Comforting, sweet, and irresistible, this recipe is straight from grandma’s kitchen and guaranteed to make your next holiday meal a total hit. Some people might pretend they don’t like it, but everyone does. Even the marshmallows. Especially the marshmallows.
You don’t have to be a top-tier chef to get this right. It’s straightforward, no fancy ingredients or techniques – a perfect dish to whip up with the kiddos!
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
Choose fresh and firm sweet potatoes. You can also use regular marshmallows instead of the mini ones, but I think the mini ones are fun.
This will make 8 servings. If you’re feeding a lot of people for the holidays, you can double or triple the recipe. Just hit the 2x or 3x button in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
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Equipment
- Large skillet
- Baking dish or cast iron pan
Ingredients
- 6 medium-sized sweet potatoes peeled and cut Into ½ inch slices
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups mini marshmallows
How to Make
Step One: Make the Syrup
First things first, preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). While the oven’s warming up, get your sweet potatoes ready in a mixing bowl.
Melt the butter in a skillet or wide-bottomed sauce pan. Add your sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to the melted butter. Keep stirring until it’s all nicely mixed and the sugar is fully dissolved.
Step Two: Toss Potatoes
Pour the syrup over your sweet potatoes. Mix it all together so that every single slice is coated.
Step Three: Bake
Time to bake! Transfer your syrup-coated sweet potatoes into a baking dish or a cast-iron pan. Cover it up with foil and bake for about an hour. You’re looking for tender potatoes and a beautifully thickened sauce.
Step Four: Add the Topping and Toast
After an hour, remove the dish and top it off with those cute mini marshmallows. Back in the oven for a quick toast – just until they’re golden brown.
Storage Instructions
To store, allow your candied sweet potatoes to cool down completely. Then, place them in an airtight container and refrigerate. They’ll be good for up to 4 days.
If you want to freeze them, just remember to hold off on the marshmallows until you’re ready to serve. Freeze in a sealed container and when it’s time to serve, thaw, top with marshmallows, and give a quick bake to heat through and toast the marshmallows.
What to Serve
These are perfect for a classic Christmas or Thanksgiving feast!
- Make a deep-fried turkey. Trust me, once you try my method you’ll never go back.
- Or complement a plain main dish like cast iron skillet roast chicken for outside the holiday season.
- Green beans with bacon is always a favorite for the holidays.
- Serve this apple cranberry Christmas sangria for your guests.
- And finish off with a simple but pretty gingerbread Bundt cake.
More Delicious Vegetable Recipes
- Deep fried sweet potato fries are crispy on the outside and soft inside.
- Even the vegetable haters will love Brussels sprouts with bacon and cream.
- Amish scalloped corn is creamy and comforting.
- This Amish broccoli salad is an absolute crowd-pleaser.
Printable Recipe
Old-Fashioned Candied Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Baking dish or cast iron pan
Ingredients
- 6 medium-sized sweet potatoes peeled and cut Into ½ inch slices
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Place the prepared sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Make sugar syrup. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and salt to the melted butter. Stir until well combined and the sugar has dissolved.
- Toss potatoes in syrup. Pour the sugar mixture over the sweet potatoes and toss together until they are evenly coated in the sugar mixture.
- Bake to soften. Transfer the coated sweet potatoes and any remaining sugar mixture on the bottom of the bowl into a baking dish or cast iron pan. Bake, covered with foil, for 50-60 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Add marshmallows and bake briefly again. Remove the baking dish from the oven and evenly sprinkle the mini marshmallows over the sweet potatoes. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the marshmallows are golden brown and toasted.
Notes
Nutrition
Love,
In the receipe you have 4 tablespoons of butter – but the picture shows 1 stick of butter cut in half. Do we use 4 tablespoons or 8 tablespoons of butter?
4 tablespoons correct 🙂
Delicious recipe, Katie!! Took me right back to mom’s kitchen table.
PS: You may want to edit your ingredients picture to say “sweet potatoes” and not “carrots”. 😉
A favorite – reminded me of childhood.
PS: I would change the picture of your ingredients to say “sweet potatoes” instead of “carrots”. : )
lol i wonder about myself sometimes! 🤣 thank you erin!
A favorite – reminded me of childhood.