The creamiest mashed sweet potatoes ever! Flavored with honey, thyme and butter, these sweet potatoes are the perfect side dish.
Mashed sweet potatoes are a fantastic alternative to classic mashed potatoes for your Thanksgiving table but honestly, they are excellent any time of the year. Impossibly smooth thanks to the help of an immersion blender or food processor, every spoonful is silky, luscious and drop-dead delicious.
Ingredients
Full mashed sweet potatoes recipe can be found in the recipe card.
- Sweet potatoes.
- Thyme. You can flavor the sweet potatoes with any fresh herbs of your choice. Sage and rosemary also work well.
- Honey. Brown sugar or maple syrup can be substituted.
- Butter. Use a butter alternative if you want this recipe to be vegan.
- Cream. Heavy/whipping. Use coconut milk or cashew cream if you’d prefer to keep this dairy-free.
- Salt and pepper. You could add other spices like nutmeg or cinnamon.
How to make mashed sweet potatoes
- Cook the sweet potatoes: Peel and chop the potatoes into large chunks. Place in a large pot or Dutch oven and pour in just enough water to cover the potatoes. Place the pot over medium high heat then season generously with salt and add a handful of fresh thyme to the water. Allow to boil for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and allow to steam for 10 minutes. This is crucial for making sure the sweet potatoes aren’t watery once mashed. You can also steam the sweet potatoes or roast them whole until soft and scoop the flesh out of the skins.
- Melt the butter: In a large saucepan, melt a few tablespoons of butter, honey, cream and a fresh thyme together. Bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and allow to infuse.
- Mash: I prefer using a food processor of immersion blender for mashing sweet potatoes for the perfect smooth texture. Because they don’t contain as much starch as white potatoes, using a blender will result in a silky smooth mash and not a gluey one like if you used a blender with white potatoes. Alternatively, use a potato masher or hand mixer. Blend the potatoes until smooth then add a the butter mixture. Stir until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into a bowl and top with a knob of butter and a few fresh thyme leaves.
Can you freeze mashed sweet potatoes?
Yes, you can. Allow the sweet potatoes to cool completely then transfer to a freezer safe airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. The mash can also be made up to 2 days in advance and kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Reheat over gentle heat until piping hot then serve.
Sweet potato recipes
Honey Thyme mashed sweet potatoes
The creamiest mashed sweet potatoes ever! Flavored with honey, thyme and butter, these sweet potatoes are the perfect side dish.
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Servings: 8
Calories: 172kcal
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2lbs) sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 10 stalks fresh thyme
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 5 tbsp butter room temperature/melted
- ¼ cup whipping/heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel and chop the potatoes into large chunks. Place in a large pot or Dutch oven and pour in just enough water to cover the potatoes.
- Place the pot over medium high heat then season generously with salt and add a handful of fresh thyme to the water. Allow to boil for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Drain and allow to steam for 10 minutes.
- In a large saucepan, melt a few tablespoons of butter, honey, cream and a fresh thyme together. Bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and allow to infuse.
- Blend/mash the potatoes until smooth then add the butter mixture (strain out the thyme). Stir until smooth.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into a bowl and top with a knob of butter and a few fresh thyme leaves.
Nutrition
Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 73mg | Potassium: 451mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 17944IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1mg
Hi Alida, This sounds terrific and I’m always looking for different ways to cook sweet potato other than a regular mash or roasted. I’m a little confused though as you have 10 sprigs of thyme and you have that we put a handful in with the sweet potato while boiling then to drain. But then you have that we add “a fresh thyme” in with the butter, honey and cream which we have to strain out the thyme. My question is – Do we use all 10 sprigs at first in the boiling part then another “amount” (one or two) in with the butter/cream mixture. I don’t want over-do this with too much thyme which I feel my be a little over-powering. I’m really looking forward to trying this out for a sweet potato variant.
Hi Josephine. I use only 2-3 sprigs with the butter. I’ll amend the recipe to make that clearer!
Hi Alida,
Thank you for coming back to me so quick. I did make up this sweet potato mash and it’s really lovely for a change. Also, I used 8 sprigs in with the sweet potato while boiling leaving the remaining 2 thyme sprigs for the butter/cream mixture and it was fine, that seemed enough for our taste. I’ll definitely be making this on a rotation. Thank you again for ALL your lovely recipes, looking forward to more of them:-)