BBQ Scalloped Sweet Potatoes ♥

BBQ Scalloped Sweet Potatoes ♥ AVeggieVenture.com. Just Six Ingredients! A Fall Classic. Beautiful Color & Impressive Appearance. Perfect for Thanksgiving & Holiday Meals. Great for Meal Prep. Naturally Gluten Free.
Hello sweet potato lovers, I have a real treat for you today, thin-thin slices of sweet potatoes layered and baked in the oven with a simple mixture of cream and BBQ sauce, even BBQ sauce with a touch of sriracha. Oh my, the BBQ sauce pushes the sweet potatoes into a memorable savory sweet potato casserole.

Just Six Ingredients! A Fall Classic. Beautiful Color & Impressive Appearance. Perfect for Thanksgiving & Holiday Meals. Great for Meal Prep. Naturally Gluten Free.


Everybody Loves Homemade Scalloped Potatoes, Why Not Homemade Scalloped Sweet Potatoes?

It's easy to come across scalloped potatoes, they're favorites at church dinners, potlucks and family gatherings. Often there's a "somebody" who always brings the scalloped potatoes, right? Costco/Sam's Club even sell premade scalloped potatoes. But why not switch it up a little and use sweet potatoes instead of plain potatoes?

But First, What Does "Scalloped" Mean, Anyway?

To "scallop" potatoes or sweet potatoes or other vegetables means to cut them really thin, then stack in layers to bake in a casserole, usually in a creamy sauce. Scalloped potatoes are a church potluck favorite, often laden with bacon and tons of cheese. To my taste, scalloped potatoes are too often undercooked and just not worth the calories.

Here's some good news though, you can "scallop" any vegetable and you can even scallop fruits! Check out the list that follows after the recipe.

Minimalist Scalloped Potatoes & Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

I'm a minimalist when it comes to scalloped potatoes and now, scalloped sweet potatoes too. We adore a dish of Simple Scalloped Potatoes, made with a handful of the very simplest ingredients but cooked perfectly in three stages, just with and without foil, first at high temperature, then at a lower temperature.

I modeled BBQ Scalloped Potatoes after those Simple Scalloped Potatoes but knew I wanted to give the sweet potatoes a certain oomph – and found it in BBQ sauce, specifically the Trader Joe's BBQ sauce with sriracha. So the creamy BBQ Scalloped Sweet Potatoes have a bit of acid contrast, also a small kick from the hot sauce.

A Mandoline Is Helpful

It's easy to cut ultra-thin slices of sweet potato with a mandoline, a vegetable slicer that's also called a Japanese Benriner. This is the Mandoline I've used for many years, not often, but definitely often enough to keep in an efficient kitchen. I even kept the original box, that way it takes up very little room and keeps the sharp blades away from anyone digging in that particular cupboard, including me!

Do you absolutely have to use a mandoline? Of course not. Just sharpen a good knife and carefully cut the sweet potatoes as thin and evenly as possible. Chances are pretty good that the slices will be slightly thicker, it might affect the cooking time.




Just updated. First published way back in 2005!

RECIPE for BBQ SCALLOPED SWEET POTATOES

Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 1-3/4 hours
Fills a quiche pan or a 10x7 (or similar) baking dish about an inch thick, enough to serve 12 for a "regular meal" or as many as 24 at a big, multi-course meal like Thanksgiving

Just six ingredients!
1 tablespoon butter, to grease the baking dish

BBQ CREAM
3/4 cup (170g) heavy cream
2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, skins on
1 tablespoon butter, in bits, for the top

Heat oven to 450F/230C. Rub a quiche pan or baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.

BBQ CREAM In a measuring cup with a spout, stir together the cream, BBQ sauce, garlic and salt.

SWEET POTATOES With a mandoline, preferably, slice the sweet potatoes about 1/8-inch thick, not paper thin but thin enough to easily bend.

ASSEMBLE Here's the order of assembly. Arrange the sweet potatoes so they slightly overlap. Once you get to the top layer, arrange the sweet potatoes so they'll look pretty when baked.

1/3 sliced sweet potatoes
1/4 BBQ Cream
1/3 sliced sweet potatoes
1/4 BBQ Cream
Remaining sliced sweet potatoes
Remaining BBQ Cream, make sure entire top surface is wet

BAKE the BBQ Scalloped Potatoes in three stages.

At 450F/230C – covered with foil, for 20 minutes
At 450F/230C – with foil removed, another 20 minutes
At 375F/190C – top dotted with 1 tablespoon butter, another 20 minutes
Rest outside the oven – covered with foil, about 15 minutes

MAKE-AHEAD Definitely! Bake this ahead of time, even a day ahead of time. Then gently reheat to serve. Unfortunately, you can't make this a day ahead of time, then bake later – the sweet potatoes will turn an ugly gray-brown.

VARIATIONS I think Scalloped Sweet Potatoes would be good with caramelized onions instead of BBQ sauce, a good way to use Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions. Or with a little blue cheese! Or with a little thyme stirred into the cream, or hmm, cinnamon, yes?

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
BBQ SAUCE I use the Sriracha BBQ sauce from Trader Joe's which adds an extra kick we really like, especially to contrast the rich (and sweet) sweet potatoes. If using a plain BBQ sauce, you might want to add a teaspoon or two of hot sauce.
GARLIC Use a microplane for extra-fine minced garlic. I even keep a special microplane just for garlic, no mixing garlic and lemon zest, thank you very much!
SWEET POTATOES If using a mandoline to slice the sweet potatoes extra-thin, it helps to choose medium-size sweet potatoes smaller than the width of the slicer. Dooooo be careful, a mandoline's blades are super sharp! Lots of tips here, How (and Why!) to Use a Benriner (Japanese Mandoline / Mandolin). It's also handy to slice three sweet potatoes, no question, then, when using a third of the sweet potatoes in each layer.
TOP LAYER Be careful to end up with enough BBQ Cream to completely cover the top layer of sweet potatoes, if you run short, use a pastry brush to spread what there is, wetting the entire top.
RECIPE HISTORY A recipe for plain scalloped sweet potatoes was indeed published in 2005 but it was during that first year of A Veggie Venture when I posted everything I cooked, good, bad or meh. To put it mildly, the original recipe was bad at worst, meh at best. So in 2019 I started over, creating a brand-new recipe for Scalloped Sweet Potatoes, adding a BBQ twist to add a touch of heat and acidity to balance sweet potatoes' natural sweetness. Now these are Scalloped Sweet Potatoes worth making!



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Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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