Food Recipes Maple Sweet Potatoes With Spicy Pecan Praline 5.0 (1) Add your rating & review This elegant dish is a perfect addition to a Thanksgiving sideboard, or as a side for a dinner party. By Ananda Eidelstein Ananda Eidelstein Instagram Website Ananda Eidelstein is a vegetable-loving food writer, recipe developer, and editor with nearly a decade of culinary and food media experience. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on August 5, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Victor Protasio Hands On Time: 15 mins Total Time: 45 mins Servings: 6 Jump to recipe There are two kinds of people: those who want their sweet potatoes, well, sweet, and those who want them savory. Miraculously, this recipe manages to satisfy both camps. A pepper-infused, buttery maple glaze coats fat wedges of sweet potato and petals of caramelized shallot. These are then showered with cayenne- and lime-flecked candied pecans, which could also live happily on a cheese or grazing board. This dish is all but guaranteed to get at least one person to ask for the recipe. It's also easy to replicate for a weeknight dinner. Shopping tip: Look for long, skinny sweet potatoes so the wedges aren't too thick. Ingredients 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped ¼ teaspoon cayenne Freshly ground black pepper ½ cup pure maple syrup, divided 1 ¾ teaspoons kosher salt, divided 2 teaspoons lime zest (from 2 limes), divided 2 ½ pounds sweet potatoes (8 to 10 small potatoes), scrubbed and quartered lengthwise 5 large shallots, quartered 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons unsalted butter Directions Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together pecans, cayenne, several grinds of pepper, ¼ cup syrup, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until bubbling and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon lime zest and stir, spreading mixture into an even layer. Let cool for about 15 minutes (pecans will be sticky). Wipe saucepan clean; set aside. Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss sweet potatoes, shallots, oil, several grinds of pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Turn potatoes so 1 cut side faces down. Bake until almost tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make glaze: Cook butter, several grinds of pepper, and remaining ¼ cup syrup and ½ teaspoon salt in cleaned saucepan over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until mixture is foaming and butter melts, 3 to 5 minutes. Drizzle glaze over potato-shallot mixture and gently stir to coat. Return to oven and bake until potatoes are glazed and tender when pierced with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes. Top with pecans and remaining 1 teaspoon lime zest before serving. Prepare pecans up to 1 day in advance and store at room temperature, loosely wrapped in parchment paper. Rate it Print