Brown Butter Sweet Potatoes With Savory Rosemary Streusel Recipe

While sweet potatoes are a delicious and nutritious vegetable that can be enjoyed any time of year, they are a particular favorite as the weather gets cooler and we head into fall and winter. Paired with other fall vegetables and hardy herbs, the culinary uses for sweet potatoes are vast. From delicious spicy tacos to creamy rich chowder, sweet potatoes find their way into all kinds of vegetables. Many people look forward to Thanksgiving all year just to get a bite of classic candied sweet yams (there's not much difference between yams and sweet potatoes).

Even if you already have a favorite sweet potato dish, chances are you wouldn't mind shaking things up. Recipe developer Taylor Murray brings us her favorite way to make sweet potatoes around the holidays. "Brown butter and caramelized sweet potatoes are a match made in heaven, especially when paired with a savory rosemary crumble," says Murray.

The main ingredient in this dish is sweet potatoes. These can range from small to very large and have a bright orange flesh. For this recipe, we used small sweet potatoes, but it will still work with any size as long as you adjust the cooking time. For cooking the sweet potatoes, you'll need a bit of olive oil. Just a few tablespoons should be plenty. The very important brown butter topping is made with plain unsalted butter. The crumble uses some of that brown butter, as well as brown sugar for sweetness, flour, salt, and chopped rosemary to bring that cozy, fall flavor to the mix.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 F. Grab a rimmed baking sheet and place the potatoes on top. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil, ensuring they are well coated. Drizzling the sweet potatoes lightly with olive oil serves a few purposes. Firstly, the oil helps to enhance the natural flavors of the sweet potatoes, imparting a subtle richness. Secondly, the oil aids in the caramelization process, giving the potatoes a beautiful, golden-brown exterior. Lastly, the olive oil acts as a barrier that prevents the sweet potatoes from sticking to the baking sheet, making the post-cooking cleanup easier.

Place the potatoes in the oven. Roast until softened, about 25 minutes. The time may vary based on the size of the potatoes and could take as long as an hour for particularly large ones. Test with a fork or cake tester to determine if the potatoes have reached the right consistency. When done, remove from oven and let cool. 

While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, make the brown butter. Find a small sauté pan. The choice of a small pan is deliberate: a smaller surface area means the butter will melt and brown more uniformly, lessening the chance of uneven cooking.

Melt a stick of butter in the pan over low heat. As the butter melts, the water content begins to evaporate, and the milk solids contained within the butter start to cook. This is where the magic of browning butter happens. The continuous cooking of these milk solids, combined with the swirling motion, ensures that they don't stick to the bottom and burn. Instead, they turn a toasty brown, imbuing the butter with a rich and tantalizing color. The nutty aroma is a hallmark of perfectly browned butter. It's an indicator that the butter has transitioned from merely being melted to being transformed into a flavor powerhouse.

Next, make the streusel. Combine the all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, chopped fresh rosemary, and pinch of salt in a large bowl. Drizzle in some of the brown butter. Use your hands or a spoon to mix everything together until it forms clumpy, coarse crumbs. If the mixture is extremely crumbley, pinch it together to form some larger clumps. Transfer the streusel to a sheet tray and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and return them to the pan, cut side down. "This step is technically optional, but I like the way the cut side can get a bit of caramelization from the extra sear," says Murray. Place in the oven and cook for 10 more minutes. Remove the potatoes and add them to a serving dish.

Once the potatoes are on a serving dish, drizzle with the reserved 1 1/2 tablespoons brown butter. Sprinkle the crumble over the potatoes and serve. If you need to prep this dish ahead of time, keep the three components (the potatoes, the brown butter, and the crumble) separate and put together when ready to eat. Otherwise, the brown butter will soak into the potatoes and the crumble will soften. This dish works as a great side dish for any large fall gathering, from Thanksgiving to Rosh Hashanah.