Before we talk about hot honey sweet potatoes, let’s reminisce. I remember the first time I experienced hot honey. Such a monumental moment in a person’s life. It was about 5 years ago when Ryan and I first discovered Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum. We had just moved back to Dallas after college and I began making a colossal list of restaurants we had to try. Cane Rosso was one of them and all the reviews raved about an off menu item… the Honey Bastard. A pizza with hot sopressata, bacon marmalade, and habanero honey. How could you resist? So we headed over to Cane Rosso. When it came time to order, I had that small panicky feeling… Wait it’s actually not on the menu, what if the waiter doesn’t know what I’m talking about? But alas, the waiter knew exactly what I was talking about (and so did half of Dallas probably). The hour long wait and moment of stress were so worth it. Every bite was sweet, spicy, and chessy! This item became so iconic that they now have it on the menu so you can have your Honey Bastard without a side of panic.
Anyway. By now, hot honey is just about everywhere. You can find it on everything from pizzas to burgers to chicken sandwiches and everything in between, and I’m a sucker for it. So when we moved down the road from two different locations of Hopdoddy and saw that they had Hot Honey Sweet Potato Fries, I had to try them. Just like everything else I’ve had with hot honey, they didn’t miss! So the idea for hot honey sweet potatoes was born.
We never had sweet potatoes at our Thanksgiving dinner growing up. My mom swears she was horrified by the sweet sticky marshmallow-y sweet potatoes of her childhood and she never wanted to eat them again. This version of sweet potatoes gives a great balance to the sweetness found in most recipes by adding a kick of heat and an earthiness from the fried sage. It also calls for very few ingredients and is mostly handsoff which makes it ideal for cooking when you have a lot of different dishes to juggle on a holiday.
P.S. You will also have leftover hot honey that you’re free to drizzle on whatever your heart desires.
Hot Honey Sage Sweet Potatoes
Course: SidedishDifficulty: Easy6
servings5
minutes40
minutesRoasted sweet potatoes tossed in hot honey and topped with fried sage.
Ingredients
2 medium-large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 tablespoons of olive oil (divided)
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
½ cup of hot honey (recipe below)
15-20 fresh sage leaves, rinsed and patted dry
- Hot Honey:
¾ cup of honey (maple syrup if vegan)
2 teaspoons of red chili flakes
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
directions:
- Hot Honey:
- Combine honey and red chili flakes in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Once honey begins to boil, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 3 minutes while stirring frequently.
- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in vinegar.
- Pour into glass container and allow to cool while cooking sweet potatoes.
- Sweet Potatoes:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Toss sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
- When oven is preheated, roast for 30 minutes stopping halfway through to toss.
- After 30 minutes of roasting, drizzle on hot honey, toss, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
- While sweet potatoes continue roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. When oil is shimmering, add whole sage leaves and toss. Fry sage leaves for about 1 minute until beginning to darken. Remove sage leaves to a paper towel lined plate to cool.
- Once sweet potatoes are done roasting, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to serving dish.
- Crumble fried sage leaves and sprinkle over top of the sweet potatoes. Adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm!
Notes
- Maple syrup or agave nectar are great vegan substitutes for the honey in this recipe. I prefer maple syrup because it provides more depth of flavor than agave.
- Adjust chili flakes depending on preference for spice.
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