Mama’s Candied Yams
Mama’s Candied Yams are bathed in brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange juice. These lovely orange gems are baked until tender and have a bright citrus flavor, along with a caramelized sauce that penetrates the yams to make them tender and sweet. Finished off with a sprinkling of pecans to give them some crunch, these yams are delicious without being overly sweet.
This recipe has the classic flavors of Southern candied yams, combined with some mid-century nostalgia. This 60 year old recipe is a favorite Thanksgiving side dish from my mother’s kitchen, but we modernized it to make it quick and easy to prepare. This easy recipe will give you more time with your family during the holidays, or year round whenever you have a craving for sweet potatoes. Read more about this recipe in our Blog Comments & Tips below.
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RECIPE
(Check out our Step by Step Instructions below the recipe card.)
Recipe updated as of 3/25/22
MAMA’S CANDIED YAMS
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place oven rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 375°F. Grease a heavy duty 4 quart baking dish - 13 x 10 inches (see Note #1) with ½ tablespoon of salted butter, and set aside.
- Wash and peel yams with a potato peeler. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Using a sharp knife, cut yams into about ¾ to 1 inch thick slices (cut smaller ends 1 inch thick), and place side by side in the prepared baking dish.
- In a 2 ½ quart sauce pan, add 3 tablespoons salted butter, light brown sugar, frozen orange juice concentrate, orange zest, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and kosher salt. stir to combine (off heat). Place on medium heat, and stir to combine. Once the mixture reaches a simmer, let simmer without stirring for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir.
- Pour hot mixture evenly over sweet potatoes. Dot each slice of yam with remaining 1 ½ tablespoons of salted butter, and sprinkle lightly with ground cinnamon. Tightly cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes.
- While the yams are baking, chop raw pecans, and set aside. Remove from the oven, and very carefully remove foil (watch out for the steam). Spoon pan juices onto each round, and bake uncovered for 15 minutes (see Note #2). Remove from oven, and test for doneness with the tip of a sharp knife (yams should be tender and cooked, and the knife should feel like it's cutting into softened butter). Then sprinkle ¼ cup chopped raw pecans (optional) onto the yams, spoon pan juices onto yams again, and bake uncovered for about 5 to 10 minutes (see Note #3), until caramelized. Total baking time will be about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes or so before serving. Plate yams, then spoon caramelized juices over the top when serving, and enjoy!
Notes
- We used an 11 x 13 inch baking dish for this recipe. Based on the size and number of yam slices, you can use a baking dish that’s a little larger or 2 smaller pans, if needed. You may need less baking time for smaller pans (or more for larger pans), so keep a close eye on it to prevent burning.
- If you prefer a thinner sauce (and more sauce), then cover tightly with foil again before baking for 15 minutes. Baking uncovered will reduce the sauce, caramelize it, and make it very syrupy.
- Depending on your oven, yams may cook a little faster or slower. Keep an eye on the yams during the last 10 minutes, to avoid burning the caramelized juices, as they will dry up. You want to have some syrupy juices to pour over the yams when serving.
- For a salty sweet flavor, finish with a few sprinkles of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes when ready to serve.
- Leftovers? Store up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.
- Recipe can be made ahead, and reheated in the oven at 325°F. Bring the baking dish to room temperature by removing from the refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to reheating. Cover with foil, and reheat for about 30 to 40 minutes for a large pan, and about 20 to 25 minutes for a smaller pan.
- Yields 6 servings (up to 8 smaller).
Nutrition Facts
Calories
470.88Fat (grams)
13.23Sat. Fat (grams)
6.52Carbs (grams)
86.00Fiber (grams)
9.72Net carbs
76.28Sugar (grams)
22.54Protein (grams)
4.46Sodium (milligrams)
266.38Cholesterol (grams)
25.43Nutritional information provided is strictly an estimate and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods. Optional Maldon Sea Salt Flakes garnish is not included in the nutritional calculations.
