Candied Yams
If you've got yams or sweet potatoes, butter or margarine and light brown sugar, you're most of the way to this vegetarian: about 60 minutes of cooking across 7 steps. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 7 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for oven and saucepan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (1)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Peel the yams and cut them into rounds about 1 cm thick, then arrange them in a single overlapping layer in a buttered baking dish.
- Heat the oven to 190 C (375 F) while you prepare the syrup.
- In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt, and warm over medium heat, stirring, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves into a smooth syrup.
- Remove the syrup from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, then pour it evenly over the yams so every piece is coated.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes so the yams steam and soften.
- Uncover, baste the yams with the syrup from the bottom of the dish, and bake uncovered for a further 20 to 25 minutes, basting once more, until the yams are fork-tender and the syrup has thickened and glazed them.
- Let the yams rest for 5 minutes so the glaze clings, then spoon over any syrup left in the dish and serve hot.
You'll use: Oven · Saucepan · Pan · Baking dish · Steamer
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Brown Sugar
- white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses per cup
Tips & common questions
How long does Candied Yams take to make?
About 60 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 8 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Candied Yams vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Candied Yams is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Candied yam spread on bread.jpg by jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.