Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Maple Butter

These easy roasted sweet potatoes are tossed in maple cinnamon butter and cooked until caramelized and tender. A simple yet satisfying side dish that’s perfect for a casual dinner, yet elegant enough for a holiday meal!

We can’t get enough of sweet potatoes! From sweet potato casserole to twice baked sweet potatoes, they’re always on our table. This recipe for roasted sweet potatoes takes just minutes to put together, but the end result tastes anything but ordinary.

When the cooler weather months roll around, I am all about the sweet potatoes. They’re healthy, inexpensive and readily available. These maple roasted sweet potatoes contain just a handful of ingredients but are big on flavor.

How do you make roasted sweet potatoes?

The first step is to peel your sweet potatoes and cut them into uniformly sized pieces. If you prefer, you can leave the skins on your sweet potatoes. I find that sometimes sweet potato skins are tough, so I always remove them before cooking. The sweet potatoes get tossed in a mixture of butter, cinnamon, maple syrup and salt, then are roasted to perfection.

Tips for the perfect potatoes

• I look for long, thin sweet potatoes because I find that they’re easier to cut into similar sized pieces.
• Don’t forget to stir your sweet potatoes halfway through the baking time so that they cook evenly and don’t burn.
• While I typically make this recipe with orange sweet potatoes, yellow sweet potatoes will also work. This technique can also be used to roast carrots, butternut squash and pumpkin.

What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?

True yams are grown in Asia and Africa and look very different than what we’re used to seeing labeled as yams here in the United States. You often see bright orange tubers like the ones featured here called yams, but in fact they’re just another variety of sweet potato. In America, you’ll actually see sweet potatoes of many different shapes, sizes and colors at the supermarket, but not true yams.

What temperature do you cook sweet potatoes at?

For this recipe, you’ll want to keep the heat relatively low because you don’t want the sugars in the maple syrup to burn. Often times vegetables are roasted at high heat, but these sweet potatoes are roasted at 375 degrees so that they get slightly caramelized but don’t blacken.

Roasted Sweet Potato Variations

• Garlic and Herb Sweet Potatoes: Toss cubed sweet potatoes with olive oil minced garlic and assorted herbs.
• Bacon Sweet Potatoes: Place chopped raw bacon on the sheet pan with your potatoes and cut the amount of butter in half. Roast until bacon is crispy.
• Honey Sweet Potatoes: Substitute honey for the maple syrup in this recipe.
• Pecan Sweet Potatoes: Follow the recipe as directed and garnish with chopped candied pecans.

Don’t have sweet potatoes on hand? This recipe also works great with carrots or butternut squash.

These roasted sweet potatoes are great alongside fish, chicken, beef or pork. They also pair perfectly with ham or roasted turkey for a fabulous holiday meal. Give them a try and watch the rave reviews pour in!

More side dish recipes

• Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole
• Zucchini Gratin
• Honey Roasted Carrots
• Garlic Butter Mushrooms
• Bacon Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Sweet Potatoes Video

This post was originally published on September 30, 2018 and was updated on September 25, 2019 with new content.