Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes are a wonderful fall side dish. Thick sweet potato slices are covered in a butter and sugar mixture and baked until soft. They are wonderfully sweet and flavored with a little cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. They are a welcome addition to a holiday meal or a Sunday supper.
Only a few ingredients are needed to make this southern staple and I love to make them in the fall when sweet potatoes are in season and inexpensive.
To make Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes, peel and slice 4 to 5 medium to large sweet potatoes. Go ahead and use as many as you can fit in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Leftovers reheat well. You can even eat them for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Sprinkle some salt on the sweet potato slices and pour a mixture of melted butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and the spices over them. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven. Spoon the butter sauce all over the tops of the sweet potatoes and pop them back in the oven uncovered for another 30 minutes.
At this point they will be soft and the butter will have begun to caramelize around the edges of the sweet potatoes. They are so sweet and delicious. I especially love how well these sweet potatoes pair with pork.
More Sweet Potato Recipes
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
- Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
- Sweet Potato Cloverleaf Rolls
- Melting Sweet Potatoes
- Spicy-Sweet Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Watch the short video below to see how easy this recipe is to make.
Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 large sweet potatoes,, peeled and cut into 1/3 to 1/2-inch slices
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Melt butter in a saucepan. Add white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Stir and heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add the vanilla extract.
- Place sweet potato slices in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with salt.
- Stir vanilla into the butter mixture and pour over sweet potatoes.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven. Spoon the butter mixture over the potatoes.
- Place back in the oven UNCOVERED for 30 minutes.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My first time making sweet potatoes and I used this recipe, my family and I LOVED it!
My husband requested this for thanksgiving. And that’s saying something!!
a little confusing. you say pour over sweet potatoes when you first put in oven then you say pour over after you remove tin foil. when do you pour over
Made these. They turned out great – delicious and easy to make. Thanks!
absolutely addictive! This is the best candied sweet potato recipe I have ever made. Now a Thanksgiving favorite for the third year in a row since discovering it on line. Yum YUM!!!
I made these today and im telling you they Are Wonderful I LOVe them and so did my family!!!