Learn everything you need to know about how to make smoked sweet potatoes!
Whether you've got a Weber kettle, a Traeger or Pit Boss pellet grill, or even a Masterbuilt electric smoker, we've got you covered!
We fan them out for maximum flavor and smoke absorption, then continue to baste with butter, brown sugar, and your favorite sweet BBQ rub until smoked to perfection.
Let's Go!
Sweet potatoes are a fun side dish to throw on the smoker alongside your Thanksgiving turkey or standing ribeye roast, especially around the holidays.
Or you can just smoke your sweet potatoes them by themselves to accompany literally ANY other meat.
They absorb some great smoke flavor without getting overpowered, and are finished in just about an hour if you fan them out like we do and cook them with some high heat!
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Best Wood and Wood Pellets to Use
Hickory, Maple, and Apple are great wood choices that pair wonderfully with sweet potatoes.
You can choose one or the other or mix them together! These two woods also work great on chicken, turkey, and most beef, lamb, and holiday meats.
You can impart A LOT of distinctive smoke flavor in a relatively short period of time.
How to Slice the Sweet Potatoes
Our favorite way to prepare smoked sweet potatoes is by fanning them out and basting them with butter and BBQ rub while they cook.
The trick is to slice about every 18/ to ¼ inch or so and only about ⅔ of the way down so that the potato stays intact.
Sweet potatoes are notoriously hard to slice when they are raw and we found our Mairico meat slicing knife to actually work the best for the job.
The sweet potatoes will open up and fan out while they smoke.
By doing this fan technique, you get the MAXIMUM surface area for basting them with more butter and sugar while they cook.
You also get more surface area for smoke absorption vs. cooking them whole or just punching them with forks.
Prepare and Apply the Seasoned Butter
Once you have the sweet potatoes sliced, you will mix up a little softened butter, brown sugar, and your favorite BBQ seasoning (we like Three Little Pigs) to baste on top.
Make sure to set aside about half of this mixture to continue basting while they cook.
This works best, and is easiest to clean up afterwards, if you use a good silicone basting brush like these ones.
You end up with a sticky, tasty, glaze that also absorbs lots of smoke flavor throughout the cook.
Don't worry if it's hard to initially get the butter mixture inside all the crevices, this will be easier as the sweet potatoes smoke and soften and open up more.
Once your sweet potatoes are sliced and basted, it's time to get them in the grill or smoker.
Keep them on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet so that you can keep basting with the melted butter and don't lose all of your mixture down into the grill or smoker.
Time and Temperature
We are going to set the temperature of the pellet grill or smoker to 325°F.
If you are using a grill, make sure to set it up for INDIRECT cooking with all the charcoal or burners lit on the opposite side of the sweet potatoes.
Now you CAN smoke them at a lower temperature, especially if the meat you are cooking them alongside requires a lower smoking temperature.
Just realize they WILL take quite a bit longer to cook, so get them on the grill or smoker early!
Fanned out at 325°F, your smoked sweet potatoes will take about 2 hours to fully cook.
If you're cooking them at maybe 250°F or 275°F because of the meat, plan on them taking closer to 3 hours.
Make sure to brush them every once in awhile with more of the butter, sugar, rub mixture as the cook and open up so you can get that flavor down in each of the crevices with your silicone brush.
How Can You Tell When the Sweet Potatoes are Finished Cooking?
Unlike many of the roasts and steaks we smoke around here, where you have to watch the internal temperature like a hawk, you have some pretty good leeway with smoking sweet potatoes.
After about an hour and a half on the grill or smoker, start checking every 15 minutes or so.
You can use a fork or knife to check if they slide through effortlessly in the middle.
But if you want to be more accurate about it, use a good instant thermometer like our favorite from Thermopro.
When they get to about 200°F degrees internally, you'll know for sure they are done smoking.
Serving Suggestions
You can have fun with this recipe and add maple syrup or even use pumpkin pie spices in place of the BBQ rub, depending on the occasion and time of year.
You can remove the skins and mash up the smoked sweet potatoes into a smoked sweet potato casserole if you wish, or just serve them fanned out as is.
After that long smoke, the skin is delicious and edible now as well.
We like them sprinkled with a little extra brown sugar at the end, and of course, you can always add more butter!
Serve them alongside your full Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey or with just a simple Smoked Boneless Turkey Breast.
Smoked sweet potatoes also go great with ham, prime rib, or even barbecued pork ribs!
And if you need more side and dessert options, make sure to check out our Smoked Baked Beans, Smoked Green Beans, Smoked Pumpkin, and of course our Smoked Peach Cobbler!
Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Smoked Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- A Smoker or Pellet grill -OR-
- A Gas or Charcoal Grill setup for indirect heat
- A Foil Lined Baking Tray
- A Meat Slicing Knife
- A Basting Brush
- Hickory, Maple, and/or Apple pellets, woodchips, or chunks
Ingredients
- 6 Medium Sweet Potatoes
- 1 stick Salted Butter softened
- ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar
- Your Favorite Sweet BBQ Rub
Instructions
- Preheat the smoker, or grill setup for indirect cooking, to 325°F. If using a pellet grill, load the hopper with pellets, turn on the grill, and set the temperature for 325°F.
Prepare the Sweet Potatoes
- Slice the potatoes about ⅔ of the way through, every ⅛ of an inch from one end to the other, creating a "fan."6 Medium Sweet Potatoes
- Soften half a stick of the butter in the microwave but do not melt. Add about half the dark brown sugar and a tablespoon of your favorite sweet BBQ rub and mix together with the softened butter.1 stick Salted Butter, ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar, Your Favorite Sweet BBQ Rub
- Place the potatoes on a foil lined baking tray and baste them with the butter/rub mixture using a basting brush. Try and make sure to get the mixture in between every slice.
Smoke the Sweet Potatoes
- Once the grill or smoker is near its temperature, add your wood chips, wood chunks, or pellets into a pellet tube smoker and place over the direct heat and close the lid.
- Once the grill or smoker is up to 325°F and producing smoke, place the entire baking tray with the sweet potatoes into the smoker, or on the cool side of the grill.
- Every 30 minutes, baste the smoked sweet potatoes with more softened butter, sugar, and rub. You can also baste the melted butter that has collected at the bottom of the pan. Make sure to get in between each slice. Then close the lid again. Smoke for about 2 hours total.
- Check for doneness by piercing the potato with a knife or fork. It should pass through effortlessly when they are finished. Or you can use an instant read thermometer and look for an internal temperature of 200-210*F.
- Remove the tray from the grill or smoker using oven safe BBQ gloves and place somewhere to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with more dark brown sugar once cooled if you wish.
Kate says
OMG these were sooo amazing, cant wait to make for thanksgiving too!
Tracy says
These were so outstanding!!! Yum!!
Mads Martigan says
Thanks Tracy! Glad they turned out well for you.