These smoked sweet potatoes are topped with whipped honey butter sprinkled with candied pecans. It’s just a little bit of heaven in every single bite. It’s up to you to decide if this is a dessert or a side dish.
Typically, baked taters are served as a side dish. This one serves that purpose as well and no one can stop you from trying the craziest topping combos.
But, let me just tell you that you’ll take one bite of this and have trouble deciding if it should be a dessert. Completed in about two hours, this is a reasonably fast dish, considering it’s effortless and incredibly tasty.
For Thanksgiving or any fall occasion, I like to serve this up instead of sweet potato casserole. It’s a fraction of the work, and I swear it will beat it out in taste tests. The smoky flavor is to die for!
🍠 Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes | When picking them, make sure to choose similar sizes and check for blemishes.
Kosher Salt | We like using the larger coarse salt for cooking as it is lighter and flakier.
Honey | Use something sweet here if you don’t like honey. Great substitute options are maple or agave syrup.
Candied Pecans | Choose the candied nuts you like, whether it is walnuts, cashews, or almonds. Look for the bag of them in the produce department or baking aisle at the grocery store.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Smoker | We pulled out our steady Big Green Egg today to whip these up. The recipe works perfectly on your Masterbuilt, Camp Chef, Char Broil or Traeger smokers.
Char Broil’s smoker line runs from a great starter off-set version up to a larger digital electric with three smoking racks to hold a couple briskets or a few racks of ribs.
Camp Chef’s smokers are beasts! They are solid, highly regarded and ready to light the fire for your next smoke with their high tech wifi + bluetooth enabled versions.
Masterbuilt’s smoker line has something for everyone and is a great one for anyone who doesn’t know if they want to make this a full time hobby yet with their digital options or the propane with thermostat control. You simply dial up the temp you are looking for. No extra thinking here.
Ultimately, almost any grill or smoker with a lid will get the job done, including a charcoal or a pellet grill. Whichever you choose, the important thing is to set it up for indirect heat.
Wood Chips or Chunks | We opted for good ol’ pecan again, just like we did for our Smoked Baked Potatoes. For a milder smoky flavor, choose a fruit wood such as apple or cherry. You’ll find even more options in our free wood-smoking cheat sheet.
🔥 Instructions
Smoking Whole Sweet Potatoes
Step One: Heat the smoker up to 250°F.
Step Two: Scrub the sweet potatoes and pat dry. Using a fork, poke 5-6 holes in each potato. This will allow the steam to escape as they cook and prevent them from turning into grill bombs.
Step Three: Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Step Four: Place directly on the grill grates and allow to smoke for 2-2.5 hours, depending on how large the sweet potatoes are. They should be fork tender when taking them off.
Step Five: Remove from the smoker and add whipped honey butter and candied pecans to serve.
Whipped Honey Butter
Step One: Add the room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and honey to a small food processor. Whip until smooth.
Step Two: Refrigerate until ready to serve.
❗ Recipe Tips and Tricks
Don’t worry about reaching for aluminum foil like we do for grilled sweet potatoes. These will smoke better when all of the skin is exposed.
Use the fork prick method to test doneness or look for an internal temperature of 205-210°. You can use your digital meat thermometer for an accurate measurement.
🧑🍳 Storage and Reheating
These stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to three days in a sealed container. Reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Meal Prep
Make the whipped butter up to a week in advance. If making the candied or smoked nuts, do those ahead of time as well.
Additions and Substitutions
Fresh Herbs | Rub some fresh rosemary, thyme, or sage at the beginning.
Agave Syrup or Maple Syrup | Use either of these in the whipped butter or simply as a drizzle before serving using unsalted butter.
Black Pepper | You can never go wrong with the mild heat and yummy flavor of freshly cracked black pepper.
Keep it Simple | Just add a pat of butter and serve. There is no need to go extravagant.
Peanut Butter with Sriracha | This combo will shock your taste buds as the crunchy peanut butter mixed with the slightly spicy homemade Sriracha sauce is sooo good. It’s a crazy combo similar to peanut butter and bananas on a sandwich.
