Matt grew these beauties in our garden this summer!
Will your feelings be hurt if the sweet potatoes for your holiday meal don’t have marshmallows?
I don’t want marshmallows. My husband doesn’t want marshmallows. I’ve never even liked marshmallows (even in a s’more). But some people want marshmallows.
For example:
According to my 13-year old, the sweet potato recipe below isn’t sweet enough. Therefore I asked him, “Do you think I should add more maple syrup? Maybe even some brown sugar? Extra butter? Do you think I should salt it to bring out the natural sweetness? What do you think this recipe needs?”
With a grin, he quietly said, “Probably just marshmallows.”
Stinker.
I do love to accommodate, especially for a holiday. Therefore, even though I vowed I never would, I looked again at homemade marshmallow recipes. Maybe for a special occasion, I thought, I could go to the trouble to make some. I searched for the marshmallow recipes that said “easy” and “quick.” But once again, I realized why I’ve never wanted to make homemade marshmallows. They might be easy, but they aren’t quick. They instruct, “Stand and whip the mixture until your legs cramp and you can no longer remember your name.”
Have I mentioned I don’t even like marshmallows?
I tell you what. If you want to add marshmallows to this recipe, I won’t even care. You can make them homemade. You can buy a package of them at the store. I will probably just skip the sweet potatoes and eat extra Green Bean Casserole. We can all still be friends. The good news is that this recipe (without the marshmallows) is incredibly simple to make, and you can make it ahead if you like!
Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
- 4-6 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons real maple syrup, sucanat, or brown sugar
- Sea salt to taste
- Scrub sweet potatoes and place them in a covered baking pan.
- Bake them in a 350° oven for about one hour or until they are tender.
- The skins should peel right off!
- Place peeled potatoes and remaining ingredients into a high power blender or into a mixing bowl. Blend until smooth either with a blender or a hand mixer.
- Serve right away or follow directions below to prepare ahead of time.
Make Ahead Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Make sweet potatoes according to directions above. Allow them to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate for up to two days before rewarming to serve. Or, cover and freeze the dish for up to 3 months. To reheat and serve, thaw potato dish, cover, and place in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes or until they are warm through and through.
Truly, you will want to embellish these sweet potatoes to fit your tastes. Add more sugar if you like. Toss on some marshmallows (I’ll look away). It’s a holiday! Do whatever you enjoy!
Are you a fan of marshmallows?
Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:
- Make-Ahead Turkey
- Stuffing Muffins
- Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- Oh Good Gravy
- Green Bean Casserole
- How to Make Frozen Pies
- Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
- How to make Whipped Cream
- Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls
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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!
I do like marshmallows and I have made them. You are wise to avoid the experience.
I’ve never made marshmallows and I didn’t grow up eating sweet potatoes with them (or at all really). It has been a joy to discover how awesome sweet potatoes are, but we typically roast or bake them. I do a whipped squash like this, but either way you cut it we don’t put marshmallows on them :)
Whenever my boys are really wanting marshmallows, I occasionally buy some all natural ones from my local health food store. If you want to check them out, you can find them on Vitacost. They are called Elyon Marshmallows and they are pretty good!
marshmallows – extremely easy to make with a stand mixer. Don’t even have to stand over it. Just check on it occasionally. :)
A friend gave me some sweet potatoes a few years ago and I learned that I love them. However, they’re already so sweet that I can’t imagine adding sugar or marshmallows to them.
You are not alone. I don’t want marshmallows on my sweet potatoes either. Thank you for the make ahead recipe.
My MIL makes sweet potatoes and apples. It’s like apple pie filling with chopped sweet potatoes in it. No marshmallows! :D
yes yes I love marshmallows. Dont buy them often because I will eat them all.
I love marshmallows but I don’t want to tackle making them from scratch so we don’t get to eat them anymore. I do however always make candied yams. This year we’re going to skip the sugar so our baby can have some too! :)
Confession time…vegan me has never had a sweet potato. I know, shocking! thx
I like mine without marshmallows also. Thanks for all the recipes! I love them all.
I love this idea! Thanks so much.
When I have mashed sweet potatoes, I prefer them without marshmallows. They really don’t need any added sweetener at all. I do like marshmallows though.
I never liked marshmallows either!
My family did not have sweet potatoes growing up so I never ate them until adulthood. Now I eat them weekly because they are such a powerhouse of nutrition! My favorite fancy way to make them, thanks to my MIL, is like above with the addition of orange juice cinnamon and pecans. Really yummy!
The sticky mess that will inevitably ensue is what intimidates me. I guess you could put a crumb and pecan topping if you need it sweeter, but then it morphs into a pie.
We make a delicious sweet potato souffle – no marshmallows but a wonderful pecan/sugar topping. Then you just have to decide whether to serve it with the meal or as a dessert. :)
I have the same dilemma! It must be the same recipe! (of course I have cut the sugar way down, but it is still soooo sweet!) I love them!!
