ORANGE PECAN SWEET POTATOES

I made this recipe before for Thanksgiving, but I did it in the slow cooker because of limited oven space. They were okay, but not anything like baking them in the oven or cooking on a grill as our son Patrick did this year for Thanksgiving. I could have eaten the whole pan and skipped dessert! They taste as good as any dessert!

I started by cooking the sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot. I actually shared that process on Monday. If you didn't see it, you can check it out HERE.

I baked three pounds of sweet potatoes in my IP, pulled the peeling off, and then quartered them. A few quarters I cut again because some of the sweet potatoes were much bigger than some of the others. 

You can bake the mixture in a 9 x 13 - inch pan in the oven if you prefer. Patrick has two BBQ grills. He cooked the turkey on one of them. On the other one, he cooked my cornbread dressing and these candied sweet potatoes. I had both mixtures in iron skillets because he said the grill might discolor glass baking dishes, etc. I was thinking the temperature was supposed to be at 375 degrees F. My dressing needed to cook at 400 degrees F. He couldn't get the temperature past 360 degrees F so we just cooked them a little longer. Actually the recipe just called for 350 degrees F, but it worked out great.

Oh, I omitted the pecans because some of the family doesn't like nuts in dishes. They would have tasted good.

ORANGE PECAN SWEET POTATOES

3     lbs sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and chunked/quartered

1/2  cup chopped pecans

1     cup brown sugar

2     tablespoons corn starch

1     cup orange juice

2     tablespoons butter

1     teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 x 13 - inch baking dish with cooking spray. (I used a large, 9 to 10 - inch iron skillet.)

Prepare the potatoes: My pictures... cooking in IP,

peeling (so easy to pull off - the potatoes are a little warm...)

all done...

quartering them 

Add sweet potatoes and pecans, if you are using them.

Combine the brown sugar and corn starch in a small saucepan.

Gradually add the orange juice,

whisking to blend. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.

reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from heat,

add butter and vanilla.

Pour evenly over the sweet potatoes.

Bake in oven for 45 minutes, until edges are browned and bubbly. (Patrick cooked them on his grill at 360 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Cornbread dressing also cooking.)

Serve and enjoy!

Here is the bacon-covered turkey (getting ready) cooking.

At some point he removes the turkey from the grill to remove the bacon...

 

and then back to the grill to finish cooking and browning. Just before Patrick carves it all up.

Oh! and the Cornbread Dressing...

It was a good Thanksgiving for our small family.