Italian Style | Use leftover meaty pasta sauce and parmesan cheese to create a hearty meal in your potato.
Pizza | Grab all your favorite pizza toppings along with some cheese to pile high a huge pizza spud.
BBQ Style | Before smoking, season the sweet potatoes with your favorite BBQ rub. It can be store-bought, or homemade, like this all-purpose dry rub for grilling. Your choice!
Pumpkin Pie | Sprinkle your favorite combination of fall flavors such as cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg, and call it officially a desert.
Serving Suggestions
There are so many suggestions on how to best serve these that the options are endless.
If you are thinking of a backyard cookout, make up a big rack of St. Louis-style ribs, Smoked Hot Dogs, Smoked Flank Steak, or Smoked Hamburgers.
If you are making these for Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving, reach for the Twice Smoked Ham, Whole Smoked Turkey, Grilled Turkey, Smoked Cornish Hens, or Grilled Prime Rib.
Looking for more sides for your Thanksgiving feast? Smoked asparagus bundles and grilled broccolini will lighten up heavier mains.
🥔More Smoked Potato Recipes
Sweet or not, spuds are always a crowd favorite, and your trusty smoker can bring them to a whole new level of deliciousness.
Versatile, affordable, and so easy to throw on the grates next to some meat, these smoked baked potatoes also make a fantastic snack or appetizer.
Smoked fingerling potatoes are another feast-worthy side you can make with minimal prep work. Baby potatoes would work too if you can’t find fingerlings.
One of my favorite potluck recipes is this easy smoked potato salad. The combination of textures and flavors in this salad is mind-blowing!
When time is scarce, I highly recommend grilling instead of smoking. These grilled sweet potatoes in foil are ready in just 40 minutes and grilled sweet potato wedges will cook perfectly in just 15 minutes.
❓ Recipe FAQ
Smoking at 225 will take 2.5 to 3 hours to smoke.
It will take 2-2.5 hours to smoke until done.
We often do but there are so many opinions on this. There are people that have had them explode on them when they didn’t. There are people that swear it doesn’t matter. We do poke them and other baked spuds, but it’s up to you.
Sweet potatoes become perfectly tender when the internal temperature in their thickest part is 205-210°F. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, simply prick them with a fork to test the doneness.
Related Recipes
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Smoked Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Smoker
Ingredients
- 4 Sweet Potatoes
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp Kosher Salt
- ½ cup Candied Pecans
Honey Whippped Butter
- 1 stick Butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Honey
Instructions
Smoked Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Heat the smoker up to 250°.
- Scrub the sweet potatoes and pat dry. Using a fork, poke 5-6 holes in each potato. This will allow the steam to escape as they cook and prevent them from turning into grill bombs.
- Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt all over.
- Place on the smoker and allow to smoke for 2-2.5 hours, depending on how large the sweet potatoes are. They should be fork tender when taking them off.
- Remove from the smoker and add whipped honey butter and candied pecans to serve.
Honey Whipped Butter
- Add in the room temperature butter with the brown sugar and honey to small food processor. Whip until smooth.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Jason’s been firing up the grill for over 30 years after graduating from the US Coast Guard Academy. His love of finely-grilled steak and chicken led him to buy his first Weber grill to put on his apartment patio in 1992. Each military move led to a new grill (a mixture of gas and charcoal) until he fell in love with the Big Green Egg in 2008. Since then, he has added another 4 grills to the collection. Yes, he has a problem. Jason loves smoking in the ceramic BGE with exotic woods including olive wood from Egypt and hard to find varieties such as sassafras and orange wood. Jason takes the term “foodie” to a whole new level, jumping at the chance to take food tours and cooking classes during foreign travels. These have provided inspiration to incorporate new ideas into recipes when he gets back home. He has been featured in Fox News, Parade, Yahoo News, Kansas City Living and more. After retiring from the military and moving to southwest Florida, he has focused grilling and smoking locally sourced meats and fish (read: he likes to catch his own fish!)
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