Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Hot Honey
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Say hello to freeing up stove space and oven space with these Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes!
The holiday season is upon us so I’m dreaming of all things potatoes; like these cheesy scalloped potatoes, Instant Pot mashed potatoes, and smashed potatoes.
But the holiday table isn’t complete without some sort of sweet potato side dish, right?!
These sweet potatoes are honey glazed and cooked with a little butter and cinnamon. We also love adding in red pepper chili flakes to make an amazing hot honey, but that is always optional. (Err, highly recommended).
And quite arguably the best part is topping them with bits of crispy bacon.
I’m talking tender, sweet, velvety, deliciously easy honey glazed sweet potatoes studded with thick cut bacon. Is.there.anything.better?! Asking for a friend.
If you’re a big fan of slow cooker recipes and want to make something different than a sweet potato casserole or mashed sweet potatoes, this recipe is the perfect place to start! Thanksgiving and Christmas will thank you later!
Ingredient Notes
Just simple, minimal ingredients here! Move over, marshmallows. Sweet potatoes in the slow cooker with hot honey and bacon is where it’s at! You can scroll down to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and measurements.
- Sweet Potatoes: Choose a Garnet or Beauregard sweet potato (these are the most popular sweet potato varieties with dark orange or pale red skin). The flesh of these sweet potatoes are sweet and moist, they are available year-round but peak season is in the winter months.
- Honey: This recipe uses quite a bit of honey. 1 cup! You could always use half honey and half dark brown sugar too.
- Bacon: The bacon doesn’t get cooked in the slow cooker. Cook it separately (my favorite method below) and chop it up to garnish on sweet potatoes prior to serving.
- Chili flakes: Obsessed with the honey and chili flake combination to make a hot honey. Hot honey is the perfect way to amp up these sweet potatoes and brings the heat and sweetness in every bite.
- Cornstarch: The cornstarch helps thicken everything up to create a nice glaze to spoon over the sweet potato rounds.
- Butter: Unsalted or salted is perfectly fine!
- Other ingredients needed: cinnamon, salt and water.
Step by Step Directions
Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe instructions.
- Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-inch thick slices.
- Place sweet potato rounds in slow cooker.
- Whisk together the cornstarch and water. Pour over sweet potatoes.
- Pour honey, chili flakes, cinnamon, and salt over potatoes. Stir well, tossing to coat.
- Dot with slices of butter.
- Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until potatoes are tender.
- About halfway through, stir and whisk in a little more cornstarch/water to thicken sauce.
- Spoon potatoes onto a plate. Top with bacon, parsley, nuts, etc.
Tips and Variations
- Choose a high quality thick-cut bacon for a good smokey-sweet flavor.
- Purchase sweet potatoes more on the slender side. This way, the rounds will be small in size, instead of big giant rounds.
- Cooking times: It will depend on the size of your sweet potato rounds but a safe bet is low for 5-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. Cut larger sweet potato rounds into half moons if needed and cut 1-inch thick rounds.
- We love these crock pot sweet potatoes with bacon and parsley, but feel free to add candied pecans or walnuts for a nice crunch or a dash of pumpkin pie spice for a festive spin.
- If you are not a fan of spicy foods, omit the chili flakes. The honey cinnamon glaze is equally delicious without the heat from the chili pepper flakes!
- The sauce in the slow cooker will thicken, give it time! If needed about halfway through, combine 1 Tbsp. more cornstarch and 1 Tbsp. water, whisk into sauce, replace lid and sauce will thicken.
- Prep the sweet potatoes in advance: to make this recipe even easier slice the sweet potatoes a day or two ahead. Store them covered in cold water in the refrigerator until ready to place in the slow cooker.
- Make sure the sweet potatoes are actually cooked before removing them from the slow cooker. Poke a fork into the middle or a round, if it goes in easily, they are done!
- Add a little more flavor by whisking the cornstarch with 1/2 cup orange juice instead of water.
FAQ
Why is my sauce not coating the sweet potatoes?
Cornstarch is key! If needed, about halfway through, combine 1 Tbsp. more cornstarch and 1 Tbsp. water, whisk into sauce, replace lid to finish cooking & sauce will thicken.
Can I cut my sweet potatoes into smaller chunks?
Yes of course! Just be sure to check on them in the slow cooker so they don’t get mushy. Adjust cooking time as needed.
Can I make this vegetarian or vegan?
I have not tested this recipe without using honey but I bet maple syrup would be equally delicious. Omit the bacon and add toasted walnuts or pecans on top instead.
Favorite way to cook bacon?
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place a cooling rack on top. Spray non stick spray on cooling rack. Arrange bacon slices in a single layer. Bake until deep golden brown and crispy, about 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate with tongs. So easy!
