Cinnamon Brown Sugar Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Name: Cinnamon Brown Sugar Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 3 lbs sweet potatoes; 3 tbsp brown sugar; 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder; 1/2 cup milk; 2 tbsp salted butter (plus more for drizzling on top); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1/2 tsp salt

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Delicious Cinnamon Brown Sugar Mashed Sweet Potatoes combined soft and fluffy mashed sweet potatoes with two of our favorite Fall and holiday ingredients: cinnamon powder and brown sugar. This easy 7-ingredient sweet potato recipe makes the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas side dish.

A large bowl of mashed sweet potatoes with swirls on top

Table of Contents

Fluffy Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon

Potatoes are not the only thing that taste good mashed! I’m a big sweet potato fan, and this cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes always hit the spot.

It is smooth, fluffy, slightly creamy (not overly doused in milk/cream), and seasoned with the lovely combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla extract.

Brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes has a nice touch of sweetness without being overly sweet, and cinnamon bring some nice warm flavors, along with notes of the holidays.

It pairs perfectly with all your holiday favorites such as turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce and much much more!

Why you need to make cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes for the holidays:

Cinnamon and brown sugar really enhance the taste of sweet potatoes without overpowering it, and totally brings on the holiday vibes.
Seven ingredients only
30 minutes from start to finish
Make ahead and keeps well frozen or refrigerated

Ingredients

You know you have a winner when something as delicious as this cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes is just as easy to make.

Top down view of a bowl of cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes

Besides brown sugar and cinnamon, we are using a few other sweet and salty ingredients to open up the flavors of our beloved mashed sweet potatoes.

It calls for ONLY seven pantry-friendly ingredients, so every ingredient plays an important role in elevating this dish:

sweet potatoes – peeled and sliced into large chunks so that it cooks quicker
cinnamon powder – important ingredient to bring some warmth to the flavors of this cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes! Do not skip
brown sugar – I love making mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar because it brings an additional level of sweetness to the sweet potatoes.
butter – I prefer salted butter to unsalted in this
milk – if you like it creamier, use 2% milk, if not you can even use 1% or fat free milk. To make mashed sweet potatoes dairy free, oat milk works great in this too.
vanilla extract – pure vanilla extract brings the best flavors
salt – used to open up the cinnamon and brown sugar flavors in the mashed sweet potatoes

How to make it

Let’s get cooking and make this delicious cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes! You won’t believe how simple it is!

Prepare Potatoes

Because sweet potatoes are usually covered in some dirt, it’s important to scrub and run them under running water to make sure it is nice and clean before peeling and slicing them up.

We are cutting them into large chunks so that they cook quickly.

Boil Potatoes

Bring a pot of water to boil and then bring chunks of sweet potatoes into the pot, and boil sweet potatoes for 18-20 minutes until they are soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Boiling sweet potatoes in water in a large pot

If they are not soft, it will be hard to turn them into mashed sweet potatoes.

Drain water from the pot and transfer sweet potatoes into a large bowl to prepare to mash them up.

Mash and season sweet potatoes

Using a potato masher or an electric han d mixer, mash sweet potatoes until they are soft and fluffy, and there are no more clumps.

Pro tip: mash your sweet potatoes while they are warm. When it turns cold, it is harder to get them smooth and without clumps.

Using a potato masher to mash sweet potatoes

And now to the crucial part of this process, we are going to turn our mashed sweet potatoes…into cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes. YUM!

Add all the important seasonings to that bowl of mashed sweet potatoes: brown sugar, cinnamon powder, vanilla extract, milk, and a pinch of salt.

Mashed potatoes with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, butter added on top

Using a spatula, fold brown sugar, cinnamon and the other ingredients into the sweet potatoes until they are fully combined.

When you are done, brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes should be smooth, soft and fluffy in texture, and taste subtly sweet with hints of warm cinnamon flavors throughout.

May I introduce to you, The BEST mashed sweet potatoes – brown sugar cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes.

Creamy brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl

To serve cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes, I like to transfer to a bowl and drizzle with even more butter on top. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll create those pretty swirls on the surface. Those swirls get me every single time.

Sweet potato lovers, you are going to LOVE this cinnamon brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes. TRUST ME.

Storage and Reheating

One of the many things I love about this cinnamon mashed sweet potato recipe is that you can totally make this ahead of time, and store it in the refrigerator or even the freezer.

It keeps in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and in the freezer for 2-3 months. Make sure to store brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes in an airtight container or bag.

When you are ready to reheat, bring it to a complete defrost, and then sprinkle some extra milk or water on top and heat in the microwave.

You will want to add the milk or water to bring some additional moisture to it before reheating so that it doesn’t dry out.

Mashed sweet potatoes in a big bowl with swirls on top along with melted butter

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make mashed sweet potatoes with canned sweet potatoes or yams?

Canned yams or sweet potatoes are already cooked so we can skip the step where we boil the sweet potatoes in water. Drain the syrup or water from the can, and then mash your sweet potatoes. Because it is not warm, you will want to place mashed sweet potatoes in a bowl and microwave it, or boil it on the stovetop until it is warm. Stir continuously so the bottom doesn’t burn. When mashed sweet potatoes are warm, combine with the other ingredients such as cinnamon and brown sugar, and follow the rest of the instructions in this recipe. I personally prefer fresh sweet potatoes but canned definitely works as well.

Can I use another type of milk or heavy cream/half and half?

Instead of milk, oat milk works great in this recipe. It is creamy yet still not overly heavy. You can use heavy cream or half and half, but your mashed sweet potatoes will be a lot heavier (especially if you use heavy cream). If using heavy cream/half and half, I would recommend using less than the amount of milk this recipe calls for.

My mashed sweet potatoes are lumpy…what did I do wrong?

Make sure to cook until they are soft and mushy, depending on your stove top or appliances, you may need more than the 18-20 minutes this recipe calls for. Also make sure to mash sweet potatoes up while it is hot. Mashing them when they are cold will produce more lumps.

Can you freeze it?

Yes! See ‘Storage and Reheating’ above for more instructions on how to freeze and reheat.

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