Bobby Flay's Marshmallow Swap For A Richer Sweet Potato Side Dish

Sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows is an American holiday classic. This side dish has graced countless Thanksgiving tables for generations, and it definitely has a devoted fan base. But not everyone is a fan of this combination. Marshmallows can be overly sweet for some, and others find the texture of melted marshmallows a bit too gooey. So for those who are looking for a different take on this dish, Chef Bobby Flay has an idea.

Flay says using a glaze on sweet potatoes is a great alternative to marshmallows and recommends using honey or molasses. And if you want to jazz up the glaze, mix in some mustard. The sharpness of the mustard is a good accompaniment to the sweetness of the glaze, giving your sweet potatoes a more complex flavor. Speaking on Today, Flay said, "This way you get a little spicy, a little sweet, but you also bring out the flavor of the natural sweetness of the potatoes."

In addition to a honey mustard glaze, Flay has other ways to sweeten up your sweet potatoes. He shared another twist on Instagram, sautéing them in a large pan and coating them in a date-lime glaze. With butter as the base of the glaze, Flay used date syrup combined with lime juice, which provides a pop of acidity and brightness, and a bit of lime zest to season his sweet potatoes for this dish.

Flay also likes to get a little nutty with his sweet potatoes, roasting them for about an hour to 90 minutes, mixing up a compound made of butter, almonds or peanuts, and pomegranate molasses, and putting the blend on top of the potatoes when they come out of the oven. This is another great take as the pomegranate molasses gives the dish a fruity sweet boost while the nuts provide some crunch. Most sweet potato dishes are mostly soft so adding the nuts raises the bar by adding texture.