When it comes to holiday meals, sometimes it’s nice to use white tablecloths and plates and let the food provide the color. Consequently, I am always on the lookout on how to pretty up a holiday dish. I had this in mind when I created this Caramelized Spiced Sweet Potatoes recipe. Using a mix of orange and purple sweet potatoes really amped up the presentation factor.
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Purple sweet potatoes, like their orange siblings, are low in carbohydrates and fat. They are packed with antioxidants and purple sweet potatoes are slightly less sweet than orange ones. However, this Caramelized Spiced Sweet Potatoes dish has plenty of sweetness complemented with warm holiday spices.
This beautiful side dish takes just under an hour to make. Peel the potatoes and boil them whole until cooked but firm. Then slice them up after cooling. Fry up sweet and red onion slices in olive oil. Add brown sugar to caramelize them. Then transfer the sliced sweet potatoes to pan-fry them. Cover with more brown sugar to caramelize adding ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Sauté, season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.
I used a one-half teaspoon each of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Feel free to use more if you want a more intense spic flavor. Also, I like a combination of sweet and red onions for this dish for the reasons of flavor and color. The sweet onions complement the sweet flavors of the sugared potatoes. Additionally, the purple ones balance the sweet flavor and add a flash of color.
This recipe serves up generous portions for six people. However, you could easily stretch it to eight. If you double the recipe, I recommend boiling all the potatoes in a large pot. hen, frying them in two separate batches.
Caramelized Spiced Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes
- 1 large sweet onion
- 1 large red onion
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon plus 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
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Peel potatoes.
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Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and let simmer for 25 minutes. Drain.
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When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into bite-sized pieces.
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Peel and dice onions.
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Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
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Add the onions and sauté. Sprinkle the teaspoon of brown sugar over the top.
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Continue to sauté until the onions start to caramelize.
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Add the potato pieces and fry, turning occasionally for about 5 minutes.
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Sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg over the top and mix to combine.
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Sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar over the top and toss to combine.
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When the sugar has caramelized, season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
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Serve immediately.
Like these Caramelized Spiced Sweet Potatoes? Also, try some of these other delicious side dishes perfect for Thanksgiving:
