Maple Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes with orange zest and pure maple syrup is a magically flavorful side dish, amazing for any time of the year. Make it in bulk during the holidays!! Boozed up mashed sweet potatoes…can life get any better?!
It probably doesn’t come as a shock that no less than 78% of what I eat on Thanksgiving day is made out of sweet potatoes.
Sure, I can down my fair share of my Garlic Butter Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce, Maple Roasted Butternut Squash and Beets, Healthy Green Bean Casserole, and the whole gamete.
But for me, sweet potato dishes like this boozy mash or my Sweet Potato Casserole with Streusel Topping are the main event.
The sweetness, that mouth feel, those carbs. They’re just so pleasing!
Which is why 84% of what I eat on Thanksgiving day is made out of sweet potatoes.
This mashed whiskey lullaby is wunderbar. It’s a real booze cruise.
As in, it’s easy to make.
Pure maple syrup + sweet taters + orange zest + bourbon + butter = fancied up mashed taters with silky smooth texture and rich flavor.
You’re wondering if you can add marshmallows or streusel topping and bake these suckers twice? Yes, and do it!
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for boozy mashed sweet potatoes!
Ingredients for Maple Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes:
Fresh Sweet Potatoes: The star of the show! We need about 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes, which you can get from cooking about 2 large sweet potatoes or 3 to 4 medium sized sweet potatoes.
I like roasting the sweet potatoes but boiling them works just as well.
Unsalted Butter: Creamy butter brings an otherworldly silky richness to this amazing mashed potatoes recipe. A few tablespoons butter go a long way in generating a creamier texture.
You can adjust the amount depending on your personal taste.
Pure Maple Syrup: While sweet potatoes bring natural sweetness to the dish, we boost the sweetness by adding some pure maple syrup. Brown sugar works just as well here!
Bourbon: Okay, the real star of the show. Winky face. Bourbon or whisky adds a unique boozy flavor that’ll make you get love drunk off of potatoes.
Embrace it, enjoy it, add it to your personal taste. I personally don’t use a very smoky bourbon, but pick your favorite brand for cooking.
Orange Zest: I know, crazy, right?! Orange zest brings a little citrus undertone that pairs magically well with the rest of the flavors. Don’t skip it or you’ll be missing out something fierce!
Ground Cinnamon: Mandatory in just about every sweet potato side dish in my humble opinion. I use a generous amount of cinnamon in my sweet potato dishes but you can adjust to your liking.
Ground Cardamom (optional): If you have cardamom on hand, add it! Otherwise, skip it because it is an expensive spice that is hardly ever used in anything.
Sea Salt: Add sea salt to enhance all of the flavors of this delicious Thanksgiving side dish.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Omit the bourbon if you aren’t into cooking with alcohol.
- Serve the potatoes with my Easy Candied Pecans on top.
- Replace the butter with a little full-fat coconut milk to keep the recipe dairy-free.
- You can replace the orange zest with lemon zest, although I recommend sticking with orange for the best results.
- If you really want to step up the deliciousness of this recipe, make brown butter in a small saucepan to add to the potatoes. Cook it until it is golden brown.
- Rather than roasting the potatoes, you can boil them in a large pot until fork tender.
Now that we’re familiar with the basics, let’s make an epic batch of potatoes!
How to Make Maple Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Wash the sweet potatoes and pat them dry. Poke several holes in each potato with a fork and wrap them in foil.
Place potatoes on a baking sheet (or casserole dish or baking dish) on the center rack of your oven and roast until very soft and juices are seeping out, about 60 to 90 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool enough to handle.
Peel off the potato skins (they should come off easily using your hands), and place the sweet potato flesh in a large mixing bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients to the large bowl and mash everything together until well combined using a potato masher or a sturdy fork.
Taste the mashed sweet potatoes for flavor and add more bourbon, maple syrup, sea salt, or orange zest to your personal taste.
If necessary, heat the potatoes back up on the stove top before serving.
Serve bourbon potatoes with melted butter and chopped pecans alongside your main dish.
Store leftover mashed sweet potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
And that’s it! One of my long-standing favorite side dishes that I just can’t do without during the holiday season.
For those who don’t want to go through the process of making a traditional sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner, this easy recipe is a great option.
It adds colorful nuance and unique flavors to the dinner table for an unforgettable holiday side dish. Adding candied crunchy pecans on top really levels up this great side dish.
If you’re a sweet potatoes lover like me, you’re going to want to try this one! It’s a healthier option than classic sweet potato casserole (with the marshmallow topping), yet it’s still wildly delicious.
