Southern Candied Yams

Candied Yams are a classic Southern dish with mashed sweet potatoes combined with butter and brown sugar and topped with sweet toasted marshmallows. This Thanksgiving side dish recipe is fast and easy so you can easily enjoy it year-round!

We all have our favorite Southern Thanksgiving foods, but when it comes to sweet potato casserole here in the South, there are two camps: the traditional sweet potato casserole topped with a tasty brown sugar crumble OR these oh-so-indulgent Candied Yams topped with amazing toasted marshmallows.

I grew up in a candied yam family and it was my absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving each year. I mean, who doesn’t love marshmallows?

Serve these candied yams with our favorite Roast Turkey and Turkey Gravy, Slow Cooker Ham, Corn Casserole, and Green Bean Casserole.

Ingredients

• canned yams
• butter
• dark brown sugar
• cinnamon
• miniature marshmallows

Step by step

This recipe is so easy, you don’t even need to dirty a pot or pan, it mixes up right in the baking dish!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Drain the yams and place in an 8 by 8 inch casserole dish.
3. Mash the yams with a potato masher or fork to your preferred consistency…I like mine a little lumpy.
4. Add melted butter and brown sugar and stir to mix.

5. Sprinkle the mixture with cinnamon and top with mini marshmallows.
6. Spray aluminum foil with nonstick spray on the underside to prevent sticking, and cover the baking dish with foil.
7. Bake for 20 minutes covered, then an additional 5-10 minutes uncovered or until marshmallows are golden brown.

Variations

• to make with fresh sweet potatoes you will need to peel the sweet potatoes, then chop into 2″ pieces and boil until fork tender, then continue with the recipe as written…the dish will be slightly less sweet
• make the recipe your own! you can experiment with the taste by adding in a dash of ground nutmeg, vanilla extract, or substitute the ground cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice
• if you do not have dark brown sugar you can substitute light brown sugar with 1 teaspoon of molasses, or granulated sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons of molasses

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. I do not recommend freezing this recipe.

If you try this recipe please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!

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