This sweetly spiced sweet potato purée is a great dish for the fall. It does not contain a lot of fat or added sweetener, so there’s no need to save it for your holiday table (though it will certainly fit in there just fine!).
Healthy sweet potatoes are a superfood that you can feel great about incorporating into your regular weekday meals as well as during the holidays. Baking them for a long time makes them super soft and sweet, almost caramelized. Adding a bit of milk infused with sweet spices and topping with some crunchy maple glazed pecans makes them even better.
Spiced Sweet Potato Puree
This sweetly spiced sweet potato purée is a great dish for the fall. It doesn't contain a lot of fat or added sugar, so it works just as well for a weekday dinner as on the holiday table. Baking the sweet potatoes for a long time makes them super soft and sweet, almost caramelized, and adding a bit of milk infused with sweet spices and topping with some crunchy maple glazed pecans makes them even better.
Servings: 6
Calories: 217kcal
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potatoes:
- 3 large sweet potatoes pierced with a fork all over and wrapped in foil
- 1 cup milk you can also use coconut milk or your favorite milk substitute
- 1 thumb-sized hunk of fresh ginger peeled
- 1 1 1/2 -inch cinnamon stick
- 5 whole cloves
- 3 star anise
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For Maple-Glazed Pecans (optional):
- 1/2 cup pecans for best digestion, you can soak them in salted water for 4-8 hours first, if possible
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
For the Sweet Potatoes:
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Place the foil wrapped sweet potatoes in the oven and cook until they are very soft, 1 1/2- 2 hours. When the sweet potatoes have finished cooking, unwrap and allow them to cool before slicing in half.
- Scoop the flesh from the skins and place in a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and then set aside.
- In a small pot, heat the milk and the rest of the ingredients through the maple syrup. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the spices have infused into the liquid and it has reduced by 1/3-1/2. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
- Strain out the spices and add the milk to the sweet potatoes. Mix well. Top the spiced mashed sweet potatoes with chopped maple glazed pecans.
For Maple-Glazed Pecans (optional):
- Preheat oven to 300°F. Toss pecans with the other ingredients and spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until crispy, tossing every 10-15 minutes. Cool, chop and add another pinch of salt to the pecans before sprinkling them on the puréed sweet potatoes.
Nutrition
Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 87mg | Potassium: 526mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 16118IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 120mg | Iron: 1mg