Looking for more Thanksgiving sides? Here are more of my favorites.
More Holiday Side Dishes:
- Maple Roasted Carrots with Feta and Dried Cranberries
- Shredded Brussel Sprout Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Garlic Herb Roasted Vegetables
- Creamy Dairy-Free Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole
- Brown Rice Stuffing
- Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash
- Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables
Carb like no one is watching.
Maple Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potatoes (4 cups mashed)
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter melted (or more to taste)
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup or more to taste
- 3 Tbsp bourbon whisky
- 1 Tbsp orange zest
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom optional
- 1 tsp sea salt or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Wash the sweet potatoes and pat them dry. Poke several holes in each potato with a fork and wrap them in foil. Place potatoes on the center wrack of your oven and roast until very soft and juices are seeping out, about 60 to 90 minutes.
- Remove potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool enough to handle.
- Peel the skin off of the potatoes (it should come off easily using your hands), and place the flesh in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mash everything together until well combined.
- If necessary, heat the potatoes back up on the stove top before serving.
- Serve with butter and chopped pecans.
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Yup, I WILL be trying these. My husband will definitely love me if I put some bourbon in his sweet taters.
So happy to hear it, my dear! Let me know when you and hubs give it a try. The bourbon seriously adds such a nice je ne said quois to the taters 😉
I’m totally with you on the booze. I mean, is there anywhere it DOESN’T belong?! How drunk would i get if I ate this whole batch of sweet potatoes? That is the question.
Oh WOW! These sounds amazingly indulgent and delicious! I so wish I had come along to your thanksgiving lunch… 😉 Hope you had a lovely day Julia!
Bold, buttered, and drunk – HAH! I’ve recently fallen in love with adding whiskey to all fall flavors, even though I’m not a liquor fan in general. These are EVERYTHING I want on my Thanksgiving table!
Amazing how much flavor a little liquor adds to a dish. Truthfully, I’ve been doing more cooking with the dang stuff than drinking it. Cheers to boozed up food (and men 😉 )!
You had me at boozed up mashed sweet potatoes!!! Totally love this.
Thanks, girl! Can’t go wrong with liquor and sweet potatoes 😉
Maple and bourbon are a match made in heaven and you are an evil genius! Love this!
Aren’t they?! I feel like bourbon and maple should just put a ring on it already! 😉 Glad you like the tater shmoosh.
You saucy minx, you. These taters are straight-up genius.
xoxoxox
Yup, carbs don’t count on Thursday, that’s for sure! These look awesome!
bourbonnnnn! this looks yummy!
OMG whaaaa?! These are all I want and more on the Turkey table. Who needs turkey anyway wheen there’s BOURBON in the sweet taters!!?!
And it’s soooooo goood! You take one bite of them taters and you go into insta relaxation mode. Let’s make booze taters forever and ever amen!
Pass me a spoon so I can dig into those filthy taters! I’m drooling over the mapley, buttery, boozey combo. Big time jazz hands.
I’m thinking it should be okay to have mashed potatoes for dinner ATLEAST one day out of the week. Like Wednesday…nothing gets you past hump day better than slutty taters. Let’s dive in, sister!
This sounds amazing! Maple, bourbon and sweet potato!! I don’t see where it could possibly go wrong!
Riiiight? That’s what I’m saying. I like to look at this mash as a cure for holiday family drama, too. It’ll just calm that shit right down. Like, “Okay, everyone, chill and eat your taaaaters!” All the problems solved. All.of.them.
I so love that carbs don’t count on Thanksgiving! These sweet potatoes are the bomb, just the way they are, no streusel or marshmallows for me!
They really are marv just by their lonesome. I quiver to think what would happen if additional deliciousness were added to the pile…like I may just explode internally. Like, I would straight up implode. 😉
Drooling. Errewhere.
Yesss to booze in alll the things!! I mean maple and bourbon in mashed sweet potatoes? You are a boozy queen and I love it!
Why thank ya, lady. I do like my taters trashed up but still have a lot to learn about the wicked ways of the bottle. Guess I’ll just have to keep adding it to all the things in order to sufficiently figure the dang thing out 😉
Scandalized. Also, thank you for the voting reminder. I did good through the week, but then spaced it yesterday. Back to voting for your recipe. Hope you win a million dollars.
You are just so kind! A million thanks, Momma! Can we get love drunk off of mashed potatoes at the next “big event?” Like, who needs champagne for toasting when you have dismash? 😉 xoxoxo