Thanksgiving Candied Sweet Potatoes
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Thanksgiving Candied Sweet Potatoes are sweet and earthy. A delicious side dish with your holiday feast!
I mean, I’m pretty sure that no one except a Southern girl would have a recipe that starts out ‘boil potatoes in sugar water..’! Southerners do like sugar. For instance, we love tea, but tea is sweet and served over ice.
It’s a tradition with a lot of people to have sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You know the one with the marshmallows on top? My sister-in-law was assigned to bring the sweet potato casserole to Thanksgiving one year. She didn’t have marshmallows so she topped it with chocolate chips! (what?!) It wasn’t a hit!
My family, on the other hand, always had Thanksgiving Candied Sweet Potatoes instead of a casserole. Have you ever heard of Thanksgiving Candied Sweet Potatoes ? We always have this during the holidays
Basically, you slice yummy sweet potatoes thinly and boil them in a simple syrup. It sounds like a dessert, but my family eats them with our meal.
When your choosing sweet potatoes for this recipes, look for medium to small ones about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter and 4 or 5 inches long. I’ve found this size overall tends to be more tender; I think you’ll agree with me. Most stores in my area have sweet potatoes in stock right now. I hope you can find them because I really want you to try this recipe.
WHILE YOU’RE HERE, CHECK OUT THESE RECIPES
- Crock Pot Crack Hash Brown Potatoes
- 3 Ingredient Hash Brown Potatoes
- Hashbrown Potato Casserole No Cream Soup
- Hasselback Scalloped Potatoes
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Irish Pub-style Potato Nachos
- Stewed Potatoes
- Parmesan Potatoes
- Mashed Potato Cakes
Thanksgiving Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes this will yield about 4 cups when sliced
- 1 and ½ cups water
- 1 and ½ cups granulated sugar
- pinch salt about 1/8 tsp
- 3 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Slice potatoes evenly about 1/4 inch thick. Try to get them all the same thickness so they'll cook at the same rate.
- Add sugar and water to a medium sized sauce pan.
- Heat on medium high until sugar is dissolved.
- Add sliced sweet potatoes and salt to water.
- Cook on stove top at a simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft and water has thickened. Your water should be thick like a maple or corn syrup.
- Add butter and stir until butter melts.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
I love how easy these are and sweet potatoes are one of my favs – pinned! Great looking photos too!
Thank you, Deb!
We’ve done the Sweet Potato Casserole thing for many years now. (We’re from Texas). This casserole, and sweet potato pie, are the only way I’ll eat sweet potatoes. Of course, the casserole is a lot like pie, except it has a streusel type topping, and no crust!
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Deb
haha… what? Chocolate Chips instead of marshmallows… too funny! 🙂 This recipe sounds delicious, love sweet potatoes. YUM!
Exactly!! lol, how do you get from marshmallows to chocolate?
I really like your recipe for sweet potatoes, mine is a little different, but always willing to try something new. I make a sauce to go over the cooked potatoes. Orange juice, brown sugar and pecan pieces. It has become my sons favorite. Don’t have the exact measurements as I just add a little of this and that.
I had to measure and make this twice, because I wasn’t sure of exact measurements 🙂 Your recipe sounds great, I trying it next time I make them! Thanks
Paula, My mother always had candied sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving and Christmas and I’ve carried on the tradition. I love them. In our recipe we boil the potatoes first, then slice and add dark corn syrup. I’ll have to try your method which is how I make candied carrots. Thanks for sharing and have a good week.
Oh, I love candied carrots too! My dad always liked the potatoes sliced thin, so I guess that’s why we just boiled them in that mixture, they really don’t take long as thinly as he likes them sliced.
I love sweet potatoes. they’re a staple around here. And those look delicious!
Thank you!
This is so neat, Paula! I had honestly never heard of doing sweet potatoes like this before. I am just slightly north of the Mason-Dixon Line here & we like our sweet tea- I always have a pitcher in my fridge. But I have never seen someone make sweet potatoes like that for Thanksgiving!
I would love to try it, but I am slightly afraid of having a full-on protest from my family who LOVES the marshmallow topped casserole. 😉
Pinned & sharing!
I’m still laughing over the chocolate chips! 🙂 We love candied sweet potatoes and that’s the way we have always had them, too. These look delicious!!! Thanks for sharing and pinning! Have a happy Wednesday!
Thank you, Cindy!
Looks lovely Paula! I’m a sweet potato fan here!
Me too!!
I make something similar, but your recipe looks much easier ! Pinned 😉
Thanks for sharing, Linda!