Japanese Sweet Potatoes With Maple-Tahini Crème Fraîche

By Samantha Seneviratne

Published Jan. 14, 2025

Japanese Sweet Potatoes With Maple-Tahini Crème Fraîche
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
Total Time
55 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(174)
Comments
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Compared to garnet sweet potatoes and other types of sweet potatoes, the flesh of the Japanese variety is pale in color, sweeter and somewhat drier. This means that after cooking, they become pleasantly fluffy and creamy, as opposed to watery, and are ready to take on copious amounts of dairy and salt. Here they are topped with a super-simple tahini crème fraîche. Feel free to use sour cream as a substitute for the crème fraîche, but you may want to adjust the lemon juice as sour cream has a bit more tang. If you don’t have a steamer basket or colander that can accommodate 2½ pounds of potatoes, simply roast them.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 2½ pounds Japanese sweet potatoes (4 to 6), scrubbed, halved if large
  • 1lemon
  • ½cup crème fraîche or sour cream (see Tip)
  • ¼cup well-stirred tahini
  • 2tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1small garlic clove, finely grated
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

283 calories; 9 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 557 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a medium pot fitted with a steamer basket or footed colander. Place sweet potatoes in the steamer. Cover, reduce heat to medium and steam until potatoes are completely tender, 35 to 40 minutes. (Use a skewer or paring knife to check for doneness; the potatoes should be soft all the way through.)

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, into a medium bowl, finely grate 1 teaspoon zest and squeeze 1 teaspoon juice from the lemon. Whisk in the crème fraîche, tahini, maple syrup and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper and more lemon juice, if desired.

  3. Step 3

    To serve, slit the tops of the potatoes if they are whole, then lightly rake the flesh with a fork, drizzle with the sauce, and sprinkle with pepper.

Tip
  • If using sour cream, start with ¾ teaspoon lemon juice.

Ratings

5 out of 5
174 user ratings
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Comments

Len

Japanese sweet potatoes are INCREDIBLE. They are less sweet than regular sweet potatoes and hold their form when added to stews or casseroles. They are particularly good roasted in a 400 degree oven with olive oil and finished with salt. We used them recently in Lidey Heuck’s red curry lentil recipe and they were outstanding.

JG

Very good with roasted Japanese sweet potatoes; I used a 5.4 oz can of coconut cream in place of the creme fraiche, used a bit more lemon juice and cut the maple syrup to 1 T to make up for the coconut’s sweetness. Sprinkled with flaky icelandic salt in top, thanks to a friend’s recent travels - delicious!

GigiF

@Ann, maybe try thick, whipped cashew cream for the crème fraiche

Maralicious

This is one of the best recipes on this site. So simple and absolutely delicious. This is the third i time make them. I did not have creme fraiche this time, but did have 1/4 whole milk ricotta that needed to be used. I mixed it with sour cream, lemon juice and the rest of the listed ingredients and it's just as delicious. There's another similar recipe that calls for soy sauce and sesame oil. I added that too. SOOOOO good!

Ndancer

Delish! In a pinch I used tj’s European style yogurt and that worked great! The sauce is amazing and Japanese sweet potatoes are always great.

Kelle P

This sauce is to die for. I didn’t have any tahini, so I toasted some sesame seeds on the stove and blended them with a bit of oil. I used sesame oil but I think a neutral oil will work. I added all the ingredients to the blender to ensure everything was smooth and mixed well. Delicious!

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