Let me show you how to make my favorite easy Thanksgiving side: candied sweet potatoes! They’re soft, buttery, extra saucy, caramelized, and sweet. I especially love this Thanksgiving side dish because you can prepare the elements of this recipe ahead of time AND purchase the ingredients in advance, too.
Forever my favorite Thanksgiving side dish, these classic candied sweet potatoes make an appearance on our holiday table every year. (I’m surprised I haven’t shared the recipe with you before—these are the best!) In fact, we love them so much that we don’t limit this recipe to only once per year. I love these for Christmas, Easter, or a random Sunday night throughout the year. They’re full of flavor and as far as Thanksgiving side dishes go, they’re REALLY easy.
These Candied Sweet Potatoes Are:
- Soft & buttery
- Caramelized on the edges
- Absolutely packed with flavor: vanilla, brown sugar, maple, cinnamon, & ginger
- Even better with orange zest, rosemary, & sea salt
- Your new favorite Thanksgiving side dish too
I also appreciate that you don’t have to pre-cook the sweet potatoes. Unlike sweet potato casserole where you boil and mash the potatoes, this candied sweet potatoes recipe simply needs thick slices of peeled potatoes. Easy enough, right?
And the best part of all? You can purchase all of the ingredients NOW so you aren’t rushing around Thanksgiving week.
How to Make Candied Sweet Potatoes
Let me quickly break down the steps before leaving you with the recipe.
- Pick up your sweet potatoes. You need 3-4 pounds, about 5 or 6 medium sweet potatoes. Look for sweet potatoes with a reddish/copper skin that’s smooth and firm. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to use. And if you have extras, try these cinnamon sugar sweet potato fries next!
- Peel & slice sweet potatoes. When you’re ready to make this dish, peel the potatoes and slice into 1/2 inch slices. The thickness of the slices is important because (1) any smaller and the slices will over-cook and (2) any larger and the slices will under-cook. Place potato slices in a large casserole dish and toss with salt.
- Make the sauce. Put all the sauce ingredients into a pot, boil 2 minutes, then stir in vanilla extract. Vanilla extract is a recent (and welcome) addition to our family recipe because it adds SO much flavor. Just wait until you smell the sauce when you stir in that vanilla—you’ll already know you’re making something delicious!
- Pour over sweet potatoes. Pour sauce over potatoes and toss everything together so the sauce evenly coats all the slices.
- Bake for 1 hour. Stop and stir the sweet potatoes every 20 minutes to ensure the sauce caramelizes on each potato.
Buttery Brown Sugar Maple Sauce
These sweet potatoes would be nothing without the magical sauce. A recipe that we’ve been tweaking and perfecting over the years, the combination of ingredients is perfection.
Here are the ingredients you need:
- Butter: Butter is the base of the sauce. (And, honestly, why it’s so good!)
- Water: 1 Tablespoon of water helps liquify the sauce—it’s too thick without it.
- Brown Sugar: Name a better ingredient suited for sweet potatoes!
- Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup adds incomparable flavor to this Thanksgiving side dish. The recipe is good without it, but even better with its addition. Skip “breakfast syrup” and reach for pure maple.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, & Ginger: This dish includes the season’s favorite warming spices. The ginger adds a bright burst of flavor.
- Vanilla Extract: Again, vanilla extract is a welcome addition. Stir it into the sauce after you remove the pot from heat.
The sauce thins out as it bakes due to the water content in the potatoes, but quickly thickens as it cools. Thick or thin, you’ll want to slurp up this sauce with a straw. Plus, it tastes fantastic with those other Thanksgiving dishes on your plate too! 😉
Finishing Touches for Candied Sweet Potatoes
When I made these candied sweet potatoes earlier this month, I added orange zest to the sauce. This is totally optional, but it added an element of FRESH to the entire dish. Likewise, adding chopped fresh or dried rosemary after the dish bakes is equally refreshing. And to balance out the sweet, I love a sprinkle of sea salt all over the top.
This dish has it all: sweet, salty, fresh, buttery, saucy, soft, and caramelized. It doesn’t get much better than this:
More Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes:
- Cornbread
- Green Bean Casserole (from scratch)
- Biscuits
- Favorite Cranberry Sauce
- Sweet Potato Casserole (crunchy pecan topping!)
