Southern Candied Yams on the Stove

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These candied yams are so delicious with their buttery and cinnamon flavors popping through. This is an old fashioned sweet potato side dish that can be considered southern style or soul food style.

A lot of people will say the authentic way of making this is making your buttery mixture, pour it right on top, and place it in the oven. Don't get me wrong, I make it that way too at times but when your oven has other items cooking, this is a quick way to get it done. The other part I love about this is that it is considered a one-pot meal. Hello…thank you for limited dishes.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE CANDIED YAMS

For a full list of ingredients and instructions, please scroll down to the recipe at the bottom of the page.

• Garnet yams (Which are actually sweet potatoes)
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Salt

Other option ingredients you may add (which I have tried them all and are great additions)

• Ground cloves
• Vanilla Extract (PURE…no imitation)
• Lemon or Orange zest
• Ground ginger
• White sugar

YAMS OR SWEET POTATOES

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

There seems to be confusion when at the store on which potato to get. Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same. There is a difference between the two. Yams are cylinder shaped, thicker, rough skin with white meat. Sweet potatoes are tubular shaped, smoother skin, and dark orange color on the outside and inside. Now, why we called this candied yams? I'm not going to lie, I don't know! That's what my granny, mommy, aunties, great-granddaddy, and everyone else in my family called them, so that's what I call them 😂.

HOW TO MAKE THESE CANDIED YAMS ON THE STOVE

Let's get into this.

First, rinse off your sweet potatoes to remove all the dirt and anything else that touched them along the way.

Peel and cut your potatoes. Now, here's the thing. You can cut them in a circular shape like I did or you can cut them in 1/2″ or 1″ cubes. They will be good and tender either way.

Heat up your butter in a large pan or pot. Add the potatoes in and move them around. Try to get butter on every piece of potato. Then add your brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Mix it all together, cover, and let simmer until done. Yep, that's it!!!

CHEF PATRICE TIPS

Purchase long and slim potatoes if you can. These are easier to peel and cut.

Try to cut them the same size so they can get done around the same time.

If you have salted butter then please use that and don't add in the pinch of salt. I tend to always have unsalted butter on hand, so that's what I use. If you want, you can leave the salt out altogether. That small pinch enhances the flavor to me.

Stir occasionally to get the sauce all over and to make sure they are not sticking to the bottom. Though they should not stick, just double check. If this happens, turn the heat down and add a tablespoon of butter.

This is a great dish that is served usually during holidays but can grace the table any time of the year. Serve it warm and watch how fast these candied yams leaves the table.