Sage & Brown Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes – Sweet Potatoes are mashed together with chopped sage and browned butter.
Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Can you believe it?! This year has been so odd. Staying at home so much has me all confused about the seasons and holidays. It feels like Thanksgiving has come out of nowhere!
Earlier this year, I talk about how underappreciated sweet potatoes are. So I am doing my part to highlight the various ways you can enjoy them, aside from simply baking them.
For today’s recipe, I am combining sweet potatoes with a savory pairing of sage and brown butter. These flavors go incredibly well with sweet potatoes, as I’ve highlighted in these hasselback potatoes and these sweet potato gnocchi. Now, I am combining those flavors into a simple mashed sweet potato recipe that can easily be made for any weeknight meal, but also is perfect for the all-important Thanksgiving meal.
I present to you my Sage & Brown Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes!
How to make these mashed sweet potatoes
These mashed sweet potatoes are made in three main steps:
- Boil sweet potatoes
- Make sage and brown butter mixture
- Mash everything together
Boil Sweet Potatoes
Before boiling the sweet potatoes, you want to peel them. The skin on sweet potatoes is pretty tough so it won’t taste good in the mashed sweet potatoes. Then, you’ll want to cut into big chunks. Don’t make them too small or else they will absorb too much water and make the potatoes too liquidy.
Once you have cut the potatoes, add to a big pot and fill with water and a little salt. Then boil until they get tender.
Sage & Brown Butter Sauce
The sage and brown butter give the sweet potatoes all their flavor. To make the sauce, you simply brown butter over medium heat until it smells nutty and rich. Then, remove from the heat and add the chopped sage, more butter, and heavy cream.
Mashing Everything Together
Once both components are ready, it’s time to mash them together. I use my stand mixer to mash potatoes but you can use a potato masher or even a food mill (if you want them extra creamy).
The sweet potatoes are added to the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the brown butter sauce. Using a paddle attachment, everything is mashed together until creamy. And then they are ready for serving!
Tips & Tricks
- Because butter is so important in this recipe, you must use good-quality butter. Therefore, spend a little extra on that fancy, European-style butter. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
- When boiling potatoes, you need to boil them differently than you would boil, let’s say, pasta. That is, you need to add the cut potatoes to a pot, add enough cold water to just cover the potatoes, and then bring to a boil. This ensures the potatoes cook evenly and efficiently.
- Be careful adding the heavy cream to the brown butter. Since the cream is much colder than the hot butter, it will bubble up when added to the butter. So it’s best to add it slowly.
Sage & Brown Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes peeled and quartered
- 6 tablespoons butter divided
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons salt plus more for potato water
Instructions
- Add potatoes to a large pot and fill pot with water, just enough to cover the potatoes. Salt the water with a tablespoon of salt. Cover and bring water to a boil. Once boiling, remove cover and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are very tender.
- While the potatoes boil, add 3 tablespoons of butter to a small sauce pan. Place over medium heat and cook until butter browns, but doesn't burn. Remove from heat and add sage, remaining butter, and heavy cream. Set aside.
- Remove potatoes from water (but do not discard the water!) and place into bowl of stand mixer. Add butter and cream mixture. Pulse mixer with paddle attachment to mash the potatoes. If you don't have a stand mixer, simply use a potato masher to achieve this.
- Once potatoes are mashed, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of salt (to taste). Mix on low to combine, or use a wooden spoon to combine. If potatoes are too dry, add a little of the reserved potato water until desired consistency is reached. Place in serving dish and serve immediately.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Sage & Browned Butter Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Garlic Parmesan Smashed Sweet Potatoes
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If you love the cozy, savory-sweet balance of sage and brown butter with sweet potatoes, this recipe is a perfect holiday side—especially for home cooks looking to elevate their Thanksgiving spread without extra fuss.
