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If you like sweet potatoes, you’ll love these roasted sweet potatoes with bacon! Maple syrup roasted sweet potatoes with salty, crispy bacon and a smattering of goat cheese makes the perfect holiday side dish!
Baaaacon. People LOVE bacon. And by people, I mean me. I can do pretty good eating meatless or skipping meat for most of my meals, but there is one thing that is just irreplaceable to me. BACON. It’s crispy, it’s salty, it’s a little greasy…it’s just like nothing else! It also, happens to pair very well with sweet things. One of the most delicious donuts I’ve ever had was a MAPLE BACON donut. Maple frosting and bits of bacon.
So, I kind of recreated that donut, but in a savory side dish. And without the donut part…..
What do you like to serve for your side dishes with a holiday menu?
Thanksgiving is this weekend here in Canada, and I like to switch things up for my own menu planning, because I love trying new recipes! Holiday dinner at my Mom’s house; however, usually has a few standard dishes that I always look forward to. An Asian-inspired cabbage salad, homemade buns, stuffing, gravy and usually a creamy broccoli salad.
I’m thinking I might try to sneak these sweet potatoes into my Mom’s dinner this weekend….they’re that good!
So, how do you make maple roasted sweet potatoes?
You’ll need about 2 large sweet potatoes (3 lbs) and 4-5 strips of bacon. Along with this you’ll need whole garlic cloves, maple syrup (of course), goat cheese and some seasonings. If you’re not a fan of goat cheese, you can either leave it out or replace it with something you like better.
The dish takes about 40 minutes in total, and you can absolutely prep it before (yay)!
You know what else I like? Being able to do something WHILE something else is cooking. Multitasking is my life. I start off by frying bacon in my Dutch oven, and WHILE this is happening, I cut my sweet potatoes into cubes. Once the bacon is niiiice and crispy, I remove it to a paper-towel lined plate with a slotted spoon.
Remove some of the grease from the pot, leaving about 1/4 cup. Add the sweet potatoes to the remainder, stir to coat, and cook for 10 minutes or so, stirring often. Turn off the heat, add in the maple syrup, garlic cloves, seasonings and salt and pepper. Spread the mixture out on a foil-lined baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes.
Once the potatoes are done cooking, empty it all back into the Dutch oven (or other serving dish), and add the bacon back in, as well as some goat cheese. Serve immediately (or later).
If you’re making this dish ahead of time, leave out the goat cheese until the end. You can re-warm the potatoes in the oven and then add the goat cheese at the end!
Voila! Perfect side dish that everyone will love. Especially the kids. Isn’t it a rule or something that all kids have to like sweet potatoes?
What do you serve roasted sweet potatoes with?
Personally, I think this dish was MEANT to alongside a turkey or a ham. If you’re not into making anything quite that large, it would also go well with a roasted chicken or even oven-baked chicken thighs. Try this amazing roasted chicken recipe that I made a few months ago!
If you’re a reader from Canada, I’ll leave you here with a Happy Thanksgiving!!! If not, happy weekend 😉
Other holiday sides:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bacon
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
If you like sweet potatoes, you’ll love these roasted sweet potatoes with bacon! Maple syrup roasted sweet potatoes with salty, crispy bacon and a smattering of goat cheese makes the perfect holiday side dish!
Ingredients
- 4–5 slices thick-cut bacon
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes (~2–3 large)
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- salt, pepper to taste
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup goat cheese*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F and line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, fry the bacon. While the bacon is frying, peel and dice the sweet potatoes into 1″ cubes. Once the bacon is fully cooked and crispy, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel lined plate. Once cooled, break into smaller pieces. Remove all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease from the pan.
- Add in the sweet potatoes to the pan and stir to coat. Cook the sweet potatoes for 10-15 minutes, stirring often. Turn off the heat. Add the maple syrup and seasonings to the pan, along with the garlic cloves. Empty the sweet potato mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are pierced easily with a fork.
- Empty the mixture back into the Dutch oven or another serving dish, then combine it with the goat cheese and bacon. Serve immediately.**
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 2-3 days.
Notes
*If you’re not a fan of goat cheese, you can replace with another cheese of your choice or leave out altogether!
**To prepare ahead of time, follow all steps up to adding in the goat cheese. Store in the fridge, then reheat in the oven in a casserole dish at 350 F for 10-15 minutes before adding in the goat cheese.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
This dish looks exceptionally delicious, Katherine! I agree, bacon and sweet potato (especially with a bit of maple) is a perfect combination! Love love love this combo. I may need to slide it into my own Thanksgiving menu. Yay!
Happy to hear that Laura! You wouldn’t regret it!! Bacon and sweet potato is perfect together!
This fan of bacon agrees with you! Love the addition of goat cheese to the roasted sweet potatoes and what could be more perfect than maple syrup to tie it all together? Must make holidays side for sure. Pinned.
I am such a fan of bacon too, I probably like it a little too much! Thank you my friend! It’s a great holiday side!! 🙂
How easy is this side?! Perfect for the upcoming holidays Katherine. I love the added bacon and goat cheese!
YES! It’s so perfect for the holidays. Thank you Mary Ann!!
I am a lover of sweet potatoes and this definitely looks like a winner in my book! Happy Thanksgiving Katherine! xo
We love our sweet potatoes too, Kim. Thanks my friend!! Hope you had a great weekend!
We are a huge fan of sweet potatoes and make it at least once a week. But, never have I ever thought of pairing them with bacon and goat cheese – sweet and salty deliciousness!! This will be such a winner at the Thanksgiving table:)
We eat a ton of sweet potatoes too! They go soooo well with bacon and goat cheese – salty and sweet is the best!
Adding bacon is never a bad idea!! I’m loving this dish for Thanksgiving! Looks super Yum!!
I’m such a huge fan of sweet potato, and I’m always looking for new ways to incorporate it. I’m loving the use of bacon and goats cheese (my absolute fave cheese)! I wish I would have found this before Thanksgiving, but really, this will be great all fall!
Thanks Nicole! It’s definitely a perfect recipe for fall – sweet potatoes and bacon go so well together!!
These Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Bacon are sure to make my taste buds do a little happy dance 😀 Thanks for sharing <3