Smoked Sweet Potatoes

Not just whole sweet potatoes cooked on a smoker, these are diced before smoking to get that amazing smoky flavor throughout every bite.

Smoked Sweet Potatoes make the perfect side dish to cook on your smoker along side any poultry, pork or ham. They are so good, though, that it’s worth the effort to crank up the smoker just for the sweet potatoes.

Got a corner of that smoker rack open? Add some fish and make Smoked Fish Dip. It’s an eternally popular appetizer.

Do I have to use a smoker?

No! We do have one and we use it often. In fact, our Smoked Ham on the Big Green Egg is one of our top recipes around here, and it is important to make your Smoked Beef Short Ribs on a true smoker.

But just like we showed you in the Smoked Vegetables, Smoked Baked Beans, and the Smoked Mac & Cheese recipes you can actually get that great smoke flavor on a regular charcoal grill or even a gas grill.

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Just use a box for your wood chips like this one. We recommended a milder flavored variety of wood chips like apple.

The best way to peel the sweet potatoes and cut into cubes.

Peeling is by far easier with a vegetable peeler than a knife.

Now, I’m going to be honest here. Raw sweet potatoes are hard. I mean, really hard. It reminded us of when we’ve made Butternut Squash with Bacon and Bourbon. The process of cutting them up is similar though.

You want to keep two things in mind: You need a really good, sturdy, sharp knife like a chef’s knife.

Secondly, you want to stabilize your sweet potato on the cutting surface. In other words, it shouldn’t be rolling around. You can accomplish this easily by slicing just a thin slice off to give you a flat side to lay on the cutting board.

From there just cut off each end and then slice the whole thing into ½ inch slices. Each slice can then be cut into ½ inch cubes.

Cutting the sweet potato into cubes rather than wedges ensures that there is more surface to absorb that divine smokiness. Once they’re cut up, there is minimal prep time for your smoked sweet potatoes.

Easiest of all would be to find sweet potatoes already diced at your market. I just saw these in the produce section of mine a few days ago, so it is definitely worth a look. They were relatively inexpensive and diced up to just the right size.

The best dish for smoking sweet potatoes

Hands down we recommend cast iron cookware. It withstands the heat and the smoke like a champ.

In the photos you see here we used our Grizzly 10 inch Casserole. This nickel plated cookware is an absolute workhorse. It’s a bit of a splurge but well worth it.

For more affordable options we’re linking you here to more choices, all on Amazon with 4 star or above ratings.

Versatility in flavor, cooking times and temperature

Just like with the Smoked Vegetables you can adjust the time and temperature of your sweet potatoes if needed. If you’ve got something else on the smoker that needs to cook at higher or lower temperatures (like fish for smoked fish dip) than called for here, just add or subtract time.

You’ll definitely want to keep an eye on the sweet potatoes and check them occasionally for tenderness. When a fork goes through a cube without resistance, they’re done!

For flavor options we chose to sweeten with honey, but brown sugar is definitely a good match for this dish. Sage was our choice of herbs with a garnish of rosemary or parsley, but thyme would be excellent as well. Smoked Sweet Potatoes are the perfect dish to make your own!

More sweet potatoes and other fall dishes