Mashed sweet potatoes don’t need brown sugar, cinnamon, or marshmallows to earn a place on a holiday table. A savory version gets its flavor from butter cooked just long enough to turn golden and nutty, then infused with fresh sage. There’s even a sound that tells you when the butter is ready. Save some of the potato cooking liquid, and you can make the mash creamy without pouring in milk or cream.
The recipe needs two medium sweet potatoes, garlic, broth, butter, fresh sage, salt, and pepper. From start to finish, it takes about 35 minutes.
Cut the sweet potatoes into small, even pieces
Peel two medium sweet potatoes and cut them into 1/2-inch cubes.
Keeping the pieces close to the same size helps them finish cooking at the same time. Put them in a saucepan with two whole garlic cloves and 1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth.
Add enough water to cover the potatoes.
Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender.
Don’t pour all the cooking liquid down the drain
Before draining the sweet potatoes, reserve about 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
That starchy, savory liquid becomes the ingredient you use to loosen the mash.
Instead of adding milk or cream, pour a little of the reserved liquid back into the potatoes as you mash. Stop once you reach the consistency you want.
Listen to the butter
This is the step that changes the flavor.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a pan and keep it over low heat, stirring as it cooks.
At first, the butter will crackle as its water cooks away. Watch the color, but listen too.
When the crackling stops and the butter has turned golden, take it off the heat.
Don’t keep pushing it. Brown butter can go from toasted to burned if left on the heat too long.
Add sage after the butter browns
Finely chop 2 teaspoons of fresh sage.
Once the butter has browned, add the sage and stir it through.
The warm butter picks up the sage flavor without requiring another sauce or a long list of seasonings.
Mash everything together
Drain the cooked sweet potatoes and garlic, remembering to save the cooking liquid first.
Add the sage brown butter, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
Mash, adding reserved cooking liquid a little at a time until the potatoes reach the texture you want.
A potato ricer or fine masher leaves some texture while creating a light mash. A standard masher produces a chunkier result, while hand beaters or a stand mixer can make it smoother and more airy.
Make it in the same pot
There’s no need to create another pile of dishes.
After draining the potatoes into a colander, use the empty saucepan to brown the butter. Add the sage, return the potatoes to the pot, and finish the mash there.
Brown butter and sage turn a familiar sweet potato side savory without covering it in sugar. But remember the two small details: save the cooking liquid before draining, and listen for the moment the butter stops crackling.
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