This easy oven baked Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Cranberries casserole recipe is one of those go-to dishes that you will be making over and over. This is a simple, tasty, and healthy side dish, and these potatoes are sweet and savory and full of delicious fall flavors everyone loves.
What I love about this simple side dish beside the maple and cinnamon flavor is it is light and not super sweet like most sweet potato dishes. This recipe uses olive oil instead of butter and maple syrup instead of sugar.
The Goodness of Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are so versatile and can be used in stews and soups, they can be baked whole, mashed into casseroles, and fried. But my friends, roasting a sweet potato brings out some tasty flavors, you can’t get otherwise. Roasting sweet potatoes carmelizes the edges and keeps the center nice and creamy with all its sweet, earthy flavor. Pure sweet potato goodness.
Sweet potatoes adapt well to flavoring and adding cinnamon, maple syrup and sage adds a sweet and savory flavor to baked sweet potatoes.
These potatoes are perfect any time of the year and can be served with a big turkey or ham for the holidays, it pairs well with pork chops and sausages and, one of my favorite meals is a big salad and a plate of roasted sweet potato-apple casserole.
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes – I use garnet sweet potatoes
Apples – I use Granny Smith
Cinnamon
Maple Syrup
Olive Oil
Sage – I use rubbed sage
Salt
How to roast sweet potatoes
Remember I said this recipe is easy to make, all you need is one bowl and one baking dish, and for that matter, you can just mix everything in the baking dish if you prefer. I just like to dirty more dishes.
Step 1. With a vegetable peeler, peel and then cut the sweet potatoes in half then slice into half-moon shapes. If you don’t peel the potatoes for this recipe the peel will just fall off and not look too pretty.
Step 2. No need to peel the apples, just wash them, and then cut them into quarters and slice.
Step 3. Add the sweet potatoes, apples, cranberries, maple syrup, cinnamon, sage, olive oil, and salt to a bowl, and mix to incorporate all the ingredients. When adding the sage, you need to break it up but rubbing between your fingers to make smaller pieces.
Step 4. Pour all the ingredients into a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is seriously one colorful casserole.
If you like, you can prepare the potatoes with all the ingredients and put them in the baking pan and cover with plastic, and place in the refrigerator until ready to bake. This is especially helpful for getting some of your dishes ready for the holidays early.
Is it a Sweet Potato or a Yam and why is it confusing?
First of all Sweet Potatoes are a root vegetable and native to the Americas and Yams are a tuber and native to Africa and Asia.
Garnet Sweet Potatoes – have rosy skin and orange flesh that is moist when cooked or baked. Their shape can be big and oval to cylindrical.
Jewel Sweet Potatoes – have light brown to golden skins with a creamy yellow flesh that is firm. They have a cylindrical shape with tapered ends
Real yams – are mostly grown in Africa and Asia and hard to find in the U.S. Yams are larger in shape and starchier than sweet potatoes and have a skin that almost resembles a tree trunk.
Here in the U.S. mostly what is available to buy in stores are really Sweet Potatoes but in many places, they are called yams. I have actually never had a real yam. My local store calls the garnets yams and the jewels, sweet potatoes, apparently because of USDA labeling requirements.
The real reason for the name variations goes back to the African slaves that were brought to the US and sweet potatoes reminded them of their homeland yams and the name started to be used interchangeably.
Fall flavored recipes from One Hot Oven
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Cider Baked Apples are sweet and tender with a tangy apple cider glaze.
Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake is a simple cake to make that delivers on a great pumpkin flavor.
Cranberry Orange Bread is full of tart cranberries and sweet orange with all the great fall warming spices to add flavor.
Walnut Muffins with Maple Syrup are sweetened with just the maple syrup for a lightly sweet walnut muffin.
Maple Flavored Sugar Cookies cutout in leaf shapes and colored perfectly for autumn.
Oatmeal Bread with Apple Cider is a hearty quickbread full of oatmeal and fall spices.
Make sure to have these ingredients on hand
Maple syrup is what sweetens this dish so make sure to use one with good flavor. Cinnamon and sage are the two herbs used that add very distinct flavors. Just a note on sage use the rubbed sage or fresh sage, and just use a small amount as it can be overpowering.
