Melting Sweet Potatoes with Maple-Pecan Sauce

Melting sweet potatoes with maple-pecan sauce.

Hey friends! I'm re-sharing this Melting Sweet Potato recipe, because we're getting close to Thanksgiving! If you've made these before, you know how good they are. If not, (welcome from Pinterest), pull up a chair and get ready to eat the best damn sweet potatoes you've ever had. And don't miss the new video below with step-by-step instructions!

These oven roasted sweet potatoes are my favorite part of my small Thanksgiving for two menu.

The business of making a starch melt in your mouth is actually quite simple. The only technique required is roasting in the oven with butter. A long time ago, we stopped drizzling things with melted butter before roasting in the oven. Also a long time ago, oven fries died.

I'm not sure when oil became the only acceptable thing with which to roast, but its heyday has come and gone in my kitchen.

I love neutral oils as much as the next chick, but golden brown and crispy, it does not make my starches. I'm back to the butter. Also back: my fat jeans.

That said, the first time I made these melting sweet potatoes, 4 smoke alarms were going off in my house on two different levels. Yikes. The classic melting potato recipe calls for cranking the oven to 500 and cooking in a glass pan.

But with the fire department on its way, a sleeping babe woken from a nap, and two barking dogs, I cursed that recipe with all I have.

It took me a few weeks to get over the incident and try again. Not to mention I'd wasted 3 pounds of the first of the season's local sweet potatoes. They were like little lumps in the coal in the trash can, and it bothered me deeply.

When I finally tried again, I lowered the oven, grabbed my trusty roasting pan (why a roasting pan wouldn't be used for roasting is escaping me), and I set to work.

The results were so good, I made them 3 times in one week. The texture of the sweet potatoes indeed is like velvet. Exactly as it should be. I love these melting sweet potatoes so much. We've eaten them every which-way possible: as a side dish at dinner, on top of Buddha bowls for lunch, and with fried eggs for breakfast. Yes, they are that good.

And we haven't even talked about the sauce. I made a wet pecan sauce to top them for your Thanksgiving festivities. It's entirely optional, but when you see that it only has 2 ingredients and comes together in 7 minutes, you won't be one to opt out.

Melting Sweet Potatoes, step-by-step:

First, peel and chop your sweet potatoes into 1" round disks. For Thanksgiving, I would use slightly less than one pound of sweet potatoes per person. As a side dish to a meal, I would plan on one pound per person.

Spread the disks on a roasting pan, making sure they are not touching. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter per pound of sweet potatoes, and drizzle it on top.

Toss the slices together with the butter (while wearing a shirt that has two different color sleeves, apparently. Sorry, I did not take this photo.)

Spread them back out in an even layer, not touching. If you're making the wet pecan sauce, add a small sprinkle of salt. If not, add ¼ teaspoon of salt per pound.

After roasting for 20 minutes at 425, flip each melting sweet potato disk over. They will be nice and golden brown on the first side. It will be hard to resist eating one, but just you wait--they're going to get even better.

After 20 minutes roasting on the other side, they look like this. Which is glorious, in case you couldn't tell.

Hi, melting sweet potatoes. I love you so.

I kinda sorta forgot to take photos of the wet pecan sauce, but it's very simple. Gather your ¼ cup of chopped pecans and ¼ cup of maple syrup per pound of sweet potatoes. Bring the maple syrup to a boil in a small pan. Add the chopped pecans. Bring it back to a boil, then cook for 1 minute, and you're done!

You can use all of the sauce for the melting sweet potatoes, but I think the recipe makes a bit much. (I didn't want you to be lacking on the big day).

If you have leftovers, drizzle it on anything your little heart desires. Like, oatmeal. Ice cream. Toast. The palm of your hand (let it cool first, my love).

The pecans do get softer and softer the longer they sit in the maple syrup, so try to use it up in 2 days.

Drizzle it over the melting sweet potato disks, and serve with a smile.

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