Description
This Southern Candied Yams recipe is a classic soul food favorite featuring tender sweet potato slices coated in a rich, buttery, spiced syrup. Baked to perfection, these yams offer a perfect balance of sweetness and warmth from cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, making them an ideal side dish for holiday meals or comfort food dinners.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes – about 5 medium sweet potatoes
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter – sliced into squares, plus more for greasing the baking dish
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar – or light brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat and Prepare: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and set it aside to ensure the yams don’t stick during baking.
- Prep the Sweet Potatoes: Thoroughly wash, peel, and slice the sweet potatoes into ½-inch thick rounds. Arrange the slices evenly in the buttered baking dish and set aside.
- Make the Syrup: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Heat just until the butter melts and the ingredients come together without fully dissolving the sugar. Stir in the vanilla extract, then remove from heat.
- Coat the Sweet Potatoes: Pour the syrup over the sweet potatoes. Using a wooden spoon or your hands, gently mix the slices to ensure each piece is thoroughly coated with the syrup, avoiding dry spots and clumping.
- Bake Covered: Cover the baking dish with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes to allow the yams to start absorbing the syrup and soften.
- Stir and Continue Baking: Remove the foil carefully, toss the sweet potatoes to redistribute the syrup, and rotate the slices for even cooking. Bake uncovered for an additional 40 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and the syrup is thick and syrupy but not hardened.
- Cool and Serve: Let the candied yams cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Serve warm with a slotted spoon, spooning some of the cooking liquid over the yams for extra flavor.
Notes
- Slice sweet potatoes uniformly for even cooking; longer, thinner sweet potatoes are easier to slice evenly.
- The syrup is intentionally thick with undissolved sugar; fully dissolving the sugar would cause it to harden like candy.
- Adjust sugar amounts to your preference for sweetness.
- This recipe is perfect for making ahead; prepare 1 to 2 days before serving and reheat in the oven.
- Test doneness by piercing a yam slice with a fork and tasting; if not tender, bake longer.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days; reheat using microwave or oven.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 280 kcal
- Sugar: 32 g
- Sodium: 210 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
