Candied yams (aka sweet potatoes) are the perfect southern veggie side dish! It’s a great addition for holiday meals, or year round, with the right amount of your favorite bourbon!
I’ve grown up with candied yams swimming in the brown sugar mixture, which definitely tastes amazing. As I got older, I’ve grown to love the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes. So this recipe doesn’t create too much syrup. It’s almost like a baked sweet potato made a baby with syrupy candied yams, if that makes sense.
What are candied yams?
Candied yams are a name for sweet potatoes that are cooked with sugar, butter, and spices. It’s also one of those dishes that doesn’t really NEED measurements and can be eyeballed (which is one of the joys of cooking). But to be a good Samaritan, I’ve come up with this amazing recipe, and jazzed it up with crushed pecans!
What’s the best way to cook candied sweet potatoes?
Just like how measurements aren’t needed, there’s also a variety of ways to cook the candied sweet potatoes.
- Mix all the ingredients together to add to either raw or partially cooked sweet potatoes, making a syrup for them to cook in.
- OR Melt the butter with the sugar and spices to make the syrup ahead of time. The sweet potatoes are usually par cooked, or sometimes fully cooked, before finishing in the oven.
Either way, the end result of that yummy and sweet syrup for the sweet potatoes to bathe in.
For this recipe, I did a combo of both! The sweet potatoes are fully cooked, then covered with the melted butter and sugar mix, and sprinkled with more sugar. The sugar on top of the potatoes will caramelize a bit in the oven, helping to give this another texture.
Can I cut back on the sugar for candied yams?
There is a decent amount of butter and sugar in my candied yams, though not overbearing. If you’re looking to cut back more on that amount, you can cut the ingredients for this recipe in half, excluding the sweet potato and pecan amount.
If you go this route, the crushed pecans can be sprinkled on top of the sweet potatoes without tossing it in sugar beforehand.
Type of crushed nuts to use with candied yams
I used crushed pecans out of preference. This would taste really good with crushed walnuts as well! I’m just more of a pecan fan than walnuts. You can even get fancy with it and do a mixture of both types of nuts!!!
Type of bourbon to use for sweet potatoes
My go-to bourbon when cooking is Jim Beam. You can use any bourbon that you’d like! The bourbon can also be completely omitted from this recipe if you’d prefer. I promise it’ll still come out delicious!
What to serve with candied yams aka candied sweet potatoes
Fix this up as a side with some fried or roasted chicken!!
You’ll definitely need some additional sides with it, so check out the recipe for my Southern-style slow cooked collard greens, and big slice of honey buttermilk skillet cornbread. Babyyyyyyy…..I love it!
Boozy Bourbon Spiked Candied Yams with Pecan Topping
Equipment
- Sauce pot
- Cutting board
- knife
- Mixing bowls
- Small oven safe casserole dish
- Whisk
- Spoons
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs sweet potatoes washed
- 1 ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 dash ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- ¼ cup crushed pecans
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp bourbon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Put sweet potatoes into a pot large enough for the potatoes to be covered in water. Add cold water until the potatoes have been submerged. Cover with a lid.
- Bring potatoes to a boil, then simmer on medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Potatoes should be soft enough that a butter knife can be pierced through the thickest part of the potato.
- While the potatoes are simmering, mix both sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
- Take a third cup of the brown sugar mixture and put in a small bowl with the pecans. Set aside.
- Pour the melted butter, vanilla, and bourbon into the bowl with the remaining brown sugar mixture. Mix together with a whisk. Set the sauce aside.
- Once potatoes are cooked, remove from heat and run under cold water so they’re cooler to the touch, for about 5 minutes. Peel off the skin, and set the peeled potatoes to the side on a cutting board. Slice the potatoes about a quarter inch thick.
- Into your casserole dish of choice, add the sweet potato slices. Evenly pour the brown sugar sauce over the potatoes.
- Evenly sprinkle the pecan mixture over the potatoes.
- Bake the potatoes, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Can be served immediately.
I love the topping on these sweet potatoes. Brought them to a cookout last weekend and they were are gone in a hurry!
I’m so glad to hear this!
I’m like you! While I do enjoy some sweet candied yams, I also find it a bit much at times and like to scale back the sweetness so I can actually taste the sweet potatoes! This recipe was perfect! Thank you for sharing!
You’re very welcome Crystal!
I have heard so many good things about candied yams but I had never tried them before. Your recipe was so easy to follow and the dish was a big hit! Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad that my recipe was your first experience!
We couldn’t stop eating these yams! The bourbon sauce was so good! Definitely making these again soon and especially during the holidays!
Yessss! This will be a holiday staple for sure! Thank you!
I love these candied yams! The bourbon glaze was my favorite part! I also added walnuts as you suggested and it was delish!!
Candied yams were already a favorite in our household, but then the addition of Bourbon, and pecans! I will never make them any other way from now on!
Yessss!!!! I love to hear it! Thank you!
This recipe for candied yams took me back to the holidays and family gatherings. This is such an amazing take on a classic recipe. We LOVED it!
Gotta love a good remix! Thank you!
The crunchy topping here is just next level. I don’t think I’ll ever make candied yams any other way now. Thank you!!!
Haha! I’m here to help!
Crushed pecans over sweet potatoes are always a good thing to me!
This was a very good recipe! I was a little surprised on just how much I liked it! Adding this to our binder of favorite recipes!
So exciting to hear this. Thank you Karla!
Yes!!!! I was studying this recipe the whole day so I was really pumped to dive in and give this a go. The recipe did not disappoint and the bourbon definitely stepped it up a notch (or two). Will definitely make this again!
Traditional candied yams are great….but these Boozy Bourbon Spiked Candied Yams with Pecan Topping took it to the next level! This recipe will definitely be in rotation – thank you!!!
Thank you so much Taneisha!!!
My husband, while not southern, is a sweet potato fanatic. You added bourbon and he was done. Deep flavors with that crunchy topping. Great recipe.
The bourbon is definitely a game changer lol. So glad yall enjoyed!