Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon Recipe (2024)

Can this be made a day ahead and reheated?

Seems like an awful lot of sugar, 1/4 per person. I usually use about 1 tablespoon brown sugar per potato. I assume I could adjust this. Anyone made this with less sugar in the sauce?

I have been using this recipe for years. A nice change from cloyingly sweet casseroles.a little more butter doesn't hurt

This recipe is quite wet & VERY sweet as written. The second time I : a) cut both the sugar and water in half; b) doubled the lemon zest and the lemon juice; c) added 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger; d) added 1 Tbsp finely snipped fresh sage leaves. Call me Bob if you like, but this was still plenty sweet and much better balanced.

Can this be made ahead and reheated without ruining it

I love this recipe, and I still have the original, printed clipping in my recipe notebook, which made me a fan of Edna Lewis. It is my go-to for baking sweet potatoes. No left-overs, and guests ask for the recipe. Re sugar: I might reduce a little of it ... but otherwise, it's wonderful. Thanks so much for including it here.

Made this for Thanksgiving and it was excellent. Used a little less sugar as suggested - but otherwise followed the recipe. Did make the day before and reheated it at about 350 covered in foil for about 30 minutes and then took off the foil for about 15. Delicious!

Hi Sumati,I haven't made this yet, but it looks like the sugar, liquids and butter are meant to become a syrup. So, you could reduce the sugar by maybe a third cup, then also slightly reduce the amounts of water and lemon juice. In the photo, the syrup is pooled in the bottom of the dish, so you wouldn't necessarily be serving so much sugar to each person - just leave it behind in the baking dish.

A little less sugar is a good idea. Layer potatoes like dominos fallen over. "Lay in a single layer" is a bit misleading. This will be my "go to" sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving from now on.

I was short on time, so cut out step 1. Came out great! I peeled and sliced the potatoes as indicated in Step 3, then I prepared the sauce as described in Step 2, cutting out a half a cup of brown sugar, as suggested by others. I lined up the potato slices in flat layers over two baking sheets, covered them with the prepared sauce and roasted for 40 minutes at 400. I flipped halfway through so they roasted evenly.Lined them up as the photo shows and then poured the sauce over.

Added fresh basil, chopped and mixed with the butter, nutmeg, etc.Also added cracked pralines spread loose over the potato rounds on top of the lemon sauce.Also put organic olive oil, extra virgin in the dish before anything.Tasted excellent.PS, scaled the sauce down to 2 sweet potatoes that tasted excellent.

Have sweet potatoes in the oven. So ready to try this. Thinking of other uses for the syrup. Pour over lemon bread....poke holes for it. So love Edna Lewis. Her books are front and center in my library.

You can use half the brown sugar .. I will increase the lemon peel. This is a classic. Love love it! I remember Edna Lewis. Who else remember her? Raise your hand!

Made as written, I would also reduce the sugar, my family loved it though

Loved the lemony flavor that infused the syrup. I used three large potatoes, and simmered them for around 25 minutes; they were a little too soft, so will cut the time by about 5 minutes so that they won’t fall apart when cut. With regards to sugar, I put in roughly 2/3 cup. We liked the result! Will be making this again tonight for a belated Christmas dinner.

Halved the sugar and it was still ridiculously sweet. The potatoes are already sweet. Why pour a ton of sugar on there? Won’t make this again.

I also have the original clipping of the recipe and these potatoes have been on every Thanksgiving table I’ve sat at since then. I have cut the sugar in half and once even made it with granulated Splenda for a guest with sugar concerns and it is always a big hit. Visiting with family in FL for this Thanksgiving for our 50th wedding anniversary and it’s ready to go into the oven. I have also prepared it a day before, let it come to room temperature and then in oven. No discernible difference.

I made this yesterday for early Thanksgiving dinner and used 1/2 the sugar. It was still quite sweet and could probably lose a little more next time. I did add 2T butter as another commenter suggested. The nutmeg and lemon came through and it was a huge hit. Keeping for future Thanksgiving tables.

This was great with the lemon taste in the brown sugar syrup.

Made this for the first time for Thanksgiving, as written, and no one cared for it. It was very soggy. One adult family member said it was sour and wondered if I had baked the potatoes in lemonade. I agreed - it was unpleasant. Reading back through all the comments, I see one from J in PA who had the same lemonade thought. The recipe calls for far more sugar than my usual sweet potato dish - and it's likely meant to balance the sourness of the lemon juice and peel. But it just didn't work.

I followed the recipe with the exception of reducing sugar by 1/2 cup. It was a huge hit and I'm making it again tomorrow.

These were wonderful at the Thanksgiving table and guests raved. I cut the syrup ingredients in half (but used only 1/2 cup brown sugar) but kept all the butter and used two large yams. I peeled several lemon strips from one large lemon and caramelized them with the brown sugar which added a nice zing. Next time I would reduce the amount of water to 1-2 tablespoons, 1/2 cup brown sugar to make a heavier syrup. Then I would increase the lemon juice to 1/2 cup and add fresh sage leaves.

I used a 6x10", 1.5-quart Pyrex. It worked well for 2.5-3 lbs sweet potatoes, but I didn't need nearly as much of the syrup: probably half to three-quarters of the recipe amounts would work well (and like other reviewers, I reduced the proportion of sugar slightly). I prepared the dish a day in advance, refrigerated it, then had it on the counter for half an hour before baking as directed and serving. It was delicious.

We had a great honey crop this year so I decided to sub in honey for half the sugar. Other changes: nuking the spuds instead of parboiling, no added water, grating the rind of one lemon since I already had the microplane out for the nutmeg. Good and a nice lemon note at the Thanksgiving table.

This was a big hit with my family! I baked it most of the way in the morning and then finished the baking after I took the turkey out to rest. Yummy!!

Made this today, exactly as written, and it was amazing. Everyone at our Thanksgiving table loved them.

I was short on time, so cut out step 1. Came out great! I peeled and sliced the potatoes as indicated in Step 3, then I prepared the sauce as described in Step 2, cutting out a half a cup of brown sugar, as suggested by others. I lined up the potato slices in flat layers over two baking sheets, covered them with the prepared sauce and roasted for 40 minutes at 400. I flipped halfway through so they roasted evenly.Lined them up as the photo shows and then poured the sauce over.

Wait, 2 cups of sugar for 6 sweet potatoes is "less sweet"? The first recipe in the "similar recipes" bar links to "Sweet Potatoes With Bourbon and Brown Sugar" calling for 3-4 tbsp sugar for 10-12 sweet potatoes.