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Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter

Published: Nov 7, 2019 · Modified: Jan 21, 2022 by Cooking Chat · This post may contain affiliate links

I’d have to say this Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter is one of our favorite side dishes, maybe number one. You’ve got the sweetness from the potatoes balanced by spice, along with the savory butter. Just be sure to serve it with something good so it doesn’t steal the show! Read on for details about this tasty side dish, or click here to jump down to the recipe.

What goes with mashed sweet potatoes?

A great side dish can really elevate the meal. I first developed this Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter to go with a grilled pork tenderloin recipe, and it certainly goes very well with pork. But then when experimenting with creative pairings for Thanksgiving, I served this sweet potato dish with roasted turkey, and that was a nice combination, too.

So whether you’re looking for a special side for Thanksgiving or any other meal you are fixing, give this a try!

The most recent batch of mashed sweet potatoes was served with onion roasted sirloin steak with onion sauce. A lot of flavor on that plate! We updated the November 2016 version of this article following a November 2019 remake of the dish.

I like the sweet flavor of sweet potatoes anyway. But add some savory butter and sage, and some garlic and cumin for some kick, and you really have something tasty going on with this Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter recipe! Family and friends tend to eagerly request this side dish to be made when I go too long without fixing it.

Making this recipe

For a dish with such sophisticated flavor, this is pretty easy to make. It can be made ahead of other things, and kept covered on very low heat with a bit of the milk on top to keep it moist as you finish the rest of your meal. Here are some tips to making our favorite mashed sweet potatoes:

Pull that butter out of the fridge 20 or 30 minutes before you get started cooking to have it softened and easy to work with. I often use Earth Balance spread instead of dairy butter, and that softens a bit faster.
If you forget to take the butter out in advance of the time you need to start putting things together, you can microwave it for 3 to 5 seconds to get it soft enough.
Place the butter in a small bowl, then mash it with the minced garlic. Mix in your spices and herbs with some lime juice, and your cumin sage butter is ready to go! Set it aside while the sweet potatoes cook.

Once you have the butter made, it’s a pretty straightforward process, similar to other mashed potatoes.
If you are scaling this recipe up for a larger crowd such as you might have for Thanksgiving, keep in mind a full pan of sweet potatoes will take a bit longer to cook.
If your mashed sweet potatoes are ready ahead of the other dishes, keep it warm by adding a bit of extra milk and butter to the top of the potatoes, as shown above (plain butter is OK at this point). Cover, and keep on very low heat. Just before serving, uncover and stir to incorporate the extra milk and butter.

Once you get the idea of mixing up a flavored butter like this, you’ll find it can be used in many other dishes, such as flavoring a roast turkey or chicken.

If you like this recipe, you might also like our Savory Mashed Butternut Squash!

Wine Pairing

While I would focus the wine pairing selection on the main course, keep in mind that this is a full-flavored side dish with some spice. So a wine with some big flavors and a spice element is going to complement more than one that is a simple, fruit forward wine. The Brennan’s Vineyard Winemakers Choice red blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc and Carmenere) from Texas worked nicely with the sweet potatoes and steak we had. Previously, we enjoyed these sweet potatoes with grilled pork tenderloin and a Bonny Doon Syrah.