More Holiday Side Dishes
Looking for more inspiration for holiday side dishes? Then look no further than my Holiday Sides Series! You’ll find favorites like this Homemade Green Bean Casserole (pictured) and a delicious Sweet Potato Casserole!
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Slow Cooker Sweet Potaotes
Ingredients
- 3 large slender sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch thick slices
- 2-3 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water*
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tsp. red pepper chili flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 6 slices cooked bacon slices, crumbled
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped for garnish
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Wash, peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1-inch thick slices.3 large slender sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch thick slices
- Place sweet potato rounds in bottom of slow cooker.
- Whisk together 2 Tbsp. cornstarch and water in a measuring cup. Pour over the sweet potatoes.2-3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1/2 cup water*
- Pour honey, chili flakes, cinnamon, and salt over potatoes. Stir well to coat sweet potatoes.1 cup honey, 1 tsp. red pepper chili flakes (optional), 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. salt
- Place cubes of butter on top. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or high for 3-4 hours, or until potatoes are fork tender.3 Tbsp. butter
- About halfway through, stir and access the sauce. If it doesn't look like a thick glaze yet, combine 1 more Tbsp. water and 1 Tbsp. cornstarch together and whisk in to thicken sauce.
- When ready to serve, spoon potatoes onto a plate and drizzle glaze over potatoes. Top with cooked bacon crumbles, fresh parsley, pecans, walnuts, etc.6 slices cooked bacon slices, crumbled, 1/3 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped for garnish
Video
Notes
- Replace water with fresh orange juice for a little more flavor.
- Chili flakes and honey = hot honey magic. If spice isn’t your thing, it’s OK. Leave the chili flakes out. ?
- Purchase sweet potatoes more on the slender side. This way, the rounds will be small in size, instead of big giant rounds.
- Cut larger sweet potato rounds into half moons if needed and cut 1-inch thick rounds.
- We love these crock pot sweet potatoes with bacon and parsley, but feel free to add candied pecans or walnuts for a nice crunch or a dash of pumpkin pie spice for a festive spin.
- Prep the sweet potatoes in advance: to make this recipe even easier slice the sweet potatoes a day or two ahead. Store them covered in cold water in the refrigerator until ready to place in the slow cooker.
- Make sure the sweet potatoes are actually cooked before removing them from the slow cooker. Poke a fork into the middle or a round, if it goes in easily, they are done!
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Can I triple everything to serve a larger group?
I haven’t tried tripling the recipe. Did it work out for you?
Can I cook these a day before? Then just reheat and prep to dish to serve?
Thanks!
Hi there! Great question. I would actually make these the day of. On high, I bet you could get by at 2 1/2 hours and they’ll be done. You can slice them thinner or in chunks to make it go by fast. You could also prep the sweet potatoes in advance by slicing the sweet potatoes a day ahead, store them covered in cold water in the refrigerator until ready to place in the slow cooker. I know this probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but I just think they’re best fresh and not reheated.
Do I have to peel the potatoes or can I leave the skin on? I like the skin but want to make sure it sticks around the potatoes.
I only recipe tested this recipe with peeled sweet potatoes. I like the skin too! I think for this recipe, they would probably start to peel off.
What is the approximate weight of the potatoes?
~2 1/2 lbs.
Made these slow cooker sweet potatoes to accompany an oven roasted Pork Loin, this past weekend. My company gave these sweet potatoes top reviews, even over my main dish. In my opinion these should get a 5 star rating. Best part was I could get the potatoes ready in advance the night before, then drain the potatoes, add the other ingredients and just turn on the crock pot & forget it. I used orange juice in place of water when I added them to the crock pot and it made them perfect! I do a lot of home cooking and this recipe is a keeper. Thank you.
So glad this was easy to prepare and guests loved it! thank you for making and leaving a kind review 🙂
I made this for Thanksgiving last year and they were wonderful. I’ll make this year again for sure!
Thought I had tried sweet potatoes every which way possible but this was a new to me approach. The honey and bacon together are DELICIOUS!
Thank you so much Gina! I appreciate it!!
My mouth is watering at the thought of these roast potatoes. They sound incredible, especially with the hot honey!
Thank you so much!! The hot honey is a game changer!
Honey potatoes are my favorite, I never thought to cook them in a slow cooker, I will be trying this recipe!
Delicious recipe! I made it today and everyone loved it! The honey, the sweet potatoes, the easiness! Yum!
Aw I am so glad! It’s a magical combo. Thank you so much!
I love sweet potatoes with hot honey but usually do mine in the oven. Tried your slow cooker version and they were great. I love that they free up my oven!
Yayyyy thank you so much Kristen!!