Sweet Potato Recipes: Let's Get Creative

Learn about sweet potatoes, get some tips and adapt a basic recipe to suit your taste for your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday meal.

Sweet Potato: The Basics

A medium sweet potato is very nutritious and only 117 calories. In the United States, a sweet potato and a yam are the same thing. However in Louisiana, sweet potatoes are most often referred to as yams, while in other parts of the country it's sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes have more nutritional value than potatoes, and even more than spinach and broccoli, so it's a shame we only think of including a sweet potato recipe at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sweet potatoes and sweet potato recipes should be a part of a cook's repertoire throughout the year.

A Thanksgiving Connection for Sweet Potatoes

Everyone thinks of sweet potato recipes for Thanksgiving and they do have a true Thanksgiving connection. Native Americans were growing sweet potatoes when the first settlers arrived in America so when you bring your favorite sweet potato recipe to the table for Thanksgiving, you can imagine that it is a dish that might actually have been served.

Sweet Potato or Yam: A Difference in Flavor

The sweet potatoes that might have been brought to that first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, however, are different from the sweet potatoes that are grown in other parts of the United States. Northern sweet potatoes are yellow-fleshed and a little more dry and firm.

Southern sweet potatoes are more orange in color, sweeter, and have a softer texture. These sweet potatoes or "yams" were adapted from a Puerto Rican variety. The fact that Southern sweet potatoes are already sweeter makes it even more amusing that we Southerners just love to dunk even more sugar on top of our sweet potatoes when we put together our sweet potato recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How to Measure Amounts of Sweet Potatoes for Sweet Potato Recipes

Just to get it straight, one medium sweet potato is equivalent to one cup of canned sweet potatoes when you are making a sweet potato recipe. Canned sweet potatoes are also already cooked, too.

Sweet Potato: A Tip to Keep Them Looking Sweet

Don't cut your sweet potatoes with a carbon blade knife. It will cause your sweet potato slices to darken. Always use a stainless steel knife when cutting your sweet potatoes.

Flavorful Substitution Tip for Sweet Potato Recipes

It's perfectly okay to use Splenda instead of sugar or for part of the sugar in your sweet potato recipe. I substituted Splenda for all of the sugar in my sweet potato recipe last Thanksgiving and I thought my sweet potatoes tasted perfectly fine.

Flavorful Spices in Sweet Potato Recipes

Sweet Potatoes seems to become even more flavorful when we add the same spices to them that we'd use for a pumpkin pie. Spices used in sweet potato recipes include cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla. Pumpkin pie spice is also often used in sweet potato recipes. Pumpkin pie spice is actually made up of ginger, cinnamon, cloves or allspice, and nutmeg. So you can see why many sweet potatoes recipes call for pumpkin pie spice in place of the individual spices.

Flavorful Fruits and Sweets in Sweet Potato Recipes

Many sweet potato recipes include a fruit in addition to the sweet potatoes. Most often, you'll find crushed pineapple, orange zest and orange juice, raisins, coconut, or apples. To sweeten our sweet potatoes even more, you'll also find brown sugar, molasses, and white sugar. The amount of sweetening varies in most recipes from a couple of tablespoons to an amazing two cups of sugar.

Flavorful Toppings in Sweet Potato Recipes

In the South, you'll find most sweet potato recipes topped with a praline topping. That's pecans, butter, and brown sugar. In other parts of the country the topping for a sweet potato recipe is known as a streusel topping and includes flour along with the pecans, butter, and sugar.

Get Creative with a Basic Sweet Potato Recipe

You can create your own sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas by starting with a basic recipe and adding the items that you like. To get started try the following:

Basic Sweet Potato Recipe:

3-4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup and up of sugar (you and your teeth can decide how much)
1/2 cup of liquid (milk, evaporated milk, orange juice, apple juice or even brandy)
spices or fruit or some of both
topping of your choice (praline, streusel, or that old standby marshmallows)

Place in a 1 1/2 to 2qt. casserole and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes: Recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Still not convinced you can make your own sweet potato recipe? Here are some links to sweet potato recipes to follow and adapt to your own taste.

Sweet Potato Pudding Recipe with Coconut

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe with Pineapple and Praline Topping

Sweet Potato Recipe with Streusel Topping

Copycat of Ruth's Chris Sweet Potatoes - with lots of sugar

Light and Healthy Sweet Potato Recipe with Orange Zest

Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe with Apples

Easy Sweet Potato Recipe from Paula Deen

Sources:
Louisiana Sweet Potatoes Web Site
North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission Web Site