Grandma’s Sweet Potatoes Gluten-Egg-Dairy-Free is a great side dish to any meal any time of year, not just at Thanksgiving time.
Grandma’s Sweet Potatoes Gluten-Egg-Dairy-Free
Sweet potatoes are a side dish that most people in the United States think of at Thanksgiving time, but you can have them all year. There are plenty of recipe options for making sweet potatoes in other ways, for instance, soup, fries, or even a casserole.
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Grandma’s Sweet potatoes vs Yams
Both are viable vegetables that are delicious this time of year. Things you should know is that they are not the same. One is a root vegetable the other is a tuber. Yams have a higher count of sugar, which, if someone is diabetic, can be a problem. The recommendation is for sweet potatoes over yams because we are trying to eat healthier.
What to do with a Sweet Potato
People often do not try new vegetables because they do not know how to prepare them. The hope is that this will help you have some peace of mind on how to cook up sweet potatoes. In cooking them, I have found that baking them at 400 or 425 will give a better result than baking them at 350 because it will take longer.
The first step is to lightly rinse the sweet potato. That means, run it underwater. You want to do this before you are handling it because it grew in a field. You want to make sure any dust or other things are washed off. Get a vegetable peeler out for peeling the sweet potato. I do not peel either end because I cut them off after the sweet potato is peeled.
Cutting Grandma’s Sweet Potatoes
Before you begin, I hope you have read this through, but one thing I am going to tell you. Cutting sweet potatoes will count as a workout even though it may seem to be impossible if you use a small, bladed knife. How do I know? Trust me, I’ve cooked a lot of potatoes in my time. Sweet potatoes I have been cooking them for a few years, small blades do not help you out. Get out a big knife, you will appreciate it, no, really you will.
Cut both ends off the potato, about ¼” of the sweet potato. Before you say, “oh there is sweet potato there that is waisted”, really? No, throw it out, trust me you will have enough sweet potatoes. Stand the potato on one of the ends. Cut the potato in half, top to bottom. If you want to, before standing the potato on its end, you could cut it in half, then put one half on its end to cut it lengthwise.
Lay the sweet potato with the cut side down on the cutting board. You are going to make about ½“ to 1” cubes out of the sweet potatoes. Cut the piece into strips. As you are learning to cut sweet potatoes you will become more comfortable with how to cut them. Some of these pieces may still be too big, it’s ok to cut them down. You want to have the ½” to 1” cubes because of the amount of time it takes to bake them.
Prepping the Grandma’s Sweet Potatoes
Place the cubes into your baking dish. It does not matter if it is a square or round dish. What will matter is the size of the dish. If you want a crispy outside use a bigger dish because the sweet potatoes need space when they are cooking. Think of them being a free spirits on the dance floor. If you want a softer sweet potato a smaller pan is fine.
Drizzle the pan with olive oil. Stir the pan to make sure all the pieces are coated with oil.
The next step is to cover them with cinnamon. When I say cover them – I do not mean sprinkling a little cinnamon on. Use raw cinnamon, not cinnamon mixed with any sweetener. Cover the sweet potatoes. Stir them.
Nutmeg is a spice that not a lot of people seem to use. This is one of those seasonings where a little goes a long way. When I say sprinkling, that’s what I mean – use a LITTLE bit. Sprinkle Nutmeg on your potatoes.
Brown sugar is so sweet and makes this dish taste so sweet. You can use two tablespoons up to a quarter of a cup of brown sugar. If you are using a Splenda Blend of brown sugar, make sure you read their directions on how much to use. You do NOT want to use that on an equal replacement. Generally, when you use brown sugar, you want to pack it into the measuring device. Not in this recipe. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the sweet potatoes.
Baking Grandma’s Sweet Potatoes
Nuts are a great addition to this recipe. Walnuts are the type of nuts that I choose to use. Pecans would be another good nut to use in this recipe. You want the nuts to be chopped so that it will make it easier to spread over the top.
Your oven should be heated to 400. Bake them for about 20-25 minutes. You can stir the sweet potatoes about halfway through the baking time to ensure they are coated well with everything.
This is a great alternative to having yams with marshmallows on them at Thanksgiving. This is a dish my family asks for throughout the year because it tastes that good. You can make this recipe and leave out the brown sugar. That will cut down on the amount of sugar in the dish and it still tastes good.
This recipe will be a family favorite for sweet potatoes.
- 2-3 Sweet Potatoes
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2-3 tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar You can used up to 1/4 cup of sugar.
- 1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts Alt. nuts: pecans
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the potatoes into 1" cubes. Place them in a baking dish.
Cover the sweet potatoes with oil. Stir to make sure the sweet potatoes are covered.
Cover the sweet potatoes with cinnamon. Stir to mix well.
Sprinkle with nutmeg, nuts, and brown sugar.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes. You can stir the sweet potatoes half way through the baking time.