Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon

Name: Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: southern
Ingredients: 6 medium sweet potatoes; 2 cups light brown sugar (or a mixture of light and dark); 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; A (6-inch) strip of lemon zest (yellow part only); 1/2 teaspoon salt; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/4 cup lemon juice

Recipe from Edna Lewis

Adapted by Molly O'Neill

Published Nov. 10, 2021

Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon — Kate Sears for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Total Time: 2 hours
Rating: 4(671)
Comments: Read comments

This recipe first appeared in The Times in 1992, with an article by Molly O'Neill, when Edna Lewis, many years after writing her seminal cookbook “The Taste of Country Cooking,” was the chef at the Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner. The addition of lemon zest and juice make this brighter and less sweet than typical sweet potato dishes. —Molly O'Neill

Featured in: FOOD; Southern Thanksgiving

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings

6medium sweet potatoes
2cups light brown sugar (or a mixture of light and dark)
1teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
A (6-inch) strip of lemon zest (yellow part only)
½teaspoon salt
6tablespoons unsalted butter
¼cup lemon juice

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Rinse the potatoes under warm water. Place in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain and let cool.
Step 2
Combine the sugar, ½ cup water, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add 5 tablespoons butter and stir well. When the butter has melted, remove from the heat and beat in the lemon juice. Set aside.
Step 3
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into ½-inch disks. Use the remaining tablespoon of butter to grease a shallow baking dish. Lay the sweet potatoes in the dish in a single layer and pour the lemon syrup on top. Bake until bubbling hot, about 30 minutes.

Ratings

4 out of 5

671 user ratings

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Comments

Julie3 years ago

Can this be made a day ahead and reheated?

Sumati3 years ago

Seems like an awful lot of sugar, 1/4 per person. I usually use about 1 tablespoon brown sugar per potato. I assume I could adjust this. Anyone made this with less sugar in the sauce?

Kate Madison3 years ago

This recipe is quite wet & VERY sweet as written. The second time I : a) cut both the sugar and water in half; b) doubled the lemon zest and the lemon juice; c) added 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger; d) added 1 Tbsp finely snipped fresh sage leaves. Call me Bob if you like, but this was still plenty sweet and much better balanced.

Amy3 months ago

Really good side dish. Sauce was a little loose. Would be good to baste half way through and broil the top.

Vicki6 months ago

I was skeptical about lemon with sweet potatoes. No more. Next time, more lemon rind. Even if you don't like the sweet potatoes, make the lemon caramel ... so good on vanilla ice cream! To answer a question posed here, I see no reason this wouldn't keep overnight, cooked and refrigerated, as long as the potatoes are coated in the caramel.

Nancy6 months ago

Orange juice & zest are even better than lemon

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