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Easy Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Apples and Cranberries
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 medium-sized garnet sweet potatoes about 1 lb sweet potatoes
- 1 granny smith apple
- 1 cup cranberries
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. dried sage leaves 2 - fresh sage leaves can be used
- ½ tsp. salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. You will need a medium-size baking pan.
- Peel the sweet potatoes then cut in half and slice into ¼" half-moon shapes. Add to a large bowl or you can add directly to the baking pan
- Cut the apples in half, then into quarters. Remove the core and seeds. No need to peel. Add to the sweet potatoes
- Mix in the cranberries, olive oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, sage, and salt.
- Place the mixture into a baking pan large enough to hold the mixture. It is best to not overcrowd the potatoes so they roast better.
- Roast the sweet potatoes for 45 minutes or until the potatoes and apples are nice and tender. Stir the casserole several times during baking.
Notes
Nutrition
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About Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory recipes with all my baking friends.
Ramona
This is such a great idea – it looks soo good and this would make a perfect dessert for me – such a great combo – will make it as soon as tonight – delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Emily
I love roasted sweet potatoes and eat them all the time in our house, especially love the combo with apples and cranberries! They go great together!
Jere Cassidy
The apples and cranberries add some great flavors.
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
I am so glad you did this post. I always have arguments with friends and family about the difference between yams and sweet potato, and if there really is a difference. Next time that happens, I will point them to this post 😉
Jere Cassidy
Haha so funny. It’s confusing and I have only known these potatoes to be sweet potatoes, but then I couldn’t figure out what a yam was. Now I know too.
Jenni LeBaron
What a beautiful winter side dish! The apples and cranberries give the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness to balance everything out here. Can’t wait to serve these with a simple main like roasted chicken!
Jere Cassidy
I can’t stop making these potatoes, this dish is turning into my favorite winter comfort food.
Mikayla
I really appreciate all the seasonal flavors in here, it was just the inspiration I needed to use up some sweet potatoes in my pantry. The apples really made it perfect for me, total winner recipe here!
Jere Cassidy
I love how the apples add so much great flavor to the potatoes.
Jacqui Debono
We are having an English Sunday lunch this weekend but I like to throw in some dishes that my American friends love too! This will be a big hit with everyone!
Jere Cassidy
Sound like fun. I would love to hear everything you serve.
Amy Dong
This is something that I need to prepare for our family get together on this coming weekend. It looks really delicious and healthy, I am sure that it will be a hit for everyone.
Lesli Schwartz
Such a great combo of flavors in this dish! I love roasted sweet potatoes. Never tried with apples, so I definitely will next time!
Jere Cassidy
The apples and sweet potatoes are a great flavor pairing, I love the two flavors and textures together.
Renu
mmm…this looks tempting . A wonderful combination of sweet potatoes apples and cranberries. My kids would love this as is and would be such a healthy meal for them. Thanks for the recipe
Jere Cassidy
My kids are finely realizing how good sweet potatoes are.
Jacque Hastert
This is the perfect side dish this time of year. I bet this packs a punch with flavor!
Jere Cassidy
You are right, this dish is full of great flavors.
Stine Mari
What a beautiful blend of flavors. It is almost like a dessert as a side dish, and I love it.
Jere Cassidy
So true, with the apples and cranberries it does make this like a dessert.
Krissy Allori
Yummy! I loved the cranberries and apples with the sweet potatoes. Great flavors.
Noelle
This was soooo good! Love the sweet potatoes, great sweet flavors!
Jere Cassidy
So glad you liked the potatoes.
Katie
Made this for the family and it was a hit!
Jere Cassidy
Ohh, so glad you like it. It is a hit with my family too,
Erika
I don’t eat roasted sweet potatoes nearly enough, and the addition of apples and cranberries sound amazing.
Gavin
Such a great and healthy dish. Sweetness from the maple syrup and lovely tartness from the cranberries. Defo one to make over the Christmas period
Jere Cassidy
These potatoes go great with a Christmas meal.