Cinnamon Honey Butter Baked Sweet Potatoes
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Cinnamon honey butter baked sweet potatoes are a wonderfully delicious yet healthier sweet potato side dish. The sunset-hued tubers are tossed in cinnamon-infused honey butter, baked to tender perfection, and finished with a light oat-pecan topping. One bite and you may find yourself obsessed!
Sweet potatoes are among nature’s ultimate foods: delicious, nutritious, and incredibly versatile. They work in sheet pan dinners, black bean chili, vegetarian tacos, and more. But sometimes you just want to keep things simple, and a straightforward side dish is just the way to do it.
This is a classic but relatively healthy Thanksgiving side—sweet and satisfying but not achingly so. Because having options is especially helpful for holiday meals, I’ve included options to prep these partly or all the way ahead of time.
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But there’s also no need to wait for the holidays: we adore these sweet potatoes as an everyday side dish, especially with other autumn flavors. Perfect pairings include brown butter sage chicken, baked pork chops, or pumpkin ravioli.
Why You’ll Love Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Simple, real food ingredients
- Cinnamon and honey are a match made in heaven!
- Sprinkled oat-pecan topping adds crunch without weighing down the whole dish
- Hands-off baking time means simplicity and ease
- Tastes like a treat but not cloyingly sweet
- Easy to scale up to feed a crowd
Ingredient Notes
Need it Dairy-Free?
These baked sweet potatoes work perfectly with your favorite dairy-free butter alternative. No other changes are needed.
How To Make a Healthier Sweet Potato Side
The process couldn’t be simpler. The most time-consuming part is peeling and chopping the potatoes, but even that can be sort of zen, if you get in the zone. Be sure to chop them into relatively small and uniform pieces, so they cook at the same rate.
Toss the cut sweet potatoes directly into a 9×13-inch baking dish spritzed lightly with cooking spray.
Melt butter in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, then stir in the honey, cinnamon, and pinch of salt. Pour this over the sweet potatoes, toss to coat, and slide the pan into an oven set to 350°F.
Why Bake vs. Roast?
Roasting denotes cooking at a relatively high temperature, as in these recipe for roasted asparagus or broccolini, and is a phenomenal technique for coaxing great flavor from veggies. In this instance, however, the extra high heat can cause the honey to scorch or even burn. This is why a longer bake time at a slightly lower temperature is the best option here.
The exact baking time will depend on the size of your sweet potato pieces, but estimate that they will take 50-55 minutes in the oven. They should be easy to pierce with a dinner fork.
Finish with an Oat Pecan Topping
Add the light crumble topping during the last five minutes or so of bake time, which is just enough time to very lightly toast the oats and pecans and to melt the brown sugar into a luscious glaze.
You can be very casual about sprinkling on all three of these ingredients; I don’t even mix them together in advance.
Simply omit the pecans to keep this nut-free, or substitute with walnuts, almonds, or another nut if you like.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- To Prep Ahead: Peel and chop sweet potatoes up to 3 days ahead of time. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator. When ready, transfer to a baking dish, drizzle with the honey butter mixture, and bake as directed.
- To Make Fully Ahead: Prepare and bake potatoes all the way through. Measure and set aside the topping ingredients separately. Cover the baked potatoes tightly with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 2-3 days. When ready, keep the foil on and warm in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil, add topping, and bake for a final 5 minutes until ready to serve.
- To Store: Leftover sweet potatoes keep in an airtight storage container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Cozy Side Dishes
- Glazed Carrots with Pistachio and Pomegranate
- Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes
- Pesto Green Beans
- Parmesan-Crusted Red Potatoes
- Apple Cabbage Slaw with Brown Sugar Cider Vinaigrette
- Easy Zucchini Casserole
- Instant Pot Creamed Corn
Cinnamon Honey Butter Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar light or dark
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly coat a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces, roughly 3/4" to 1" square. Toss pieces into the baking dish.2 and 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
- Melt the butter in a small microwave-safe bowl or liquid measuring cup. Add the honey, cinnamon, and salt. Stir very well to combine, then pour this over the sweet potatoes. Toss the potatoes to coat with the butter mixture.4 Tablespoons butter, 3 Tablespoons honey, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are very tender when poked with a fork. Toss once or twice as they bake to help distribute the butter and seasoning.
- Once the potatoes are tender, remove the pan and scatter pecans, oats, and brown sugar evenly on top. Return to the hot oven for 5 minutes more. Serve and enjoy!1/4 cup pecans, 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, 1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Notes
- Butter: I generally default to using unsalted butter; if using salted butter, I recommend only adding ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Dairy-Free: This dish works well with a dairy-free butter substitute such as MiYoko’s or Earth Balance. No other changes needed.
- Pecans: Omit to keep this nut-free, or substitute with walnuts or another type of nut if you prefer.
- Prep Ahead: Peel and chop the potatoes up to 3 days ahead of time and store tightly covered in the refrigerator. Some people report good luck with storing chopped sweet potatoes submerged in a bowl of water and refrigerated; I have not personally found this necessary if just working 2-3 days ahead. When ready to cook, drizzle with the honey butter mixture and bake as directed.
- Storage and Reheating: If you have leftovers, or want to make the dish entirely ahead, store the baked sweet potatoes tightly covered in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat small portions in the microwave, or the whole pan in the oven, covered with aluminum foil, until warmed through. For best results if you make the dish entirely ahead, store the pecan/oat/brown sugar mixture separately, then add this during the final 5 minutes of baking time as you normally would.
Nutrition Estimate
This post was originally published on October 23, 2019 and has been updated with new photos and more helpful information on how to prep or make it ahead of time and dairy- and nut-free options.
This dish is fantastic! So easy and tasty! Both my 11 month old and my husband couldn’t stop eating.
Looks so delicious! Definitely pinning for Thanksgiving – such a great side dish ♥
I love the oats in here! What a good idea!
I know it’s supposed to be a side dish for dinner, but is it bad that I want to eat this for breakfast too? It’s healthy, and sweet, and has oats! 😀
these look so good! love the addition of oats
This is the only way I like sweet potatoes. This makes an amazing side to just about anything! We love it.
Sweet potatoes are something that I always try to have on hand for lunches or dinners. These look really good with the honey added to them.