These candied sweet potatoes are tossed in a mixture of butter, brown sugar and spices, then are roasted until caramelized. A simple yet satisfying side dish that’s the perfect accompaniment to chicken, pork, turkey and beef.
Sweet potatoes are a staple on holiday menus, and this candied version is one of my favorite ways to enjoy this vegetable. Serve your potatoes alongside roast turkey, corn casserole, homemade dinner rolls and cranberry Jello salad for a memorable and delicious meal.
Candied sweet potatoes are a must-have during the fall and winter months. These potatoes are quick enough to put together on a busy weeknight, yet elegant enough for company. You can even customize your sweet potatoes by adding a variety of flavors and toppings.
These sweet potatoes are one of my favorite recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you want more sweet potato options check out my recipes for sweet potato souffle, mashed sweet potatoes and Hasselback sweet potatoes.
Table of Contents
Candied Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
To make this sweet potatoes recipe you will need sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter, ground cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
How Do You Make Candied Sweet Potatoes?
To make this candied sweet potato recipe, first cut up some sweet potatoes into slices or chunks and put them in a baking dish. Make a sauce by mixing together brown sugar, butter and spices in a small bowl. Pour that delicious sauce over the sweet potatoes and toss them until coated. Bake the sweet potatoes until the sugar caramelizes and the sweet potatoes become tender. Then serve and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Sweet Potatoes
- For this candied sweet potatoes recipe you want to use any orange flesh or red flesh sweet potatoes or yams like jewel or garnet sweet potatoes.
- Look for long thin sweet potatoes. They will be easier to cut.
- Choose sweet potatoes that have a smooth skin. You don’t want potatoes with bruises, darks spots, mushy spots, cracks or sprouts.
- I recommend removing the peel on your sweet potatoes.
- Don’t use the tips of the sweet potatoes, those small pieces may burn in the oven.
- As the sweet potatoes bake, be sure to stir them every 15 minutes so that they cook evenly.
- Don’t use pre-cooked canned sweet potatoes. Fresh sweet potatoes work best for this recipe.
- You can toss the candied sweet potatoes with the sauce in a bowl and transfer everything to a baking dish if you prefer.
Quick Tip
Cut your sweet potatoes into similar sized pieces so they cook at the same rate.
Recipe FAQs
Sweet potatoes and the yams in the grocery store are all really sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are sold in many sizes, shapes and colors. In many grocery stores the orange fleshed sweet potatoes are labeled as “yams.” However, these orange sweet potatoes are not true yams. True yams are root vegetables with rough brown exteriors that are grown in parts of Africa and Asia. You can find these yams in some specialty grocery stores, but they are not common. True yams would not be good for candied sweet potatoes.
You do not need to boil your sweet potatoes before you bake them. If you bake them for the correct amount of time they will become tender.
Candied sweet potatoes stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days. You can freeze them up to 2 months.
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Flavor Variations
Candied sweet potatoes are a fantastic side dish that can really bring a dinner together. However, you can change up this recipe to include some other great flavors.
- Flavoring: Feel free to use maple syrup instead of brown sugar in the sauce for your candied sweet potatoes. You could also add a dash of vanilla extract.
- Toppings: You can add toppings such as chopped pecans or streusel. To make your own streusel topping, simply mix together 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, 4 tablespoons of melted butter and 1/4 cup of chopped pecans in a bowl. As you mix the streusel, it will form crumbles. Put those streusel crumbles on the sweet potatoes and the topping will bake up golden brown.
- Orange: For a brighter colored dish with some citrus notes you can add 1/3 cup orange juice and 1 teaspoon of orange zest to the butter mixture.
- Marshmallows: You can add mini marshmallows and to the top of this dish for the last 5 minutes of the bake time or check out my candied yams with marshmallows recipe.
- Holiday Spice: Try adding a teaspoon of ground ginger, allspice or even pumpkin pie spice!
Sweet potatoes pair well with so many different dishes and are always a huge hit with family and friends. Whether it’s a holiday or a simple every day dinner, you just can’t go wrong with sweet potatoes!
More Side Dishes You’ll Enjoy
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
20 mins
Green Beans with Bacon
25 mins
Sauteed Asparagus
10 mins
Roasted Green Beans
30 mins
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Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 pounds sweet potatoes peeled, halved and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 9"x13" pan or 3 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place the sweet potatoes in an even layer in the dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
- Pour the brown sugar mixture over the sweet potatoes. Toss to coat them evenly in the sauce.
- Bake the sweet potatoes for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until tender and caramelized. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Don’t use the tips of the sweet potatoes, those small pieces tend to get overdone or burn in the oven.
- Cut your sweet potatoes into similar sized pieces so they cook at the same rate.
- Don’t use pre-cooked canned sweet potatoes. Fresh sweet potatoes work best for this recipe.
can you cover this dish with foil
Yes that’s fine!
Love the easy recipes. Food is bomb
Great recipe, easier than what I’ve made for 50 years. It did require my largest Pyrex pan to spread out the chunks & a little more oven time, but maybe I went overboard on the amount of yams I used! Everyone loved them.
Perfect level of sweetness. Definitely going to be making this many more times during the holidays!
These homemade candied yams look wonderful. They are much easier to make than I thought, and they really make a perfect side dish for my family.
These are easy to make! Just a few ingredients are all thats needed. Took them to a Friendsgiving and they loved it!
These sweet potatoes were so delicious! Perfectly sweet. Can’t wait to make them again for Thanksgiving!
These sweet potatoes are so yummy and simple to make! Thank you for sharing!
I love sweet potatoes in the fall! This recipe was super easy to make and turned out perfectly – it was a delicious side dish for our dinner last night, and I think I’m going to be making it frequently during the fall and holiday season!
Forget being a side dish – I could eat these all on their own! So good!
This is our family’s favorite! Thanks for sharing this!
That looks absolutely amazing. I’m a huge fan of candied sweet potatoes. I love to serve them with a little whipped cream on top.
I made this sweet potatoes with dinner last night and they were incredible. My family loved them!