Maple Brown Butter Roasted Sweet Potatoes Recipe

Maple Brown Butter Roasted Sweet Potatoes are an easy and delicious side dish that can be made up to two days in advance. It’s perfect for your Thanksgiving feast or really anytime.

Holiday Traditions

While I enjoy a great sweet potato recipe anytime of the year, I know sweet potatoes need to be on the Thanksgiving table. It’s a basic on the holiday menu for our whole family and such a delicious side dish.

Now, much of my Thanksgiving holiday meal stays exactly the same every year. However, I do like to experiment with different ways of making my family’s favorite dishes to see if I can create a new recipe and a new favorite!

Some Experiments Fare Better Than Others

One year, I decided that I was going to do something completely different with my standard holiday meal sweet potato recipe.  I had come across a recipe for sweet potato gnocchi with a brown butter maple sauce.

I loved the twist with using sweet potato gnocchi, and the brown butter maple sauce sounded like such a great combination. Maybe this would be the new recipe and the new favorite for the whole family! I could even seeing this being a main course and not just a delicious side dish.

So, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I made the sweet potato gnocchi, put it on a large baking sheet pan, covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. It was all ready to be boiled and tossed with its fabulous brown butter maple sauce and be on our Thanksgiving dinner table.

Pro tip – make sure you put your refrigerated turkey on a large baking sheet pan in the event it’s wrapper leaks. Rookie mistake for me (I did not follow my own advice!) and the turkey leaked onto the sweet potato gnocchi. No new sweet potato recipe that year and my delicious brown butter maple sauce had nowhere to go.

Sweet Potato Success!

Since the sweet potato gnocchi incident, I had thought about that yummy brown butter maple sauce, but never made it again. However, I did know I wanted to pair it with some type of sweet potato recipe.

I looked at so many sweet potato recipe variations (mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato salad, sweet potato casserole) and finally decided I was trying too hard. Why not just roast the sweet potatoes, get a large bowl, and toss them with the wonderful brown butter maple sauce?!

Roasting the sweet potatoes is a such perfect compliment for that real maple syrup flavor to come through. And the golden brown color of the butter even compliments the color of the sweet potato! 

This is an easy recipe to add to your holiday menu or for whenever you need a delicious side dish.

Tips and Tricks for Making Maple Brown Butter Roasted Sweet Potatoes

• To speed up the prep time, use pre-cut sweet potatoes. Raw sweet potatoes are quite hard and can be a bit of a challenge to chop.
• Unsalted butter is preferred for this recipe. That way the sodium is only coming from the salt you add, which prevents the dish from becoming too salty.
• 100% pure maple syrup is recommended for this dish. It may cost a bit more than regular pancake syrup, but the flavor is far superior and makes the maple brown butter sauce taste amazing.
• Fresh sage is preferred for this sweet potato recipe, but if you don’t have any on hand, 1 tsp dried sage can be substituted.
• This dish can be made up to two days ahead of time. To do this, roast the sweet potatoes and make the maple brown butter sauce as directed. When you’re ready to serve the dish, reheat the sweet potatoes and the brown butter sauce separately and then combine the two together in a serving dish.

Ingredients Needed for Maple Brown Butter Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Full instructions can be found below in the recipe card

• Diced sweet potatoes
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Unsalted butter
• Pure maple syrup
• Fresh sage

How to Make Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Drizzle sweet potatoes with olive oil, tossing to coat.
• Spread out on a large baking sheet pan coated with cooking spray.
• Sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
• Roast for about 30 minutes, until tender and starting to brown.
• Melt unsalted butter in a small skillet over medium heat.
• Continue cooking butter, stirring frequently, until butter starts to turn brown.
• Make sure you don’t take it too far, it should have a golden brown color.
• As soon as the butter browns, remove from heat.
• Stir in pure maple syrup, sage and season with salt and black pepper.
• Put roasted sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl, pour brown butter sauce over the top and gently toss to coat.
• Serve immediately.

More Delicious Side Dishes for Thanksgiving

• Shallot Butter Green Beans
• Ultimate Garlic Roasted Mashed Potatoes
• Sourdough Sausage Stuffing
• Perfect Dinner Rolls
• Creamed Cornbread Casserole
• Cauliflower Carrot Gratin

 

ENJOY!