December Legacy Kitchen – Where History and Recipes Meet

Candied Yams Southern Soul Food 

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., Spill the Honey's Chair, shared his family's candied yam holiday recipe. From Oxford, North Carolina, baked in oven candied yams have been the centerpiece of the Chavis family’s soul food menu that originated in West African cuisine centuries ago.  

Ingredients 

• 4 lbs of sweet potatoes boiled, then peeled and sliced into ½ inch thick elongated rounds   

• 1 stick of butter 

• 1 cup of brown sugar 

• ½ cup granulated sugar 

• 3 tsps ground cinnamon 

• 2 tsps ground nutmeg 

• 2 lemons thinly sliced 

• ½ tsp ground ginger  

• 2 tbsp vanilla extract 

• 1 tps of olive oil 

Instructions 

1. Prep the sweet potatoes: Wash and boil whole sweet potatoes until thoroughly cooked on stove top. Cool the sweet potatoes before peeling and slide into uniform ½-inch thick elongated rounds.  

2. Place the sliced sweet potatoes in a casserole baking dish: Strategically the yams are placed and seasoned in layers.  Steps: (1) Each layer is first seasoned by sprinkling each layer of sliced sweet potatoes with brown sugar across the face of each sliced yam. (2) Next is to season each layer with a dusting of cinnamon. (3) Next is to place slices of thinly cut lemons on top of each sweet potato round. (4) Next is to place 2 drops of vanilla extract on top of each yam round.  Repeat the above four steps on each layer of yams.    

3. Prep the candied yam baking syrup: Add a stick of butter into a saucepan. Heat until butter is completely liquefied. Add ½ cup of granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 2 tsps of Nutmeg, and 1tsp of olive oil.  Heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir. Pour liquid syrup over the yams in the casserole.   

4. Cover with top on the casserole. Bake the candied yams in oven for 60 minutes at 425 degrees. Let stand simmering in the oven for another 5 minutes at 220 degrees.  

5. Serve: Serve the candied yams warm.