This easy Southern candied sweet potatoes recipe is quick, simple, and melt-in-your-mouth good.
This quick and is so good. Basically, grab a couple of cans of sweet potatoes, cook them in the oven and you have this recipe of syrupy goodness. That’s how easy it is! The end result is tender sweet potatoes with a buttery sweet caramel toffee flavor that will definitely melt in your mouth.
Now, if you’re wondering when to serve this candied yam dish, I say whenever! Have it as a meal or as a Thanksgiving dessert, the choice is yours. I personally think that because sweet potatoes are a vegetable (no matter how you prepare them), you can serve them with any meal and it automatically decreases any guilt you might have because these are so good.
For the main meal, I love pairing this dish with classic Southern comfort food like fried chicken. You can also serve it alongside other Southern side dishes like , cornbread, mac and cheese, and fried okra. What a combo!
Now I want you to try making these candied yams from a can during the holidays and leave your comments below and let me know what you thought of them. If you don’t want to tell everyone how easy they are to make, just smile and say it’s an old-fashioned family recipe handed down through the generations. It’s the truth! You are a part of the Southern Plate family. It was handed down through at least four generations! Happy holidays!
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter
- Sugar
- Canned sweet potatoes or not canned (about 16-18 oz when you cut up )
- Cinnamon
Drain the sweet potatoes and pour them into an ovenproof casserole dish.
While this is a round casserole dish, it holds the equivalent of an 8×8 baking dish.
Next, sprinkle the sugar over the sweet potatoes.
Cut up butter and put it on top.
Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Place the baking dish in the oven and for 35 to 40 minutes or until syrupy.
Enjoy your delicious candied yams from a can!
Storage
- This recipe for Southern candied sweet potatoes can be made up to four days in advance. The flavors will be even better if you can believe it! Just wrap the dish or store it in an airtight container in the fridge and when it’s time, reheat it in the oven.
- Alternatively, if you don’t make it in advance but have leftovers, they’ll last in the fridge for up to four days.
- I don’t recommend freezing this Southern recipe as the sweet potatoes will turn mushy once reheated.
Recipe Notes
- If the syrup is too thick, you can easily thin it out with some water.
- If preparing this dish for dessert, you can go one step further and sprinkle the top with normal or miniature marshmallows, southern-style. Your tastebuds will explode!
- Besides mini marshmallows, here are some more ingredients to add to your Southern candied yam recipe. Spice-wise, you should also add a half-teaspoon of allspice, clove, nutmeg, , or even cayenne pepper along with the ground cinnamon. For an even sweeter flavor, drizzle your cooked sweet potatoes with maple syrup. Alternatively, add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract when you add the cinnamon. You could also sprinkle some raisins, walnuts, or pieces over the top. It’s so easy to make these your own.
- For a stronger caramelized flavor, use dark or light brown sugar in this instead of .
Recipe FAQs
Should I buy sweet potatoes or yams?
Now, most canned sweet potatoes are labeled yams, so just buy those. This is one of those things that drives me slightly crazy, because they’re not yams, they’re sweet potatoes. Seriously, if you look at the ingredients of canned yams, it actually says sweet potatoes! But if you’re buying the root vegetable, choose sweet potatoes. Fresh yams actually contain more starch (and more calories) so need more butter when cooking.
Ingredients
- 29 oz. can sweet potatoes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Drain sweet potatoes and pour them into an ovenproof casserole dish.29 oz. can sweet potatoes
- Sprinkle sugar over sweet potatoes.1 cup sugar
- Cut up butter, put on top and then sprinkle with cinnamon.1 stick butter, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Place in oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until syrupy.
Video
Nutrition
You may also enjoy these sweet potato recipes:
Sweet Potato Bread With Cinnamon Swirl
Sweet Potato Pie Southern Plate Style
If you’re looking for Grandmama’s Sweet Potato Casserole, please click here.
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I seem to recall some of these canned yams/sweet-potatoes are just plain cooked and some are pre-sweetened and candied already? I’m guessing we want the non-candied ones so we can make them sweet ourselves?
I want to make sure because I goofed a recipe before by using the wrong kind.
Thanks, Mama (and Christy and Susie!)
That sure is a lot of butter for one can of sweet potatoes.
When I was first married (a few years after Adam & Eve), my husband kept asking for sweet potatoes for the holidays. I didn’t make them because – well – I didn’t like them. One year I thought I’ll “teach him” (to ask again). I did a recipe just like this, except I had a can of peaches and added the drained peach slices. And – along w/the butter, I used a little brown sugar (no white) and ginger. The joke was on me. I had to make that for the holidays AND his b/day every year afterwards. : I
i make mine the same way but for color, I add a handful of Red Hot Candies. They don’t add any heat just beautiful color. I also add these candies when I cook the raw sweet potatoes. The color is beautiful.
I love these, I do mine with brown sugar instead of white. Sometimes light and sometimes dark. Yum!
I do my sugar 50/50. White granulated and Dark Brown sugar. A big squirt of maple syrup just drizzled over the top is really good too, if you are a little short on the brown sugar! Jan Hockersmith
How would you adapt this recipe for fresh sweet potatoes? Just dug some up from the garden. I’m guessing we would peel and cut into smallish chunks and probably longer cooking time. Sorry, this is our first year to harvest sweet potatoes and looking for different ways to cook this bounty. Thanks.
Slice & cover with water. Boil until almost tender. Drain put in baking dish put sugar on top dot with butter. Don’t stir. Bake at 350 for about 1 hrs. & 15 MIN.
I make these all the time using brown sugar