These sweet potatoes turned Kevin from an “I hate sweet potatoes” guy to the guy who now requests demands them at Thanksgiving every year. Props to my Aunt Susie for introducing him to these babies a few years ago and passing along this recipe that converted him to a full-fledged sweet potato eater.
As far as holidays go, Thanksgiving ranks right up there among my favorites. I love that it’s not about all the gift-buying frenzy and crazy go-go-go that happens during Christmas. Since it falls at the start of the holiday season, everyone’s all still fresh as a daisy and we haven’t experienced the dreaded holiday fatigue yet.
Not to mention the fact that Thanksgiving’s basically all about hanging out with family and eating. Which just happen to be two of my favorite things.
I love most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods, with one exception: stuffing. GROSS GROSS GROSS. It’s basically like meat-flavored soggy bread to me, and I can’t get past that. No way, stuffing-lovers, you’ll never convince me otherwise. So don’t even try. Sorry.
So I pass on the stuffing, but I’ll absolutely crush all the rest of the Turkey Day smorgasbord. Especially the sweet potatoes. In particular, I’ll crush a big helping of THESE sweet potatoes. They’re my favorite thing on the Thanksgiving table. And maybe they’ll become your favorite thing too.
One bonus about these sweet potatoes: They’re a great make-ahead side dish. That means all you have to worry about on Thanksgiving Day is the turkey. You can assemble these sweet potatoes the night before, and just throw them in the oven to reheat them before dinner’s served.
Also, if you’re so inclined, you can cook the sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot instead of in the oven. I did it in the Instant Pot this time around, and they definitely cooked a little faster than when I’ve done it in the oven, and the skins were easier to remove. But either way works just fine. So if you want to stick with the oven, it’s all good.
My favorite recipe for sweet potatoes. Make this into a new favorite on your family's Thanksgiving table too!
- 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes (7-8 medium)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 tbsp orange juice
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups marshmallows
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pierce potatoes with a fork and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. You should be able to easily slide a fork into the potatoes with no resistance.
(An Instant Pot option for this step, if you do the Instant Pot thing: Add one cup of water to your instant pot, and place sweet potatoes on the trivet or in a steamer basket. Cook under high pressure for 25 minutes, plus 10 minutes natural pressure release.)
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Let the sweet potatoes cool until you're able to handle them. Remove skins and discard them. Mash the sweet potatoes.
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Mix brown sugar, melted butter, orange juice, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Stir into sweet potatoes and spread them evenly in a 9"x11" casserole dish.
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Sprinkle marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes and put them into the 350-degree oven just until they're puffed up, about 15-20 minutes.
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Complete steps 1-3, then cover casserole dish in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
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When you're ready to heat up the sweet potatoes, remove casserole dish from refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, until heated through.
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Sprinkle marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes and put them into the 350-degree oven just until they're puffed up, about 15-20 minutes.
Yum! These look so good.