Old Fashioned Southern Candied Yams

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I’ve got my granddaddy’s sweet tooth, so candied yams have never stood a chance with me at the table: they’ve been my favorite side on the Thanksgiving table for as long as I can remember. These are the ones I grew up on, and they couldn’t be simpler. The sweet potatoes go into the dish raw, tossed in butter, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, and bake with no foil for about an hour, so the water they give off cooks away and the butter and sugar turn into a thick, glossy syrup that coats every fork-tender piece.

No oven space? I've got you covered three ways. This one's the oven version, my grandma's original. There's also my 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.

Why I Bake My Candied Yams Raw (George Washington Carver Agrees)

“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

In that same Tuskegee bulletin on sweet potatoes Carver passed along a little advice from the USDA: Baking brings out a sweet potato's flavor better than steaming, steaming beats boiling, and sure, you can rush one through the oven in twenty minutes and eat it, but if you want it to actually taste like something, you give it an hour. So that's exactly what these get: they go in raw and take their full hour, no shortcuts.

Everything That Goes Into My Candied Yams

Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Sweet potatoes - Go for Beauregard, Jewel, or Garnet, they are the best for roasting Pick small to medium ones with smooth, firm skin, since the big ones can be fibrous. The orange ones labeled "yams" at the store are sweet potatoes too, so grab those all day (more on that below).
• Butter - I use unsalted so I'm the one in control of the salt.
• Brown sugar - Light or dark, either works! The molasses in brown sugar is what gives the syrup that rich, caramelized depth.
• Cinnamon and ginger - These spices add warmth and brightness without overpowering the sweet potatoes.
• Vanilla - Every time I've forgotten it, the whole dish tastes like something's missing. Don't skip it.

How I Make Old Fashioned Candied Yams

Step 1

Chop them up.

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1-inch chunks, keeping them about the same size so they all turn fork tender at the same time.

Step 2

Make the butter + brown sugar mixture.

Mix together the spices, brown sugar, and melted butter in a small bowl. This is how we create the perfect candied glaze.

Step 3

Coat every piece and spread them out.

Put the sweet potatoes in your baking dish, pour the butter mixture over the top, and toss with clean hands or a big spoon until every chunk is coated. You really want that sugar in every nook and cranny.

Spread them out no more than two layers deep. Pile them any deeper and the bottom layer steams while the top scorches, and you get neither candy nor tender.

Step 4

Bake uncovered for about an hour.

Bake them uncovered for about an hour, until the potatoes are fork tender and deep orange and the syrup is glossy and clinging to every piece.

If the tops start browning before they’re tender, tent a piece of foil loosely over the dish for the last 10 minutes, and let them cool for at least 5 minutes before serving, because sugar burns aren’t fun.

Why I Keep Marshmallows Off My 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, and piling marshmallows on top buries the caramelization you just spent an hour baking onto your yams.

That being said, this is your Thanksgiving and I can't tell you what to do... but if your people expect marshmallows, give them their marshmallows and go make my sweet potato casserole instead. And keep all the candied yams for yourself, lucky!

Make These Candied Yams Your Own

• Less sweet: Not a fan of super sweet yams? Cut the brown sugar in half, to ½ cup.
• Spices: Make it your own with orange zest, a little freshly grated nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, or a pinch of cayenne for heat.
• No brown sugar: White sugar works, but it won't have the same depth. You can also make your own brown sugar if you have molasses on hand.
• Dairy-free: Swap in vegan butter.

Making Candied Yams Ahead (If You Want To)

Candied yams are happy to be made a day early if your oven is spoken for on the big day. Bake them all the way, let them cool, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat them covered with foil at 325°F for about 15 minutes, until they're warm and the syrup has melted back down.

You can also prep them up to the baking part: chop, coat in the butter and brown sugar mixture, cover, and refrigerate up to 3 days. Bake straight from the fridge, and plan on about 1 hour 15 minutes since they start cold.

Why We Call Sweet Potatoes Candied Yams

Candied yams are actually sweet potatoes. Real yams are a different plant altogether, with rough, bark-like skin and starchy white flesh, so don't grab those for this recipe. Enslaved Africans in the South called sweet potatoes "nyami" after the yams they knew back home, and in the 1930s Louisiana growers turned that name into a marketing label, which is why the USDA still requires "sweet potato" on the label.

How they ended up in sweet dishes is its own story. Pumpkin pies were an upper-class English fashion by the 1600s, and Southern enslavers wanted in on the trend, but sweet potatoes grew far better down South than pumpkins did, so that's what went into the crust. The people doing that cooking in the Big House were enslaved, and their skill is why sweet potatoes became a cornerstone of Black Southern cooking, from candied yams to sweet potato pie.

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 (325ºF) 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!

How Many Sweet Potatoes You Need for a Crowd

For a holiday table with six other sides, figure about 6 ounces (170 grams) per person. Go up to ½ pound (225 grams) if candied yams are the thing people came for, or if you want leftovers. And honey, you want leftovers! Spread them across more dishes instead of piling them into one deep pan.

Old Fashioned Candied Yams

By: Eden Westbrook

4.58 from 241 votes

These old fashioned Southern candied yams are my Grandma Reid's recipe: sweet potatoes baked until they're fork tender and wrapped in a glossy, buttery brown sugar syrup with vanilla and warm spices, just the way she made them every Thanksgiving.

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cooling Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 55 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

8 servings

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Equipment

• 9x13 baking dish
• Vegetable Peeler for potatoes

Ingredients 

• ▢ 6 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
• ▢ 8 tablespoon butter, melted
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar, packed, 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, but we don't want a big pile or else
  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!

Last step!Be sure to snap a pic and share on Instagram #sweetteaandthyme and tag me at @sweet_tea_thyme so we can all see!

Recipe Notes

• Less sweet: Cut the brown sugar to ½ cup (107 grams).
• Make ahead: Bake a day ahead, cool, cover, and refrigerate. Or peel and chop the sweet potatoes up to 2 days ahead, keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, and coat and bake them on the day.
• Storage: Cool to room temperature, then keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
• Reheat: Cover with foil and warm at 325°F (165°C) for about 15 minutes, until warmed through and the syrup has melted again. A single serving can go in the microwave until warmed through.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 0.75 cup, Calories: 294kcal (15%), Carbohydrates: 46g (15%), Protein: 3g (6%), Fat: 11g (17%), Saturated Fat: 7g (44%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 30mg (10%), Sodium: 337mg (15%), Potassium: 619mg (18%), Fiber: 5g (21%), Sugar: 31g (34%), Vitamin A: 24398IU (488%), Vitamin C: 4mg (5%), Calcium: 83mg (8%), Iron: 1mg (6%)