Step by Step Instructions
PREPARATION
Organize all your tools and ingredients before you begin. Getting all your ingredients in one place at the beginning will shorten your prep time.
Note: Oops…we forgot to include the fresh navel orange in the prep photo!
STEP 1
Place oven rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 375°F. Grease an heavy duty 4 quart baking pan (13 x 10 inches) (see Note below) with ½ tablespoon of salted butter, and set aside.
Note: We used an 11 x 13 inch baking dish for this recipe. Based on the size and number of yam slices, you can use a baking dish that’s 13 x 9, or a little larger, or 2 smaller pans, if needed. You may need less baking time for smaller pans (or more for larger pans), so keep a close eye on it to prevent burning.
STEP 2
Wash and peel 3 pounds of yams (about 3-4 large yams, or sweet potatoes) with a potato peeler. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Using a sharp knife, cut yams into about ¾ to 1 inch thick slices (cut smaller ends 1 inch thick), and place side by side in the prepared baking dish.
STEP 3a
In a 2 ½ quart sauce pan, add 3 tablespoons salted butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup frozen orange juice concentrate (unsweetened, about ⅓ can), 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest, 2 tablespoons filtered water, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Place on medium heat, and stir to combine.
STEP 3b
Once it reaches a simmer, let mixture simmer without stirring for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir.
STEP 4
Pour hot mixture evenly over sweet potatoes. Dot each slice of yam with remaining 1 ½ tablespoons of salted butter, and sprinkle lightly with ground cinnamon. Tightly cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes.
STEP 5a
While the yams are baking, chop ¼ cup raw pecans, and set aside. Remove from the oven, and very carefully remove foil (watch out for the steam). Spoon pan juices onto each round, and bake uncovered for 15 minutes (see Note below).
Note: If you prefer a thinner sauce (and more sauce), then cover tightly with foil again before baking for 15 minutes. Baking uncovered will reduce the sauce, caramelize it, and make it very syrupy.
STEP 5b
Remove from oven, and test for doneness with the tip of a sharp knife (yams should be tender and cooked, and the knife should feel like it's cutting into softened butter). Then sprinkle chopped pecans onto the yams, spoon pan juices onto yams again, and bake uncovered for about 5 to 10 minutes until caramelized (see Note below). Total baking time will be about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Note: Depending on your oven, yams may cook a little faster or slower. Keep an eye on the yams during the last 10 minutes, to avoid burning the caramelized juices, as they will dry up. You want to have some syrupy juices to pour over the yams when serving.
SERVING
Let cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Plate yams, then spoon caramelized juices over the top when serving, and enjoy!
Note: For a salty sweet flavor, finish with a few sprinkles of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes when ready to serve.
Notes:
Leftovers? Store up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.
Recipe can be made ahead, and reheated in the oven at 325°F. Bring the baking dish to room temperature by removing from the refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to reheating. Cover with foil, and reheat for about 30 to 40 minutes for a large pan, and about 20 to 25 minutes for a smaller pan.
VIDEO
How to Make this Easy Recipe for Mama’s Candied Yams!
Blog Comments & Tips
The perfect holiday side dish!
Mama’s Candied Yams are buttery, sweet, and delightfully tender. Giving the essence of a Thanksgiving side dish, these yams are full of warm spices, citrusy flavor, and sweet and salty elements.
These little orange gems are perfectly sweet. Unlike many other cloyingly sweet recipes for candied yams, ours are not overly sugary. Light brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, and orange juice concentrate (yes, concentrate), are combined to give the sauce an incredible flavor.
At PMR, we are all about using fresh ingredients; however, in this recipe concentrate is best. We added a pop of freshness from the orange zest. Then we used unsweetened orange juice concentrate for a prominent citrus flavor, and to create a thicker, caramel-like syrup that surrounds the yams.