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Happy cooking and happy holidays!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. My daughter like it so much
Thanks for putting this together. Clear structure and no fluff, which is rare these days. Shared it with a colleague who’s been asking about this exact topic. https://www.certifiedpastryaficionado.com/sage-brown-butter-mashed-sweet-potatoes/
Really solid breakdown. I’ve been dealing with something similar recently and this gave me a couple of angles I hadn’t considered. Bookmarked for later reference. Also check my website: https://lovelyindeed.com/diy-yahtzee-game/
It’s look so good. I like it
That nutty brown butter and fresh sage combo sounds way more exciting than any AI Dog Generator output I have seen lately. Just scrolling through this recipe on my commute makes me hungry for those 3 pounds of sweet potatoes, honestly what a cozy treat for dinner!
The combination of sage and brown butter sounds fantastic. Whether it’s experimenting with recipes or exploring the world of fnaf 1 game, trying something a little different often leads to the best results.
i love this post!
These sage brown butter mashed sweet potatoes look absolutely divine! The combination of brown butter with fresh sage is such a classic and elevated flavor profile. I recently found some amazing cooking tutorial videos on vidglory.com that showcase similar techniques. The step-by-step photos are really helpful too – I can see exactly when to add the sage for maximum flavor. Will definitely be making these for Thanksgiving dinner!
These mashed sweet potatoes sound amazing! I love the idea of adding sage and brown butter for a savory twist. It’s a great way to make sweet potatoes more exciting for Thanksgiving.
These are the best mashed sweet potatoes I’ve ever tried! The brown butter adds such a wonderful depth, and I love how the nuttiness plays with the natural sweetness of the potatoes. Poor Bunny
Now, I am combining those flavors into a simple mashed sweet potato recipe that can easily be made for any weeknight meal speed stars, but also is perfect for the all-important Thanksgiving meal.
The dish looks delicious, and I love it, so it’s great that you didn’t think twice about sharing this recipe with everyone. Play granny 2 game.
Well we are definstely not the ones overlooking sweet potatoes. Usually they appear once a week in our meal plan.
I love what you have done here. Totally agree with the brown butter sages, a perfect oartner to highlight the sweet potato! It has been an odd year! However this recipe will definately bring some joy to our table!
Made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it was a huge success. We love our sweet potatoes and can’t figure out why people have to add additional sweetness to their natural sweetness. The nuttiness of the brown butter worked splendidly with the sage. Luckily we still had sage growing outside.
Now here’s a mashed potato recipe I’ve never seen before! I’m LOVING this idea for mashed potatoes! YUM!
These sound SO good!! I never thought to make this type of mashed potatoes. YUM!
i agree with you 100%. Sweet potatoes are totally over looked. I love them roasted and mashed…and any way I can get my hands on. I love how you added sage to compliment their natural sweetness in this recipe.
Oh my goodness, but I can’t wait to try this. I love everything about it, but most especially the brown butter, which I believe makes everything better.
Many thanks for sharing this recipe. We have tried your Sweet Potato Mash and really enjoyed it.
Sage and sweet potatoes are two of my favorite flavor combinations! This recipe looks perfect for Thanksgiving this week!
No joke, my mouth watered when I read the title. What an incredible way to enjoy sweet potatoes and make them EXTRA special. Thanks a million for sharing!
I love the flavor combination of sage and brown butter! These sweet potatoes are definitely making an appearance on our Thanksgiving table!
I was looking for a twist to the classic mashed potatoes we make a little too often! This sounds perfect, can’t wait to try your recipe!
I looove sweet potatoes and I like the flavor of sage, a good combination of flavors that you created here. I surely will make this soon
This a recipe I really would like to try. Looks amazing x
I do love the flavors of sage and butter with veggies. It is especially great with potatoes. Will have to try this soon!
Sage and sweet potato. What a lovely combo. I love both. Am trying this right away.
Sweet potatoes are always a great holiday addition! I love that these are mashed and that sage brown butter sounds amazing!
These are the best mashed sweet potatoes I’ve ever tried! The brown butter adds such a wonderful depth, and I love how the nuttiness plays with the natural sweetness of the potatoes. This is definitely going on the Thanksgiving menu!
Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite things and these look so good! I’ve never tried them mashed! Thank you!
Sweet potatoes are my absolute favorite! I can’t wait to make these!