Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes

Like most root vegetables, sweet potatoes are a pretty humble-looking food. But open them up and you’ll typically find beautiful sunset-colored flesh that, when cooked, delivers a deeply satisfying caramelized-sugary flavor. Plus, together with the skin, it’s chock-full of nutrients: Sweet potatoes are high in beta carotene and are a good source of potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and C. Still, truth be told, we love them best for the way they taste — especially in the collection of standout sweet potato recipes below.

FAVORITE SWEET POTATO RECIPES

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

The tasty simplicity of Shaker cooking comes through in this recipe for sweet potato corn chowder from Jeff Paige, former chef at New Hampshire’s Canterbury Shaker Village and now chef-owner of the acclaimed Manchester restaurant Cotton. Alongside such traditional ingredients as bacon, corn, and potatoes, the sweet potatoes add a colorful, flavorful twist.

Corn & Sweet Potato Chowder

When made with fresh-picked corn at the height of the season, the corn cob–based broth at the heart of this sweet potato chowder is so sweet “you want to bathe in it,” says chef Christopher Prosperi. He offers this recipe from the kitchen of Metro Bis, the modern bistro he opened in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1998. The bistro moved into the upscale Simsbury 1820 House bed-and-breakfast in 2013, bringing together historical charm and culinary invention.

Lobster and Sweet Potato Soup

For a third and final sweet potato soup option, we love this rich lobster bisque–inspired recipe. Chipotle peppers and ground ancho chili pepper are guaranteed to get your taste buds tingling, making this a great cold-weather warm-up.

Crispy Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

While they play well with other ingredients in soups, main dishes, and desserts, sweet potatoes definitely can shine on their own as a hearty side dish. Make these caramelized sweet potatoes —which have the extra benefit of being gorgeous to look at — for your family’s next holiday meal, and watch how fast they disappear.

Maple & Cider–Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Bringing together two signature New England flavors, maple and cider, this recipe has roots that go back to a 1939 Yankee story on Vermont maple culture. Decades later, that culture is still going strong; we think this sweet-tangy dish (with just the right amount of crunch) will likewise stand the test of time.

Chai-Spiced Sweet Potatoes

Cooks who are always on the lookout for something new to try will love this one. Sweet potatoes provide the heft; Indian spices provide the uplift. The potatoes cook to tender perfection in a sauce made from black chai tea and further enriched with ground cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black pepper.

Bourbon–Sweet Potato Casserole

You already know the magic that streusel — that sweet, crumbly topping — can add to things like apple pies and coffee cakes. But you’ll find it also makes a terrific finishing touch for a baked sweet potato purée, especially when chopped pecans give a nutty counterbalance to the brown sugar and cinnamon. Plus: bourbon!

Sweet Potato Gratin with Maple Butter

Make-ahead recipes are essential in meal planning for holidays or other big family get-togethers. This creamy sweet potato gratin, which is elevated by rich maple butter, can be assembled several hours ahead of time and stashed in the refrigerator till you’re ready to bake.

Sweet Potato, Beet & Chèvre Galette

Call it a galette, call it a crostata, call it a pie without pressure — this rustic, free-form pastry is fun to make and impressive to behold. Roasted sweet potatoes and beets make a bed of vegetable-y goodness that’s wrapped in homemade dough, topped with goat cheese, and baked to crusty golden perfection.

Apple & Sweet Potato Latkes

This recipe comes from the kitchen of Yankee’s own food editor, Amy Traverso, who makes latkes for her family’s Hanukkah party each year. It showcases her encyclopedic knowledge of all things apple (she did write The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, after all!) and includes her recommendations on which varieties to use. Along with the latke recipe you’ll find a link to Amy’s classic applesauce recipe, good for eating all year round.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

Move over, zucchini bread and carrot cake. This tender, faintly spicy sweet potato cake epitomizes what a vegetable cake can be. It’s been dubbed “ridiculously delicious” by one of our readers, Judy Eramo, who took the photograph above. Her version takes the recipe up a notch with a simple but elegant white glaze (which also helped the topping of pecans stay in place!).

Southern Sweet Potato Pie

It’s no surprise that one of the most delectable desserts in our round-up has Southern roots. As tropical vegetables, sweet potatoes thrive in the long, hot summers of places like North Carolina, the No. 1 grower in the nation. Though you can use a store-bought pie shell and canned sweet potatoes if you like, we think you’ll find that putting the extra effort into a homemade shell and fresh mashed sweet potatoes will pay seriously sweet dividends.

Orange-Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie

As the finale to our collection of sweet potato recipes, we offer this twist on the traditional sweet potato casserole with marshmallow topping. Here, the fluffiness is baked right into the pie. How? A meringue that you fold in before baking. With bourbon for depth and orange zest for, well, zestiness, the result is airy, moist, and delicious.

What are your favorite sweet potato recipes?