American THANKSGIVING is right around the corner, and this Paleo Candied Maple Pecan Yams recipe is an excellent dish to serve to your loved ones (and yourself!). I think I might be having this for Christmas along with the Pecan Crusted Rack of Lamb (my sister’s request).
Candied Maple Pecan Yams – Family Inspiration
Speaking of my lovely sister, she was the genius behind adding cardamom. Beautiful, brilliant, and a wiz in the kitchen, I love my sis!
I just want to let you know, Candied Maple Pecan Yam are easy and delicious. Happy Thanksgiving!
Candied Maple Pecan Yams
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Description
The candied maple pecans really make this recipe, and my sister’s influence with the cardamom is genius!
Ingredients
Candied Maple Pecans
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp rosemary (dried)
- pinch of salt
Yams
- 2 medium-large yams (peeled and cut into 1″ cubes)
- 1 cup – 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
- 3 tsp cardamom
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3–4 tsp salt (to taste)
Instructions
Candied Maple Pecans
- Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan on medium heat stirring often.
- Cook until butter and syrup thicken, but are still soft (about 5 minutes).
- Remove from heat and continue to stir periodically (to prevent one solid mass from forming – otherwise you’ll end up breaking all those beautiful pecans later) until syrup and butter mixture is hardened. If you do end up with one big solid mass, warm them slowly over low-medium heat to soften the syrupy mass and pull the pieces apart.
Yams
- Boil yams in water until easily pierced with a fork.
- Mash and mix in coconut milk.
- Mix in remaining ingredients.
It’s all ready to go, you just need to top the yams with the pecans and enjoy.
Notes
I made this for Thanksgiving (the Canadian one, in October). It was cooked in advance, while the turkey was in the oven. I transferred the yams to an oven-friendly pottery serving dish, topped with the candied yams, and warmed in the oven with my sister’s amazing paleo stuffing after the bird came out and was resting before carving.
They are great as leftovers too, especially if you can prevent your guests from picking all the pecans off before the end of the meal!
- Category: Holiday
Use leftovers in a mashed yam omelette!
This post was shared on Natural Family Friday.
Yum, yum,yum! And I recognize a lot of the dishes and table in these pictures! And, yes, we are going to have to start talking about the Christmas menus soon!
Happy Thanksgiving to our American family and friends!
Beautiful! I will try this recipe, just recently discovered yams and can’t get enough! 🙂
I love when a new favorite ingredient is discovered. Like duck fat, mmm…
Oh I’m all over this. Pinning!
Thanks Sarah! Much appreciated!
looks good!
Yeah I really dig the cardamom in there. Seems to make the sweetness less intense for my sweet-sensitive palate, therefore a looking room for those awesome candied pecans. Haha
Ooh! I love yams, and these look amazing!! Can’t wait to try this!
Thanks Robin. Nice fit for the broke life: beautiful flavor without breaking the bank!
My favorite Thanksgiving side dish, made paleo! Thank you!!
Yay!
This was good. I’m thinking tomorrow night…. With salmon…… Maybe some procuitto wrapped aspersgus…….
Yeah Bro! Thanks for helping balance this. I ended up totally axing the cinnamon.
Bout time you subscribed, btw!
The amount of cardomon must be a typo.
It made them completely inedible. I shall try it again and tweek it to my own.
And never would I add that much salt to any dish.
I can see where this could be quite yummy when changes are made.
Hi Gayle,
Ooh I’m sorry that didn’t work out for you. I’m going to have to make them again and double check as it’s been ages since I’ve made it. You might be right about it being tsp, though I remember needing a lot.
As for the salt, I did say to salt to taste. As you can see from the photos it did make quite a bit. 2 medium-large yams is a lot.
Thanks for the feedback! Happy holidays!