Faith, so glad you like these and that they’re a family favorite. Happy Thanksgiving!
Kathy, we’re going to reach out to the author and see if we can get a definitive answer.
Thank you! I would love to make these for Thanksgiving
I am running out for some marshmallows right now! What a great idea!
Hah! Lovely to hear you’re as head over heels for this recipe as we are, Alan!
Everything I have tried from Martha’s book Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, have been nothing shy of Southern satisfaction! Bon appetit!
We couldn’t agree more, Sheila. Martha and her book are true Southern treasures.