Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Bourbon Praline Sauce - Divinely Delicious

One of the usual suspects on the Thanksgiving buffet is sweet potato casserole. You know the one. A couple of cans of yams under a layer of brown sugar and covered in marshmallows out of a bag.

It’s always been a part of our big holiday meals. But once I put this mashed sweet potato recipe into my mouth, the angels sang. And they said “you must make this every year to make your life complete” (okay, maybe a little overstated but while I’m eating it I’m right there in heaven with them).😇

Who knew that a vegetable could be so delicious, so delectable, so divine, and so decadent?

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• 7-9 medium to large sweet potatoes
• 3 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups roughly chopped pecans, toasted (see instructions)
• 1 cup light brown sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons bourbon whisky
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking pan with foil. Wash and place potatoes on the baking sheet. Prick each several times with a fork.

Using fresh sweet potatoes over canned makes all the difference!

Bake the sweet potatoes for 45-60 minutes or until they are soft when squeezed and the skin looks like it’s puffy and pulling away.

Let them cool just enough to handle. Slice the skin on the top and peel it away from the sweet potato flesh. It should come off easily if you’ve cooked them long enough.

Place two sticks of butter into a large mixing bowl and then add the peeled pieces of sweet potato (if they are no longer warm, soften the butter first or add melted butter).

With a hand mixer or an electric mixer and a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sweet potatoes until smooth.

If you don’t have a mixer, you can use a potato masher and then beat with a spoon by hand – they just won’t be as smooth and creamy.

Options:

The original recipe I based this on calls for a cup of sugar, but I find sweet potatoes to be plenty sweet on their own, plus the bourbon praline topping is sweet. But if you have a raging sweet tooth, add the sugar with the butter and sweet potatoes and then whip it up.

If you use unsalted butter but you like it saltier, also add a teaspoon of salt at the same time. Or replace the unsalted butter with salted butter.

After cooking the sweet potatoes, lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Roughly chop whole pecans and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 6-8 minutes, then set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring a stick of butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup, cinnamon, and salt just to a boil over medium heat.

Lower the heat and let it softly bubble for two minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Then add the splash of bourbon, the vanilla, and the toasted pecans.

Stir the praline mix until everything is mixed and let it cool slightly. The baking soda will make it a bit frothy and lighter in color at first, but it will look different after it sits for a few minutes.

Add the sweet potato mixture to a large casserole dish. Then how you serve the sauce is up to you:

You can either spread the warm pecan topping over the whole thing like a bourbon sweet potato casserole.

Or you can top each serving with warm sauce (or let guests serve their own to their liking).

I prefer to leave it on the side and usually serve it in a mini crockpot to keep it warm. Plus sometimes I don’t want to sauce on the leftovers because the buttery roasted mashed sweet potatoes are magically delicious on their own.

Absolutely, and I usually do. Make it up to three days in advance and store the sweet potatoes and bourbon praline sauce separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator. Warm the potatoes either on the stovetop on low, stirring frequently, or in the microwave.

Reheat the bourbon sauce in a saucepan on low heat or in the microwave on low.

Store the leftovers for up to a week in an airtight container. You can also freeze the sweet potatoes for up to three months. But the sauce won’t freeze well.

If you’re looking for other delicious holiday easy recipes, check out one of my other favorite side dishes on the Thanksgiving table – southern cornbread dressing!

This sweet potato bourbon mash is the perfect pairing of sweetness with a little bourbon and a hint of vanilla flavor – a real match made in heaven. There’s no going back for me to my old traditional marshmallow-topped sweet potato recipes.

And this praline cream sauce elevates ordinary sweet potatoes so much it may even rival the pumpkin pie on the holiday table.

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