Holiday Sweet Potatoes

Creamy baked sweet potatoes topped with a maple browned butter pecan sauce are the perfect side dish for all your holiday celebrations. And, these Holiday Sweet Potatoes will be a big hit with your family.

I have instructions for baking these sweet potatoes in the oven or in the electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot).

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Can I double this recipe?

Yes, this recipe may be increased, and quite easily.

If you want to make lots of sweet potatoes, like for a big family holiday or a crowd, I recommend using the oven-baked method so you can make as many potatoes as you want at one time.

Browned butter

Browned butter is the stuff of dreams. Nutty. Fragrant. Lip smacking good!

It’s also really easy to make. It just takes a few minutes to get that nutty flavor out of a bit of butter. And, it’s an easy way to take a recipe up a notch or two in flavor.

All you have to do is cook the butter a little past the melting point, and you’ll get those milk solids to brown and turn caramel-y!

Just be sure to keep your eye on the butter while cooking. Don’t go check Facebook or anything! It’s pretty easy to go from browned to burned in the blink of an eye.

Oven Baked Sweet Potatoes

I love to bake sweet potatoes in the oven. I find the texture of the spud to be perfect every time, and you can bake as many as you like at one time.

The oven is definitely my preferred or recommended method for making the sweet potatoes.

But, it does take longer to bake them in the oven. So maybe you want to try them in the pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooker Sweet Potatoes

Using the pressure cooker or Instant Pot to “bake” the sweet potatoes is nice and quick. It only takes about 25 minutes or so to cook the spuds in the pressure cooker.

Cooking times in the pressure cooker may vary based on the size of the sweet potatoes. If you have really large potatoes, just add some extra time to make sure they cook all the way through. You can also cut the sweet potatoes in half prior to cooking to shorten the cooking time a bit.

In all actuality, you’re steaming the sweet potatoes rather than baking them using the pressure cooker.

Now, the downside is that, at least for me, the method isn’t always foolproof. I’ve had some sweet potatoes come out raw in the center.

I do love the convenience and quickness of the Instant Pot.

I also love that you could actually make this whole recipe, browned butter pecan sauce as well as the sweet potatoes, in one pan with the pressure cooker.

Simply cook the sauce using the sauté function of the pressure cooker, following the recipe card directions. And be sure to clean out the sauce well from the insert after you’re done cooking the sauce.

Do I need to poke holes in the potatoes prior to cooking them in the pressure cooker?

No, you can skip that step for cooking sweet potatoes in the pressure cooker. The heat and steam penetrate differently than in the oven.

Do I need to wrap the potatoes in foil prior to cooking them in the pressure cooker?

You don’t need to wrap the potatoes in foil to cook them in the pressure cooker. Again, that is a step you can skip with the pressure cooker.

Kitchen tools you may need to make this recipe

Note: These are Amazon affiliate links

Small saucepan
Aluminum foil
Tongs
Instant pot
Hot pads
Spatula
Knife
Cutting board

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Holiday Sweet Potatoes Recipe

Holiday Sweet Potatoes

Debi

Creamy baked sweet potatoes topped with a maple browned butter pecan sauce are the perfect side dish for all your holiday celebrations. And, these Holiday Sweet Potatoes will be a big hit with your family. This recipe is easily doubled; simply use the servings slider to easily adjust the ingredient amounts.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Calories 312 kcal

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into smaller pieces
• ¾ cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 large sweet potatoes

Instructions

 

Make sauce:

• Place the butter pieces in a small heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, and melt butter, stirring frequently.
• Add the chopped pecans, and continue to cook, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan, and the butter will begin to get fragrant. Keep your eye on it while it’s cooking; it’s easy to go from browned to burned.
• Remove from heat and carefully add maple syrup and salt, mixture will bubble up quite a bit when you add the syrup. Set pecan sauce aside.

Prepare sweet potatoes:

• Rinse and scrub the sweet potatoes with a brush until clean.

Prepare the sweet potatoes, oven method:

• Preheat the oven to 425° F.
• Pierce the sweet potatoes a few times using a fork, and drizzle lightly with oil.
• Loosely wrap the sweet potatoes in aluminum foil, and place the wrapped sweet potatoes directly on the oven rack. Bake for 65 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork.

Prepare the sweet potatoes, pressure cooker method:

• Add 1cup water to the pressure cooker. Place the steaming trivet on the bottom of the pressure cooker insert, and lay the sweet potatoes on top of the trivet.
• Secure the lid onto the pressure cooker, and turn the valve to lock the seal.
• Use manual mode and set on pressure cook, high, for 18 minutes.
• Allow the device to depressurize “natural release” (do nothing after the cooking time goes off – the Instant Pot will automatically go to Warm and pressure will slowly release naturally). This takes about 10-15 minutes. Pressure valve will lower.
• Carefully remove the lid, and check for doneness by piercing with a fork.

To serve:

• Cut cooked sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise, and fluff up the insides with a fork.
• Divide browned butter maple pecan sauce into fourths, and spoon over the top of each sweet potato half. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Calories: 312kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 3gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 111mgPotassium: 318mgFiber: 4gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 9571IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 47mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

Keyword holiday, sweet potatoes

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