- Dinner Rolls (or try these Brown Butter Sage Dinner Rolls)
- Mushroom Puff Pastry Tarts
- Cornbread Stuffing or Sausage & Herb Stuffing
- Cranberry Brie Puff Pastry Tarts
- Mac & Cheese or Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
And of course… dessert! Here are our favorite Thanksgiving pie recipes, including classics like pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie.
Print
Candied Sweet Potatoes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These perfect candied sweet potatoes are soft, buttery, extra saucy, caramelized, and sweet. I especially love this Thanksgiving side dish because you can prepare the elements of this recipe ahead of time AND purchase the ingredients in advance, too.
Ingredients
- 5–6 medium sweet potatoes (3–4 lbs)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) water
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 2 teaspoons orange zest
- optional for garnish: chopped fresh or dried rosemary, sea salt
Instructions
- Peel then slice the sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place in a greased 9×13-inch or other 3 quart baking dish. Sprinkle salt on top and toss to coat. I just use nonstick spray to grease.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C).
- Make the sauce: Cut stick of butter in half. (Helps it melt easier.) Combine all the butter, water, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until the butter has melted. Stop stirring and bring to a gentle boil. Boil for 2 minutes without stirring. Remove sauce from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. (And orange zest, if using.)
- Pour sauce over potatoes and toss to coat.
- Bake for 1 hour, stopping and stirring the sweet potatoes every 20 minutes. After the first 20 minutes, I cover the dish with aluminum foil so the potatoes bake evenly.
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle with rosemary and sea salt (if using), then cool uncovered for 10 minutes before serving. The sauce is thin right out of the oven but thickens as it cools.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Sauce will be thick after refrigeration, but thins out as you warm the leftovers up. Simply warm in the microwave.
Notes
- Make ahead tip: You can peel & slice the sweet potatoes 1 day ahead of time. Cover and store in the refrigerator overnight. You can prepare the sauce on the stove (step 3) 1-2 days ahead of time. Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave until thin and liquid-y, then continue with step 4. Dish can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then cover with aluminum foil and warm in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 25 minutes or until warm throughout.
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I The recipe it gave me the taste that I was looking for thank you so much. I’ll be making it this way for now on
I’ve made this now 10 times in the past 6 months! My kids and I have it as dessert sometimes.❤️
This recipe is the first I have seen that is close to my mom’s candied sweet potato recipe. Instead of maple syrup we use brandy. So delicious! I look forward to adding the orange zest and spices when I prepare it next time. Always love your recipes.
This is now officially my “special occasion” sweet potato recipe. Even the people who are on the fence about sweet potatoes thought it was delicious.
This was, by far, the BEST dish on the table for Thanksgiving! Will be making it Christmas day.
Making a day b4. Do I need to keep the potatoes in a bowl of cold water overnight??
Hi Sharon! We don’t. Just cover and store in the refrigerator overnight.
Made this recipe for Thanksgiving. There were no leftovers and they requested it for Christmas dinner. So easy and so delicious! I will have to double or triple the recipe next time.
Marvelous, simply marvelous. Used this recipe on Thanksgiving. Was a seriously big hit. Loved the leftovers. Will definitely make it again. Incredibly simple to do.
Made without any modifications, we were worried there was way too much. Not so – everyone took seconds then proceeded to actually fight over who got the small amount that was left over. This is now our go-to sweet potato recipe (and not just for Thanksgiving). Way to go, Sally!!!!
So glad it was a hit for you, Cher!
Amazing! I made it for Thanksgiving with yams & vegan butter, added peans, didn’t have ginger. Baked extra 20 minutes. Best ever, huge hit! Plan to make it every year. Thank you!
These were absolutely the best sweet potatoes that I’ve ever had. The depth of flavors was delicious. Made these for Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone else loved them too! I will be making these again for sure!
Love it!
WHAT YOU’RE USING IN YOUR RECIPE IS YAMS NOT SWEET POTATOES!! I didn’t trust myself to know the difference between a yam and a sweet potato by looks alone so I made sure to grab specifically sweet potatoes at the store, now I have 5 lb of sweet potatoes and no yams that I actually need for the recipe!!!!
Hi! You’re correct that sweet potatoes and yams are different, though the names are sometimes used interchangeably which can be confusing. Sweet potatoes are sweeter and creamier in texture when cooked. That’s what I used in these pictures, and what I use when I bake this recipe. Native to Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, true yams have white flesh and a bark-like skin, with a drier, starchier texture… more like a regular baking potato. You can use sweet potatoes, what you bought, in this recipe.
Our family loved this sweet potato recipe! Easy to make, and so so good.
