{"title":"How to Make Southern Candied Yams","canonicalUrl":"https://www.showmestepbystep.com/cooking/how-to-make-candied-yams","category":{"slug":"cooking","name":"Cooking"},"creator":{"name":"Smokin' & Grillin with AB","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6tJ9C5SBvK6b-0cejoc4vg","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOhMYgfOtmM"},"tldr":"Stovetop candied yams simmered in butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and orange juice. Glossy, tender and never mushy. The Southern Thanksgiving classic.","totalDurationSeconds":877,"difficulty":"easy","tools":[],"materials":[],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Measure Out the Brown Sugar, Butter and Spices","text":"Both sugars, the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, vanilla, a stick of butter and an orange.Measure the spices before you start. Once the butter is melting, the syrup moves quickly and you do not want to be opening jars one-handed."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Peel the Sweet Potatoes With a Vegetable Peeler","text":"Peel two pounds of sweet potatoes.Wear gloves if you are doing a big batch for a holiday table. It keeps your hands clean and gives you a better grip on a wet potato."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: Slice the Sweet Potatoes Into Even Rounds","text":"Cut a thin slice off one side first so the potato sits flat and stops rolling. That one cut is the difference between safe and not.Then slice the rest into even rounds. Even thickness means every piece finishes at the same time."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Melt the Butter and Salt It","text":"Melt a whole stick of butter in a large pan over medium heat, then add the salt.Salt this early rather than at the end. It balances what is about to become a very sweet syrup, and stirred in now it dissolves completely."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Stir Brown Sugar and White Sugar Into the Melted Butter","text":"Add a cup of white sugar and three quarters of a cup of brown sugar to the melted butter.Two sugars, not one. The white brings clean sweetness and the brown brings molasses depth and the darker colour."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Whisk the Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Orange Juice Into the Syrup","text":"Whisk in the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla, then the juice of a whole orange.Keep whisking until it is smooth and glossy. The orange juice thins the syrup slightly and cuts through the sugar, which is exactly what keeps this from tasting like candy."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Coat the Sliced Sweet Potatoes in the Brown Sugar Butter Syrup","text":"Add the sliced sweet potatoes to the pan and turn them through the syrup until every piece is coated.The pan will look crowded and the syrup will not cover them. That is fine - they release liquid as they cook and the level comes up."},{"number":8,"title":"Step 8: Simmer the Candied Yams Low and Turn Them in the Syrup","text":"Bring it to a gentle simmer, then turn the heat right down. The syrup is thick, so it will not roll like water.Turn the pieces every few minutes so the ones on top work their way down into the syrup and the ones underneath come up.Start checking at eight minutes. They can be ready well before you expect."},{"number":9,"title":"Step 9: Spoon the Brown Sugar Syrup Over the Yams in the Baking Dish","text":"Lift the yams into a serving dish, then pour the remaining syrup from the pan over the top.Do not leave that syrup behind. It is butter, two sugars, spice and orange reduced down, and it is most of the flavour of the dish."}],"recipe":{"servings":"Serves 6 to 8","prepMinutes":20,"cookMinutes":30,"cuisine":"Southern US","ingredients":[{"name":"sweet potatoes","amount":"2 lb"},{"name":"brown sugar","amount":"3/4 cup"},{"name":"white sugar","amount":"1 cup"},{"name":"ground cinnamon","amount":"2 tsp"},{"name":"ground nutmeg","amount":"1 tsp"},{"name":"ground ginger","amount":"1/4 tsp"},{"name":"salt","amount":"1/4 tsp"},{"name":"vanilla extract","amount":"2 Tbsp"},{"name":"butter","amount":"1 stick"},{"name":"orange","notes":"juiced","amount":"1"}]},"lastUpdated":"2026-09-12T17:33:55.976Z","published":"2026-09-06T22:43:00.181Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}