This Roasted Sweet Potatoes Recipe is my absolute favorite for holiday entertaining. Sweet potatoes are sliced into thick rounds, dusted with chili powder and brown sugar, and roasted until tender and caramelized. Then they're topped with a warm ruby glaze made from fresh tart cranberries, maple syrup, orange juice and lemon juice. This is an outstanding side dish - hugely flavorful and perfect for Thanksgiving or any festive occasion.

I love roasted sweet potatoes - how healthy and delicious they are and how easy they are to prepare. With just a splash of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a half an hour or so in the oven, they get tender and caramelized - perfect for stuffing into enchiladas, adding to a buddha bowl or serving as a side dish with almost anything.

For this roasted sweet potatoes recipe, the potatoes are cut into 1-inch thick rounds, making them easy to roast evenly, and the perfect size and shape for holding the glaze. Plus the rounds look beautiful when heaped onto a platter.

A departure from the classic Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole (which is actually dessert disguised as a vegetable), these roasted sweet potatoes are so much more than sweet. They have multiple layers of bright, sweet, tart and savory flavors all combined to make a truly spectacular side dish.

These will look SO GOOD on the Thanksgiving table with all that color!

How To Make These Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Glaze

This dish is easily manageable for a busy occasion, with good options for prepping ahead.

Peel and Slice The Sweet Potatoes: Slice them crosswise into 1-inch rounds and transfer them to a bowl of water to prevent them from discoloring. When you're ready to roast the potatoes, drain them in a mesh colander, transfer them to a large bowl and dry them well with a clean dish towel or paper towels.

Roast The Sweet Potatoes: Toss the potatoes in a bowl with olive oil. Add brown sugar, salt, pepper and chili powder. Use your hands to mix and coat the potatoes with with the sugar and spices. Spread them out on two rimmed baking sheets and roast them for 30-35 minutes, until they're tender and caramelized.

Make The Glaze: While the potatoes are roasting, make the cranberry glaze. In a saucepan simmer fresh cranberries with maple syrup, orange juice, lemon juice, and brown sugar for ten minutes to reduce and intensify the flavors. In a separate small bowl whisk up a mixture of olive oil, maple syrup, mustard, salt and pepper and stir it into the hot glaze.
Plate and Serve: When the potatoes come out of the oven, arrange them on a platter. Spoon warm glaze on top, sprinkle with scallions and serve. See the directions below for how to prepare these ahead of time.

YOU CAN PREPARE THIS DISH AHEAD OF TIME

There are several different options for prepping this roasted sweet potatoes dish ahead of time. Here they are:

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes ahead of time: You can peel and slice the sweet potatoes several hours ahead of time as long as you keep them immersed in a bowl of cold water. Put the bowl in the fridge to keep cold if you're leaving the potatoes for more than two hours. Be sure to drain and dry the potatoes before roasting them.
Roast The Sweet Potatoes ahead of time: The sweet potatoes are best served the same day they're roasted but you can roast them up to 8 hours ahead of time.
Do Everything ahead of time - serve at room temperature: Roast the potatoes up 2 hours ahead. When they come out of the oven, arrange them on a serving platter and cover it loosely with foil. The glaze can be made up to a day ahead and stored in the fridge. Just before serving, heat the glaze gently over very low heat, spoon the warm glaze over the potatoes, garnish with scallions and serve.
Do everything ahead of time - Reheat and serve hot: To avoid the hassle of reheating the potatoes on baking sheets, this method calls for using an oven-to-table casserole for assembling, reheating and serving the dish. Roast the sweet potatoes up to 8 hours ahead. The glaze can be made up to a day ahead and stored in the fridge. Arrange roasted potatoes in an oven-to-table casserole pan that will also be your serving dish. Cover the pan with foil put it in the fridge if you're waiting more than 2 hours to reheat. If cold, bring the potatoes to room temperature for 15-20 minutes and then reheat them, covered with foil, in a 425ºF oven for 15-20 minutes. Reheat the glaze gently over low heat, spoon it over the potatoes, top with scallions and serve.

Recipe

Chili Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Maple Citrus Glaze

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5 from 5 reviews

Author: Lisa
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 10-12 as a side dish 1x

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Description

These Roasted Sweet Potatoes are as delicious as they are beautiful. Tangy and sweet and mildly spicy with fresh cranberries in the glaze. This is an outstanding side dish for holiday entertaining.

Ingredients

Units Scale

Equipment: 2 large rimmed baking sheets, small saucepan

For The Sweet Potatoes

5 pounds yams - (red skinned sweet potatoes), peeled and sliced into 1-inch rounds
9 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder (use a full teaspoon if you like a lot of heat)
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

For The Cranberry Glaze

1 ½ cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
⅓ cup plus 4 tablespoons real maple syrup, divided
¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice (1 juicy orange)
¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 -2 lemons depending on size)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Additional Ingredients:

1 large bunch of scallions (6-8 scallions) trimmed and thinly sliced crosswise.

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Instructions

Arrange racks in the top and bottom of the oven. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Toss sweet potatoes with olive oil (5 tablespoons) in a large bowl, to coat. Sprinkle on the spices: brown sugar (2 tablespoons), chili powder (½ teaspoon), salt (1 teaspoon) and black pepper (¼ teaspoon). Mix with your hands to coat potatoes with spices, arrange in a single layer on baking sheets. Roast for 30-35 minutes, until tender and starting to brown, switching positions of the trays after the first 15 minutes.
While potatoes are roasting, make the cranberry glaze. In a saucepan combine cranberries (1 ½ cups), maple syrup (⅓ cup), orange juice (¼ cup), lemon juice (¼ cup), water (2 tablespoons) and brown sugar (1 tablespoon). Bring to a simmer and cook on low. for 10 minutes, stirring gently occasionally, until mixture has thickened quite a bit. Remove from heat. In a separate small bowl whisk maple syrup (4 tablespoons) with mustard (1 teaspoon), salt (½ teaspoons) and pepper. (¼ teaspoon). Slowly pour in olive oil (4 tablespoons) while whisking, to emulsify the mixture. Add mixture to hot cranberry glaze and stir gently to combine. Glaze can be made up to a day ahead, stored in the fridge, reheated gently on low heat.
Arrange sweet potatoes on a large serving platter. Season with more salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon warm cranberry glaze on top. Sprinkle with scallions. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Make Ahead Strategies:

Make the glaze up to a day ahead. Keep it covered in the fridge.
Make the whole dish a couple of hours ahead and serve it at room temp: Roast the sweet potatoes up to 2 hours ahead. Make the glaze up to a day ahead. When the potatoes come out of the oven, arrange them on a serving platter and tent them with foil. Reheat the glaze gently over low heat just before serving, spoon glaze over potatoes, sprinkle with scallions and serve.
Make everything up to 8 hours ahead - Reheat and Serve Hot: Roast the sweet potatoes up to 8 hours ahead and arrange them in an oven-to-table casserole that will also be your serving dish. Cover with foil and set aside or store in the fridge if waiting more than 2 hours to reheat. The glaze can be made up to a day ahead and stored in the fridge. If cold, bring the potatoes to room temp for 20 minutes and then reheat them in a 425ºF oven for 15-20 minutes. Make or reheat the glaze gently, over low heat, spoon it over the potatoes, top with scallions and serve.

Prep Time: 40 min
Cook Time: 35 min
Category: Side Dish
Method: Roast
Cuisine: American

Originally published November 23 2019. Updated October 26, 2021 with clarifying details about how to prepare this dish ahead of time. The same delicious recipe!

Chili Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Maple Citrus Glaze