Orange juice concentrate was widely popular in the US in the 1960s. At home, we used it to make juice every day. This is a nostalgic Thanksgiving recipe from my mother’s kitchen that is 60 years old. We kept it mostly intact, including the orange juice concentrate. The only differences are the preparation technique and one ingredient.
My mom’s yams were delicious enough to crave all year round, but she only made this recipe once per year. And, I know why. She would roast the yams whole in the oven until they were completely cooked. While they were still hot, she would pretty much burn her hands while peeling off the skins. Somehow, she felt it was easier to get the peel off when they were scorching hot. Then, she would slice them and begin to assemble the dish.
Although roasting the yams whole does retain some of the flavor (and a bit of the nutrition), it’s not significant enough to warrant the extra time, effort, or pain, to take this step. In the PMR Kitchens, we tested a few ways (both stovetop and baked) to make these candied yams. We found that this method is best to retain the flavor of the natural yams (or sweet potatoes), while creating a lovely caramelized sauce that bathes the yams as they are baking. Plus, you don’t have to stand over the stove for one hour.
These yams appear different from most recipes, which call for ½ inch thick slices (or thinner). We honored my mom’s version and used the thicker cut, and found the yams cooked perfectly all the way through with our baking method. They are not only very tender, but the presentation is more elegant than having a bunch of thin slices sliding around the plate!
Adding some chopped pecans during the last few minutes of baking, really adds a festive texture that you normally don’t get from candied yams. More importantly, the technique we used in our recipe cuts at least 1 ½ to 2 hours off of the preparation time from my Mom’s original recipe.
Remembering my mom fondly for all those hours she spent in the kitchen cooking up some amazing holiday meals, we feel we did her recipe justice by keeping the original flavors, and adding some texture to pimp it up. The best change was that this recipe is a time saver, which makes it a great side dish for any time of year.
How do you ensure the best results from our recipe?
Our 4 tips to making these delicious Candied Yams:
Buy yams (or sweet potatoes) that are equal in size. Yams that are about the same thickness all the way through, will cook evenly.
Make sure the yams are tightly covered in foil for a full 45 minutes before the first basting. This will steam them and allow the sauce to bubble up and “braise” the yams.
Don’t skip the basting process. This ensures that each slice of yam is bathed from top to bottom in that wonderful, syrupy sauce.
If you like a more liquidy sauce, check out our “Make it Saucier” recommendation in the Pimp Our Recipe section below.
Have any dietary preferences that won’t quite work with our recipe? It’s time to customize and Pimp Our Recipe.
Pimp Our Recipe:
Make it Less Sweet: Use only ⅓ cup light brown sugar, and ⅓ cup frozen orange juice concentrate in the sauce. This will produce less liquid, so it would be best to use the instructions in “Make it Saucier” below, to ensure you have some sauce to pour onto the yams when serving.
Make it Less Citrusy: Replace the orange juice concentrate with ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice. This will reduce the intensity, and give it a fresh flavor. Then reduce the amount of fresh orange zest to only ½ teaspoon.
Make it Vegan & Dairy Free: Replace the butter with 5 tablespoons plant-based butter instead.
Make it Saucier: If you like a more liquidy sauce, bake the yams covered with foil for the first 60 minutes (baked covered for 45 minutes, baste, then cover with foil, and bake for 15 minutes). At the 60 minute mark, just sprinkle on the pecans and bake covered for 5 minutes maximum. This will ensure the liquid does not completely evaporate.
Enjoy and let us know what you think by commenting below, rating our recipes, subscribing, following, and liking us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube! Don’t forget to subscribe to get updates on new recipes and tips & tricks.
Happy Cooking!
Mich
Footnote: Remember to spoon the pan juices over the yams to ensure they get bathed in the sauce from top to bottom.
Adapted from the Candied Yams recipe from Micheline’s mother’s kitchen. We’ve taken this nostalgic recipe from the early 1960s and modernized it to make it quick and easy to prepare.
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