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Original stove top REAL vegan candied yams! Tender, sweet and full of flavor, these candied yams are the perfect addition to your vegan Thanksgiving table!
Vegan Candied Yams is a the perfect vegan soul food recipe.
Thankfully it is a dish I never had to give up when I went vegan. I simply swap out the dairy butter for vegan butter voila! The same taste without the need for any animal products!
Serve these for at your Vegan Thanksgiving table or for Sunday dinner with some dairy free mac and cheese, vegan lentil loaf, and pressure cooker collard greens!
Vegan Candied Yams Key Ingredients
Garnet Red Sweet Potatoes: These potatoes are my favorite to use. They are super rich in color and have natural sweet taste more so than regular sweet potatoes.
Organic Cane Sugar and Brown Sugar: We need a lot of sugar for this recipe. After all it is candied!
Water: A small amount of water is needed to prevent your yams from burning and sticking to the pot.
Lemon Juice: This is to help balance out the flavor of the sugar in your yams.
Cinnamon and Vanilla Extract: These ingredients add extra flavor. You can even add a little nutmeg if you choose!
Vegan Butter: Of course yams wouldn't be yams without the butter! You add this at the end once your potatoes have finished cooking.
How to Candied Yams?
*Please read detailed and printable recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions
Substitution, Cook, & Storage Tips:
- If you really want to be different and non traditional, try Japanese White Sweet Potatoes! That probably would be super yummy!
- Feel free to baked these yams topping it with vegan marshmallows
- Leftovers keep covered in the refrigerator 4-5 days. DO NOT store them at room temperature. This dish DOES NOT freeze well.
More Soul Food Vegan Recipes You'll Love:
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The BEST Vegan Candied Yams
Ingredients
- 4 large garnet sweet red potatoes (about 2.5 pounds) note 1
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1 cup organic cane sugar note 2
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
- 2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup vegan butter
Equipment
Instructions
- Rinse your potatoes well and then take your potato peeler and begin to peel the skin off your potatoes. On a cutting board with a sharp chef knife, chop your sweet potatoes into ¼-½ inch rounds. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- Grab a large pot or Dutch Oven and place over stovetop. DONT TURN ON HEAT YET. Place water at the bottom of pan. Then layer half of your sweet potatoes in your pot. Top with ½ cup of organic cane sugar and ½ cup of brown sugar. Add the other of layer sweet potatoes, and top with the remaining ½ cup of organic cane sugar and ½ cup of brown sugar.
- Next add your cinnamon powder, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Turn on your stove to medium low to low heat (no higher than this to prevent burning) and place lid over pot leaving it slightly cracked. Allow it to cook for 10 minutes UNDISTURBED. DO NOT TOUCH THEM. THIS IS THE CANDIED PROCESS.
- After 10 minutes, remove lid and with your wooden spatula, flip the top potatoes over, making sure that top layer is touching the sugar syrup as much as possible. You can maneuver them around as to stick them in the sugar syrup but DO NOT mix your potatoes. Place lid back over the pot again leaving the lid cracked and allow to cook again for about 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, check again to see if all potatoes are total cook. if the top layer is still somewhat hard, flip them one more time making sure all sides are touching the sugar syrup mixture and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender. This time you can cook them uncovered to begin to reduce the liquid or you can cover them with the lid cracked again if you like more liquid in your yams . Be sure to check after 5 minutes cook time if the top layer of the potatoes are tender to prevent burning them and over cooking your potatoes.
- Once all the potatoes are tender, add in your vegan butter and allow the butter to melt onto the yams. Serve with your favorite vegan soul food recipes or for a filling vegan thanksgiving celebration!
Notes
- SWEET POTATOES: I love the garnet red sweet potatoes because of it's dark rich color and it's natural sweetness. But feel free to use whatever sweet potatoes you have available to you.
- ORGANIC CANE SUGAR: Organic cane sugar ensures that the sugar is vegan (aka not processed through pig bone char). But use whatever sugar is available and accessible to you.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on November 6, 2017 but was republished with up an updated recipe, new photos, step by step instructions, tips, and a video on September 26, 2022.
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Dave D
Awesome taste and texture. It seemed as though mine generated a whole lot of liquid so I transferred the potatoes to a casserole dish, spooned in a substantial amount of the liquid, topped it all with the vegan butter and vegan marshmallows. According to my grandkids they aren't candied sweet potatoes if they aren't topped with marshmallows! I stuck it all under the broiler until the mixture was bubbling and marshmallows were golden brown. Yum!
Gina Marie
yay! So glad you liked it!
Elly
Looks so Yummm! I love sweet potatoes and trying different recipes with them now I will try these BAKED CANDIED SWEET POTATOES too.
Deepika
I love sweet potato. Yesterday, I made sweet potato pudding. I wish I had read your post earlier. No worries! I will go to the market and buy some more to try this delicious recipe. 🙂
Lauren
I added a cup of sugar to make it sweeter and they were delicious!!!
Gina Marie
Awesome!!! thank you for the feedback!!!
Debbie
I had some homemade apple butter I was looking to use and I found this recipe. I served these oven glazed sweet potatoes as a side with our sunday dinner and it was huge hit, no leftovers. What i loved with the natural flavor of the sweet potatoes were enhanced. . I will be making this again for Thanksgiving!
Rebecca Blackwell
Every year, I make a big batch of Apple Butter. Having just made the yearly batch, I came across this recipe and just had to try it. It's absolutely delicious and will replace our traditional sweet potato dish for Thanksgiving this year. The apple butter complements the flavor in the sweet potatoes so nicely. Thanks for a great recipe!
Marisa F. Stewart
These sweet potatoes would be super at our Thanksgiving table. I love the idea that you cut on the sugar with the apple butter. What an excellent way to get in the flavor without all that sweetness. I know this side will be the favorite.
Denise
Your sweet potatoes look incredibly good! My family will love this dish when I make it for them.
Leslie Kiszka
This looks like fall perfection! Everything about this screams comfort food, and it's totally going on my short list for new dinner sides.
Tara
What a great idea to use Apple Butter. Sounds amazing and perfect for my holiday meal planning. With all the different diets around, I'm happy to find a delicious vegan side dish.
Danielle
I use apple butter to reduce the amount of sugar, too - it always works! Thank you for the tip on storing the dish - that is really helpful. Can't wait to make these!
Chef Dennis
These Baked Candied Sweet Potatoes is heaven! I love that you used apple butter to make it more delicious. Most importantly, this is healthy!
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer
This is definitely my husband would be all over for sure! Candied Sweet Potatoes are a must in my house for every holiday (including his birthday!). I'm always looking for new and delicious ways to make them! Pinning for the next holiday!