About This Recipe
These sweet potatoes go from the saucepan to the serving bowl. Honey and butter are folded into the warm mash, then a short whip smooths it out. There’s no baked topping or roasting glaze. Start with evenly cut pieces so the potatoes soften at the same pace.
Recipe
Honey Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Warm Butter
Boil and whip sweet potatoes with honey, butter and warm milk. A smooth stovetop side with weighed ingredients and no baked topping.
6Ingredients
Yield: 6 servings
- 1000 g sweet potatoes, peeled and trimmed
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 122 g whole milk
- 3 g table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Cut and cook the sweet potatoesPeel and trim the sweet potatoes, then weigh 1000 g of edible pieces. Cut into roughly 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes and put them in a saucepan. Add water to cover the pieces by about 2 cm (3/4 inch). Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until a fork passes through the largest pieces easily.
- 2Drain and release excess steamDrain the potatoes thoroughly. Return them to the warm empty saucepan and leave uncovered for 3 minutes so excess steam can escape. Mash with a hand masher, or pass through a ricer into a large open bowl.
- 3Warm the honey mixtureWhile the potatoes cook, warm the milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the honey, salt and cinnamon. Do not boil the milk mixture.
- 4Whip brieflyPour the warm honey mixture into the mashed sweet potatoes. Beat with a hand mixer on low speed for 30 to 60 seconds, stopping to scrape the bowl once. Stop when the mixture is smooth; prolonged beating is unnecessary. Use a sturdy whisk if you prefer a slightly more textured mash.
- 5Serve warmSpoon into a warm serving bowl and divide into six side portions. The recipe time includes draining and the short rest before whipping. The displayed nutrition includes all the listed honey, butter and milk, with no extra drizzle or garnish.
Estimated nutrition per serving
239.1 calories · 6.5 g fat · 43.31 g carbohydrate · 3.36 g protein · 295.63 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 6 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 168482, 169640, 173430, 171265, 173468, 171320. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Put the Honey into the Mash
Warm milk helps the honey mix evenly through the potatoes. Stir the honey into the melted-butter mixture before adding it to the mash, so you don’t leave sticky streaks at the bottom of the bowl.
Clover gives a mild finish. Wildflower has more floral character, which will be noticeable in this simple mixture. Choose a honey you like with cinnamon; there is no strong sauce or toasted topping to cover it.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources: Honey flavor and cooking; USDA FoodData Central: ingredient composition.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Warm butter and milk
- Wildflower
- Sweet potato and cinnamon
- Buckwheat
- A bolder mash
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Tender Pieces Make a Smoother Mash
A hand mixer cannot fix hard pieces of sweet potato. Check several of the largest cubes before draining, and let them cook a little longer if the fork still meets a firm center. Similar-sized pieces help keep that check useful.
After draining, give the potatoes a few minutes to release steam. Water left in the saucepan can make the mash loose even when the milk quantity is right. Use the stated milk amount first, and only adjust the texture after everything has been mixed.
Whip in an Open Bowl
Use a hand mixer at low speed or a sturdy whisk. A ricer followed by a whisk gives a smooth result without requiring a blender. Keep the bowl steady and scrape the sides once so the honey mixture reaches all the potato.
The texture should hold a soft mound on the spoon. This is a stovetop side, distinct from a sweet potato casserole that is set with eggs and baked under a topping. If you want browned separate pieces, use the honey roasted sweet potatoes.
Serve and Reheat Gently
Serve six side portions with a roast dinner or honey cornbread. For another sweet vegetable on the table, honey roasted carrots offer a firmer texture.
Refrigerate leftovers promptly in a covered container. Reheat gently, stirring to distribute the heat. Any extra milk or butter added during reheating changes the ingredient-based estimate printed here.
Weigh the Potatoes after Trimming
The 1000 g starting weight is peeled, trimmed sweet potato, not the weight of the shopping bag. Buy a little more to allow for the ends and skins you remove. The drained cooking water is not included in the nutrition calculation.
The estimate divides the listed ingredients by six. It uses raw edible ingredient weights and does not adjust for nutrients lost in the cooking water or moisture lost during cooking.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover Honey or Wildflower Honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
