Baked Candied Yams
🍠🧡 Learn how to make the BEST candied yams baked in a wonderful buttery cinnamon-and-sugar sauce! An EASY Thanksgiving or Christmas side dish with almost no active prep time. Sweet, candy-like, and sure to become a family favorite!
Servings: 8
Calories: 694cal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds* (I suggest sweet potatoes rather than yams but please read the blog post)
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup orange or pineapple juice
- 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 1 to 3 tablespoons bourbon optional
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup toasted pecans optional**
- 3 to 4 cups mini marshmallows optional**
- Sage optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 2-quart baking dish, 9x13-inch pan, or similar with cooking spray. Tip - For easier cleanup, line with a sheet of heavy duty nonstick foil and spray the foil.
- Peel and slice the sweet potatoes, making sure that the slices are no larger than 1/2-inch wide. If cubing them, make sure they're no bigger than 1/2-inch dice; set aside.
- To a small saute pan, add the butter, sugars, juice, optional bourbon, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and heat over medium-low heat to melt the butter; stir nearly constantly.
- After the butter has melted, slowly and evenly pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes.
- Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour, or until sweet potatoes are very soft and tender. If they're at all hard, there's no harm in baking longer, 10 to 15 minutes, or whatever they need.
- If you plan to add nuts and/or marshmallows, see my detailed directions below**. You add them at the very end after baking for 1 hour. If using both, sprinkle the nuts first, then the marshmallows, and bake for 3 to 5 minutes uncovered, or just until the marshmallows begin to turn lightly golden brown or. melt a bit. Make sure to keep a very close eye on them so they don't burn!
- Optionally garnish with sage before serving.
- Recipe can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. When you plan to serve the candied yams and need to reheat them, transfer them along with all the lovely sauce back into a baking dish. Let it sit at room temp for about an hour, cover tightly with foil, and reheat in a 350F oven until warmed through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
**I suggest the following:
- Adding Pecans (or Walnuts) - Add about 1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans at the very end of baking time. Do this by first adding the nuts a dry skillet, and toasting them until they smell nice and nutty, about 2 to 3 minutes. Then, remove the foil from the candied yams at the 1 hour mark, evenly sprinkle the toasted pecans or walnuts, and bake for about 5 minutes. Alternatively, you can simply sprinkle on the toasted pecans after baking, and treating them like they're a garnish.
- Adding Marshmallows - Add about 3 to 4 cups mini marshmallows at the very end of the baking time. Remove the foil at the 1 hour mark, evenly sprinkle the marshmallows, and bake for about 5 minutes, or until they are just toasting up and melting a bit.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 694cal | Carbohydrates: 135g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 244mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 94g