I admit I modified this recipe a bit which is why I’m not actually giving it a rating. But I still used this recipe as a base (the basic amounts and cook time) which is why I am actually rating it. My tweaks were:
-Halved the recipe
-Did 1 tbsp less (of 4 when halved) of sugar
-Did 1/2 tbsp less (of 2 when halved) of syrup
-Used fresh orange juice instead of water (and no zest)
It seems like a lot of modifications but it was just cutting the sweetness down by a touch. In fact this recipe already had a lot less sugar than other recipes I saw which is what drew me to it. This ended up sweet but not too sweet. Super buttery. The thing that pushed it over the edge was the spices. We always make mashed sweet potatoes but I’m probably gonna make a full batch of this next time we make a big meal.
Hands down the best candied sweet potato recipe out there. I keep it basic and don’t add the rosemary. I absolutely look forward to making these twice a year at least. Holiday fav in our house. I call it sweet potato heaven lol. Thank you Sally.
These came out perfect for thanksgiving. Definitely making the holiday rotation. We didn’t have ginger but still were amazing
I see that people are asking, so I just wanted to let you know that I made a batch of these with margarine last year and they turned out good! The sauce was a little thinner than with butter, but the flavor is still yummy.
Premaking the sauces right now actually (one full dairy and one vegan batch) because I’ve made these for a few years, and they get requested at this point. Thanks for the recipe!
Making candied sweet potatoes for tomorrow. Sauce made and refrigerated for now. Didn’t have any maple syrup so tomorrow will be a surprise. Since I am taking several side dishes, this one will go in my small crockpot. Oven space will be limited at the dinner. My kitchen smalls delightful just from the sauce.
The biggest hit of our Thanksgiving dinner!
Hi Sally! My mom used to make a very similar dish but they were sweet potato stacks that were about 5 1/4 inch slices tall and each layer was covered in gooey brown sugar and cinnamon. I made your recipe last year and the taste was almost identical – as are all of your recipes – but the mixture as you mention in the directions is a sauce. What could I do or not do to let the “sauce” firm up a little and act as a binder for the layers? like more sticky?
Hi Alexandra, that does sound tasty! I’m really unsure; I’d have to test things to figure out the best sticky mixture to use for what you’re describing. You can try using this recipe, and skipping the water. And maybe cook the mixture a little longer on the stove.
Can I put marshmallows on top and if so would I broil them in the oven the last five min or so?
Hi Sandy, these candied sweet potatoes are very sweet as written and I think adding marshmallow on top would be a little too much. If you want to try it, I would slightly reduce the sugar in the sauce.
Can I add brandy or bourbon to the sauce?
Hi Marie, we haven’t tried it but you certainly could. A few readers substituted bourbon for the vanilla and said it was a hit!
I need to make a non-dairy side dish, so am wondering how you think it would be with margarine instead. Thanks!!
Hi Debbie, we haven’t tested it, but would guess that a non-dairy butter substitute like Earth Balance would be your best bet here. Let us know what you try!
Have you ever heard of King Syrup? We have used it in our family for years. We peel & slice sweet potatoes, place them in large pot on stove, add butter syrup salt & pepper. Cover & cook on low for about one hour-1/2 hour with lid, 1/2 hour without. But this year I have to travel with sweet potato’s so I am going to try baking them using your recipe & the King syrup- no water .
I want to try this recipe, but I need to double it. How would you do that!?
Hi Gigi! This recipe should double well by doubling all ingredients and baking in two baking dishes.
Can you bake these the day before Thanksgiving and then heat them on the stovetop on Thanksgiving day? Just trying to save room in the oven and time.
That should be fine, but we haven’t tested it. The potatoes may get too soft. See recipe notes for our recommended make-ahead instructions!
Hi Sally! Love all of your recipes! I recommend your site to everyone! I’m experimenting with stepping up my carrot side for Thanksgiving and am curious if you think this recipe could work for them instead of sweet potatoes. Obviously cool time would need to be adjusted. Just curious on your take! Thanks!
Hi Christine, we haven’t tried it with carrots, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work… if you try it, please let us know how it turns out!
Made for carrots this Thanksgiving! Absolutely delicious! Another amazing recipe!
Can you substitute vegan butter for regular butter?
Hi Tori, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work here–enjoy!
Does it work to make them ahead and freeze?
Hi Pam, the baked sweet potato casserole can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then cover with aluminum foil and warm in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 25 minutes or until warm throughout.