Melting Sweet Potato Recipe

Name: Melting Sweet Potatoes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 3 pounds sweet potatoes (roughly equally sized); 3 tablespoons melted butter or melted extra virgin coconut oil; 3 tablespoons Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil or plain olive oil; 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper; 3 garlic cloves (peeled and thinly sliced or chopped); 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

Shared by Rebecca on 2/25/21 216

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If you like our Melting Sweet Potato Recipe, check out all of our wonderful Sweet Potato Recipes here! For an excellent turkey to serve with it, be sure to check out this “How to Smoke a Turkey” tutorial!

Of all of the wonderful ways sweet potatoes can be served, one of my all time favourites is Melting Sweet Potatoes. There aren’t enough superlatives in our language to describe just how comforting this meltingly tender, deeply caramelized, flavour packed sweet potato side dish is.

The uncomplicated, high-temperature cooking method condenses both the sweet and savoury qualities of sweet potatoes. There are a lot of sweet potato side dish recipes out there for sweet potatoes with maple syrup or brown sugar.

I find sweet potatoes to be sweet enough on their own, though. Anything else puts them into the dessert category for me.

The last minute addition of vegetable broth and chopped garlic boosts the sweet and savoury melting sweet potatoes into the umami stratosphere as the broth reduces to a fragrant sauce and the garlic roasts.

These 1-inch thick, mahogany slabs become so tender on the inside that they yield completely to the edge of a spoon.

Melting Sweet Potatoes with sauce and garlic, roasted sweet potato rounds, caramelized, blue and white plate, on rustic wood table

I’m serious folks. This is my idea of food heaven.

Melting sweet potatoes are a natural sweet potato side dish accompaniment to roast or grilled pork, chicken, turkey, or a perfect pan seared steak, of course, but I also enjoy the chilled or reheated leftovers cut into cubes and tossed onto greens with goat cheese and dried cranberries.

I have to tell you that my best-loved way to eat these is in abundance by themselves. If there is truth to ‘you are what you eat’ then I am quite likely largely sweet potato at this point.

Sweet Potato Recipe

If you can find roughly equally sized sweet potatoes, you’ll find your Melting Sweet Potatoes are easier to cook evenly and consistently. I usually aim for medium sized sweet potatoes.

DO use a half sheet pan for this recipe. DO NOT use a glass baking dish which could break at this temperature.

Be sure your half sheet pan has a rim to keep the broth or stock from running over the edges. You can also use a roasting pan for smaller batches, just be sure it’s metal!

Half of the time I make these, I make them with melted butter and olive oil, and the other half of the time I make them with melted extra virgin coconut oil and olive oil. They are equally good.

Be aware there may be some slight smoking from the oven as these roast. Keeping a fan going while cooking should do the job.

If you find your potatoes are scorching, you may want to check whether your oven is correctly calibrated for temperature. This is most easily done with a super inexpensive oven thermometer available at most grocery stores or big box stores.

Just pop the thermometer in the oven while it comes up to temperature. If it’s running hot, lower your oven a few degrees to compensate.

While I prefer to make Melting Sweet Potatoes with vegetable broth because of the flavour, you can certainly substitute beef or chicken broth.

Thinly sliced or chopped garlic are both delicious, so choose which you prefer. I don’t recommend pressing garlic in a garlic press for this recipe because it is prone to scorching at those high temperatures.

Sweet Potato Side Dish

I habitually make more of these than I think we can eat (and we can eat heroic amounts of Melting Sweet Potatoes) because as mentioned above, I adore having leftovers for cutting up and serving on a bed of greens with goat cheese and dried cranberries.

There is another good reason to make more melting potatoes than you think you can eat; they reheat beautifully on a screaming hot cast-iron skillet with just a coating of butter or coconut oil. Simply heat until the bottom has re-crisped, flip, and repeat and eat.

Melting Sweet Potatoes with sauce and garlic, thick roasted sweet potato rounds, caramelized, blue and white plate, on rustic wood table

Use these to make Melting Sweet Potatoes:

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See how easy these Melting Sweet Potatoes are to make? No sweetener needed!

Melting Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 500°F.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch thick rounds. Arrange on a half sheet pan with space between the slices to allow for air to circulate.

Drizzle the potatoes with the butter or coconut oil and the garlic extra virgin olive oil or plain extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the top.

Use your hands to flip the sweet potatoes and slide them around in the oils, making sure they’re completely coated.

Roast the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, or until the undersides of the slices have caramelized to a beautiful deep brown. Carefully flip the sweet potato slices and return the pan to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Flip the sweet potato slices once again and scatter the chopped or sliced garlic over the sweet potato slices and then pour the vegetable broth over the works. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender and the broth has reduced to a thicker consistency.

Use a spatula to transfer the Melting Sweet Potatoes to a serving plate and drizzle the sauce from the pan over them. Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator.

4.8 from 65 votes

Melting Sweet Potatoes

There aren’t enough superlatives in our language to describe just how comforting these meltingly tender, deeply caramelized, flavour packed sweet potatoes are.The uncomplicated, high-temperature cooking method condenses both the sweet and savoury qualities of sweet potatoes. Adapted from and with thanks to Spicy Southern Kitchen.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American, Appetizer

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings

Calories 234kcal

Author Rebecca Lindamood

Ingredients

3 pounds sweet potatoes roughly equally sized
3 tablespoons melted butter or melted extra virgin coconut oil
3 tablespoons Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil or plain olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced or chopped
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 500°F.
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch thick rounds. Arrange on a half sheet pan with space between the slices to allow for air to circulate. Drizzle the potatoes with the butter or coconut oil and the garlic extra virgin olive oil or plain extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the top. Use your hands to flip the sweet potatoes and slide them around in the oils, making sure they’re completely coated.
Roast the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, or until the undersides of the slices have caramelized to a beautiful deep brown. Carefully flip the sweet potato slices and return the pan to the oven for another 15 minutes.
Flip the sweet potato slices once again and scatter the chopped or sliced garlic over the sweet potato slices and then pour the vegetable broth over the works. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender and the broth has reduced to a thicker consistency. Use a spatula to transfer the Melting Sweet Potatoes to a serving plate and drizzle the sauce from the pan over them.

Nutrition

Originally published February 2017. Updated April 2017, February 2018, and September 2018, and February 2021.

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