Candied Yams
These sweet, buttery yams are what Sunday dinner dreams are made of. The brown sugar and butter melt together into a thick syrup that coats every tender slice, and that hint of cinnamon and nutmeg just makes everything sing. This is the dish that disappears first and has folks scraping the pan for that last bit of syrup.
Cooking tutorial
Ingredients
- 4 lbs sweet potatoes (about 6 to 8 medium)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (optional, for thicker syrup)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish real good with butter or cooking spray.
- 2
Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into rounds about 1/2-inch thick, trying to keep them as even as possible so they cook at the same rate.
- 3
Layer the sweet potato slices in the baking dish, overlapping them just a little bit.
- 4
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine both sugars, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, salt, and water. Stir it until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- 5
If you want a thicker syrup, whisk in the flour until smooth and let it bubble for another minute or two.
- 6
Pour that sweet syrup all over the sweet potatoes, making sure to get it in all the corners and coating as many slices as you can.
- 7
Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- 8
Remove the foil and baste the potatoes with the syrup from the bottom of the pan, then bake uncovered for another 30 minutes, basting once or twice more, until the potatoes are fork-tender and the syrup is thick and bubbly.
- 9
Let them rest for about 10 minutes before serving so that syrup can settle down and get even thicker.
Pro Tips
- ★Don't skip the basting — that's what gets that beautiful glaze on top and keeps everything moist.
- ★You can make these a day ahead and just warm them up covered in a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes.