Homemade Candied Sweet Potatoes with Orange Juice and Marshmallows

These candied sweet potatoes are like dessert with a thick syrupy sauce made from orange juice, brown sugar, and butter. Top them with marshmallows and bake a few minutes to toast. Perfection!

The perfect make-ahead candied sweet potatoes

In my opinion, the best Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes are easy, and they tolerate being made a day or two ahead of time with no loss of flavor or texture.

This is one of those recipes.

Depending on how things are going with cleaning (and how much room there is in my refrigerator), I will either peel and pre-cut the sweet potatoes the night before or cook the whole dish the night before, stopping just before adding the marshmallows.

It reheats beautifully, so it really doesn’t make any difference to the finished dish. When I make it ahead, I simply cover the whole thing and put it in the fridge, then on the morning of the holiday, I bring it out, put it in the microwave for five or so minutes to heat everything up, and then I cover it with mini marshmallows and pop it in the oven for ten minutes to toast them.

About half the time, I forget to take it out and the marshmallows melt into the syrup. Oh well. Toasted marshmallows always sound nice, but no one cares either way.

Well, maybe the kids care. But for as much as they eat, they’ll get over it.

The perfect day-of candied sweet potatoes

Now, all that said, our family has shrunk significantly and we now cook for only 6 people including our two children. So. I don’t make much of anything ahead anymore. It’s simply easier to do the cooking once and on the morning of the holiday.

What I do these days is peel and cut up the potatoes on the morning of the holiday, prepare the sauce, pour over the potatoes, and microwave. It takes less than 15 minutes from start to microwave, so I don’t sweat doing it ahead of time.

After that, it’s the same. I microwave until the potatoes are tender, then I cover them with marshmallows and put them in the already hot oven to toast. And then usually I forget to take them out and the marshmallows all melt into the sauce.

Candied sweet potatoes are part of my How to Host a Stress-Free Holiday Meal ebook which is available now.

Homemade Candied Sweet Potatoes with Orange Juice and Marshmallows

These candied sweet potatoes are like dessert with a thick syrupy sauce made from orange juice, brown sugar, and butter. Top them with marshmallows and bake a few minutes to toast. Perfection!

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 1 cup brown sugar packed
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• pumpkin pie spice to taste
• 1 bag mini marshmallows optional

Instructions

 

• The night before your meal, clean, peel, and chunk the sweet potatoes. I like to leave mine in bigger-than-bite-sized chunks. Place in a large baking dish. Use a dish big enough that the potatoes are mostly in a single layer.
• Combine butter, brown sugar, and orange juice in a mixing bowl. Pour over potatoes. Top with a handful of marshmallows, which will melt into the sauce.
• Cover and microwave for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. If you're making ahead, allow the potatoes to cool and refrigerate until it's time to serve. If not, just move on to the next step.
• To serve: Top with remaining marshmallows and bake at 375 for ten minutes (twenty minutes if cold), until the potatoes are hot and marshmallows are just toasted.

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