No marshmallows for me either! Wonderful recipe. Yum.
Sprinkling pecans on top of the potatoes, then drizzling butter on that, sounds good to me! I love nuts, especially with butter. I also just like a plain baked sweet potato with lots of butter…pecans would make it that more special.
Unfortunately, I like marshmallows, but we only buy them occasionally when we have dinner parties to accompany our hot chocolate bar. My husband detests them.
I do like my marshmallows. Even better if you warm them up in the microwave for 8 seconds. Mmmm… microwave s’mores.
However, I’d skip the marshmallows on this and just jack up the butter a bit. Love me some buttery mashed sweet potatoes. I did not realize I could freeze this for up to 3 months. Yea!
I just love plain baked sweet potatoes… just a little butter and sugar. You’d have to BYOM at our house, if you want them…. Like the idea of whipped too, though!
I have never really liked marshmallows. Too sweet.
Not a big fan of marshmallows. Love sweet potatoes smothered in butter!
We love marshmallows, but NOT on sweet potatoes. Our favorite sweet potato recipe is Caramelled Sweet Potatoes.
5 sweet potatoes
1 cup brown sugar
1 1?2 cups half and half
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into chunks and boil. Mix brown sugar, salt and flour in medium sauce pan. Add half and half and heat to barely boiling. Put sweet potatoes into greased baking dish. Pour caramel sauce over potatoes. Top with butter. Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
After reading these comments I’m thinking that adding pecans would be extra yummy!
Marshmallows feel weird to me, all squishy and not squishy at the same time. I pass on them too.
I have bought these for a friend: Dandies Vegan Marshmallows. Here’s a link for Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dandies-Vegan-Marshmallows-Vanilla-Ounce/dp/B00FBNZ58S
I make my marshmallows with grass fed gelatin. Yum!
I grew up in New England and never heard of putting marshmallows on sweet potatoes (Hello? Did the Pilgrims have marshmallows? I think not.) But the first Thanksgiving I had with my husband’s family here in Wisconsin, there on the table was a big dish of sweet potatoes, covered in marshmallows. The horrors. I have never learned to like them, but our kids beg for them. So every year I make a dish of sweet potatoes, half covered with that icky white stuff and half not. I can’t wait to try these this year!
Does anyone know the difference between sucanat and evaporated cane juice? I saw both at the store this week. Also, is there a difference between praire gold flour and white whole wheat ultragrain flour? Thanks for any help.
I don’t mind marshmallows, although I haven’t had any in a long time. I never was really into the marshmallow sweet potato dish at Thanksgiving, and my husband and I discovered we quite prefer them roasted with some olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.
When I was a kid, we never had marshmallows on our sweet potatoes, and it always seemed like an exotic treat. I finally made some with marshmallows a few years ago and found we liked them that way but it wasn’t quite as awesome as I thought it would be. We also like whipped sweet potatoes that are similar to your recipe, as well as baked sweet potatoes with butter on top. I’ll take them in any form!
As a kid, the mini marshmallows were my favorite part of thanksgiving sweet potatoes. lol. Now, I don’t care for marshmallows at all. I adore sweet potatoes with a crunchy pecan/coconut/sugar topping, which I’ve actually never made myself. My husband isn’t big on sweet potatoes, turkey, or dressing. What is up with that?!
I love marshmallows on my sweet potatoes, but only at Thanksgiving as a special treat. Normally I just use butter and brown sugar.
I’m one of those folks who haven’t heard of marshmallows on sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes (not marshmallows) but prefer them to not taste like a dessert, so I shall try Deb’s method of roasting them. Stephanie’s Caramelled Sweet Potatoes does have some appeal once I decide sweet, sweet potatoes is okay! Thanks Laura, your recipe, good and simple.
I agree marshmallows are a must! but then I feel sweet potatoes need all the help they can get ;) my husband loves them though! Thanks for the make ahead recipe!
I just chop sweet potatoes into bite sized chunks and toss in a crock pot with apple chunks, pecans, pats of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. Plug it in and let it do it’s thing then serve. Yum! Marshmallows on sweet potatoes……..blech.
I love sweet potatoes, but my husband and children don’t. I really like them baked and I just put a little butter on at the table. For holidays, I cook and mash one sweet potato, but I don’t add sugar, nuts or anything else…except marshmallows! It’s just not Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without golden marshmallow on my mashed sweet potato!
Thank you for the tip.
I’m totally with you on the marshmallows and I don’t think they need a bit of sugar. Not even one grain. They are already so good and sweet it’s just over kill. But I do require a WHOLE stick of butter. Try it… I’m sure you’ll love and wonder how you managed with just 3 tbls before :D