These candied sweet potatoes have a delicious oven roasted texture and flavor, but they are made in your slow cooker!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time8 hourshrs10 minutesmins
Total Time8 hourshrs25 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Difficulty Level: Easy
Servings: 8
Calories: 328kcal
Author: Louise
Equipment
Slow Cooker
Ingredients
Seasoning Blend
1 teaspoonfine grind sea salt or kosher salt
1teaspoonground cinnamon
½teaspoonground ginger
½teaspoonground cloves
½teaspoonblack pepper
¼teaspoonground nutmeg
¼teaspoonground allspice
Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes
3poundssweet potatoesI recommend looking for premium sweet potatoes
1cupbrown sugarpacked
¾cupwater
1teaspoonlemon juice
3Tablespoonsbuttersalted or unsalted
1teaspoonvanilla extract or vanilla paste
Meringue Topping
3largeegg whitesroom temperature
3Tablespoonswhite sugar
Instructions
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Mix the seasonings in a small bowl.
1 teaspoon fine grind sea salt or kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, ½ teaspoon black pepper
Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into ½" rounds and place them in a bowl until after you make the syrup.
3 pounds sweet potatoes
If you are using the Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot, you can make the syrup right in the inner pot using sear/sauté. If your slow cooker does not have a sauté function then make it on the stove.
1 cup brown sugar, ¾ cup water
Combine the water and the brown sugar and set the Ninja Food on high sear/sauté and bring the mixture to a boil. If you are using a stainless steel inner pot, reduce the sear/sauté to medium high. On the stove, use a heavy bottomed pot and medium high heat.
Bring the mixture to a boil and add in the lemon juice. Stir every few minutes until the mixture reduces and thickens into a nice syrup about the consistency of honey. This will take about 12 minutes or so.
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Turn the heat off and add in the butter and vanilla extract or paste. Stir to combine. Leave the syrup in the pot and you can layer the potatoes on top. Or if you made it on the stove, you can pour the syrup over the sweet potatoes after layering them.
3 Tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
Place one layer of sweet potatoes in the slow cooker and sprinke some of the seasoning blend on top. Place another layer of potatoes followed by more seasoning and repeat this until you have all the sweet potatoes in the pot. You can either use all of the seasoning now or reserve ½ teaspoon (which is what I do) and see if it needs it at the end.
Stir the sweet potatoes and syrup together or pour the syrup over the sweet potatoes if you made it on the stove.
Set the slow cooker on low and the time for 8 hours. You can set it on high and cook for 4 hours, but the sauce won't reduce as much in my experience and the potatoes don't get that roasted flavor. Different slow cookers cook differently so the times may vary. I recommend checking on the sweet potatoes and stirring them every 2 hours until they are fork tender and the sauce has reduced to nicely coat the sweet potatoes.
Taste for seasonings and add more if needed. Transfer the sweet potatoes into an 8x8 oven safe casserole dish.
Meringue Topping
Preheat the oven to 375℉/190℃.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld electric mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they become frothy.
3 large egg whites, 3 Tablespoons white sugar
Turn the mixer up to medium high speed and stream in the sugar with the mixer running. Once all the sugar is incorporated, turn the mixer to high speed and whisk until the egg whites stiffen to soft peaks. This means that when you stop the mixer and lift the whisk attachment, the egg whites remain on the whisk and where there is a peak at the very end it may bend, but won't fall back into the bowl.
You can either spread the meringue over the top of the sweet potatoes and then make some peaks and valleys with the back of a spoon or put it into a piping bag and make dollops with a large open star tip like I did. Bake in the preheated oven at 375℉/190℃ for 7-10 minutes. The egg whites will set and cook and the tops will become golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let them sit for about 5 minutes. Serve and Enjoy!