“There is an idea prevalent that anybody can cook sweet potatoes, this is a very great mistake, and the many, many dishes of illy cooked potatoes that are placed before me as I travel over the South, prompt me to believe that these recipes will be of value.” - George Washington Carver
This is the best candied yams recipe solely because they're my Grandma Reid's. You know, the one who helped me bring classic southern recipes to y'all like her sweet potato pie, sage and sausage cornbread dressing, and her 5-star collards with smoked turkey.
I made these with her in her kitchen many times the day before Thanksgiving when I was little because they're kid-friendly and they're my favorite side (I have my granddaddy's sweet tooth) nestled between the glazed ham and the mac and cheese.
Stir up the butter and brown sugar mixture and spread them right on the potatoes, bake until each little piece is perfectly glazed and caramelized in that buttery syrupy glaze. Making this as a kid with my grandma (and now my son helps me make them!) is what soul food is about. It's a family tradition that I gotta share with y'all!
No oven space? I've got you covered three ways. This one's the oven version, my grandma's original. There's also my famous crockpot candied yams for when the oven's full, and orange bourbon stovetop candied yams if you want them done on the stove with a little something extra.
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Ingredients Needed
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Fresh Sweet Potatoes -a few pounds is easy to find and really affordable (I got mine for $3!), especially during the holidays. Figure about ½ pound per person, so 3 pounds (1.4 kg) feeds 8.
- Butter - you can use salted or unsalted butter, I go for unsalted because I am a control freak, haha.
- Brown Sugar - this has that rich depth from all the molasses in it so your potatoes are not just 'sweet'.
- Ground Cinnamon and Ginger - these warm spices don't overpower but add warmth and brightness!
- Vanilla Extract - Whenever I forgot the vanilla, it's like...a taste of 'something is missing but I can't put my finger on it'. Don't forget the vanilla!
- Kosher Salt - everything sweet needs a pinch of salt.
Ingredient Swaps
- No fresh sweet potatoes? Try looking for chopped frozen sweet potatoes at your grocery store.
- What about spices? You can really make this recipe your own: add in orange zest, a touch of freshly grated nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or other spices. A little cayenne for some heat won't hurt you, either!
- No brown sugar? You can use white sugar but it won't have the same depth. You can also DIY your own brown sugar with some molasses, if you have it on hand.
- Want vegan yams? Swap in vegan butter!
- If you're not a fan of super sweet yams, you can swap in maple syrup, agave nectar, or honey.
How to Make Baked Southern Candied Yams
Step 1
Chop them up.
Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
Step 2
Mix the butter + brown sugar.
Mix together the spices, brown sugar, and melted butter in a small bowl. This is how we create the perfect candied glaze.
Step 3
Bake!
Stir the sweet potatoes in the sugar and butter mixture. You really want to try to get that sugar mixture into every little nook and cranny!
Bake for 1 hour in your preheated oven uncovered. Always uncovered. Foil traps steam and steam is the enemy of candy.
Step 4
How to know it's done.
Your candied yams are done when you can easily pierce the sliced potatoes with a fork and the sugar mixture has turned into a buttery syrup.
Marshmallows on Candied Yams?
Marshmallows do not belong on candied yams, in my opinion. That's sweet potato casserole, and that's a whole different dish. Candied yams get their sweetness from the brown sugar and butter cooking down into a candying syrup. Piling marshmallows on top is burying the caramelization you just spent an hour baking onto your yams.
That being said, this is your Thanksgiving and I'm not your mama. If your people expect marshmallows, give them their marshmallows and go make my sweet potato casserole recipe instead.
Equipment I Used
How to Make Candied Yams Ahead of Time
Bake the yams a day ahead, let them cool, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat at 325°F for about 15 minutes until warm and glossy.
Or prep before baking: chop, coat in brown sugar, cover, and chill up to 2–3 days. Bake straight from the fridge (it may take about 1 hour 15 minutes since it's cold).
Yams versus Sweet Potatoes
Candied yams are actually made with sweet potatoes, not true yams.
Real yams come from Africa and Asia. They’re starchy, have bark-like brown skin, and white flesh, used mostly in savory dishes.
The name “yam” stuck because enslaved Africans in the United States used sweet potatoes as a substitution for autumn squashes and pumpkins for the white southern nouveaux riche to attempt to keep up with European nobility's new wave of desserts.
With its brown skin and starchy flesh, it closely resembled the yams they knew back home. Hence why we called candied sweet potatoes 'candied yams'!
Today, if you spot rough, bark-skinned roots with white flesh labeled “yams” in stores, those are real yams and not what you want for this recipe.
Reheating + Storage
- Storage: Store any leftover candied yams cooled to room temperature in an airtight container. Keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: Reheat the candied sweet potatoes in a casserole dish in a low oven (325 degrees F) covered in aluminum foil until warmed through and the buttery syrup has melted again.
- Or if you're just grabbing a serving for yourself, nuke them in the microwave until warmed through. They can take it!
Troubleshooting
I'd rather you didn't. Canned sweet potatoes come already cooked and packed in syrup, so they hit the pan wet and mushy; bake them for an hour and they collapse into mush before the syrup can even caramelize.
Go for Beauregard, Jewel, or Garnet; they’re naturally sweet and bake up with a creamy texture. Choose small to medium ones with smooth, firm skin; the big ones can be fibrous.
They were baked too long or cut too thin. Stick with evenly sized chunks and bake just until fork-tender and caramelized.
Absolutely. I have a crockpot southern style candied yams recipe that helps so much when you just don't have the oven space!
No, never. Covering them traps steam, and steam is the enemy here. You'll pull out watery sweet potatoes swimming in thin syrup instead of that glossy, spoon-coating glaze.
The only exception: if they're tender but the top is browning faster than you'd like, tent foil loosely over the last 10 minutes. Don't seal it up.
This recipe feeds 8 using about 3 pounds (1.4 kg). For a holiday table with six other sides, figure ½ pound (225 g) per person. Go up to ¾ pound (340 g) if candied yams are the thing people came for, or if you want leftovers. And honey, you want leftovers!
8 people: 3 lb (1.4 kg), one 9x13 dish
12 people: 4½ lb (2 kg), two 9x13 dishes
16 people: 6 lb (2.7 kg), two 9x13 dishes
20 people: 7½ lb (3.4 kg), three 9x13 dishes or a large roasting pan
Don't pile them all into one deep dish to save oven space. I'm so serious. Stacked too deep, the bottom layer steams while the top scorches, and you get neither candy nor tender. Two layers max.
What to Serve with Candied Yams
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Old Fashioned Candied Yams
Equipment
- Vegetable Peeler for potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
- 8 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar, light or dark works
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
- In a small bowl, stir together melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and kosher salt well.8 tablespoon butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Use your clean hands or a large spoon to mix the butter-sugar mixture and sweet potatoes in a baking dish or casserole dish. Make sure each sweet potato chunk is well coated in the mixture and the potatoes are laying in an even layer. It's okay if it's not in one layer.6 medium sized sweet potatoes
- Bake the candied yams in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, uncovered, until the potatoes are fork-tender, the sugar and potatoes have caramelized, and there is that buttery syrup in the baking dish.
- Let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving, sugar burns aren't fun!
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