Ancho Chili Sweet Potato Puree

Ancho chilies, sweet potatoes, and honey come together to create a sweet potato puree with rich, complex Southwestern flavors
Sweet Potato Puree Recipe Featured

By Mark Hinds | Updated January 28, 2025

Ancho chilies, sweet potatoes, and honey come together to create a sweet potato puree with rich, complex Southwestern flavors.

This sweet potato puree recipe is an intriguing choice when youโ€™re looking for a side dish with interesting flavors and textures.

The smokey Southwestern flavor from the dried chilies and the complex notes from the honey complement the sweet potatoโ€™s flavor and texture.

Adding Honey To Sweet Potatoes
The complex flavors in honey help round out the dish

The flavors in this dish come from cooking the sweet potatoes with the dried chilies; the chilies infuse the sweet potatoes without adding too much heat.

Removing the stem from the chilies lets you blend them directly with the sweet potatoes, which adds extra layers of flavor and makes the dishโ€™s final texture more interesting.

This is the type of recipe that is much easier to make with a stick blender, like this immersion blender, than a regular blender.

Blending Sweet Potatoes
Stick blenders make things easier and double as a stress reliever

Depending on how much heat you want in the final dish, you can keep or discard the seeds from the chilies. The more seeds you include, the hotter the final dish will be.

One of the best things about dried chilies is that most of the flavor is in the skin, and the heat is in the seeds, so you can adjust the taste of a dish based on personal preference.

For a truly magnificent dinner, try pairing this recipe with a Sous Vide Rack of Lamb or a Smoked Duck Breast.

If you love sweet potatoes, try making our Grilled Sweet Potatoes which are light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside, or our Sweet Potatoes with Andouille Sausage, which is one of our most popular holiday side dishes.

Sweet Potato Puree Recipe Featured

Ancho Chili Sweet Potato Puree

5 from 5 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, 3 good sized potatoes
  • 1 Ancho chilies, dried
  • 1 Cascabel chilies, dried
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

  • Peel and cut the sweet potatoes up into large chunks. Remove the stems from the peppers and cut them into large pieces. For more heat, keep the seeds from the peppers, for less heat discard the seeds.
  • Place the sweet potatoes and peppers in a pot of cold water, turn the heat on high, and cook the potatoes until they are fork tender. This usually takes around 25 minutes.
  • Once the potatoes have finished cooking, drain the liquid and add the milk, honey, butter, salt, and pepper.
  • Using a stick blender puree everything until the potatoes are smooth.

Recommended Equipment

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Nutrition
Calories: 138kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 373mg | Potassium: 388mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 13340IU | Vitamin C: 3.4mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 0.8mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate based on available ingredients and preparation.

Mark is an experienced food writer, recipe developer, and photographer who is also Umamiโ€™s publisher and CEO. A passionate cook who loves to cook for friends, he can often be found in the kitchen or by the grill testing new recipes.

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5 from 5 votes (5 ratings without comment)

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Responses

  1. Marilee Kinsella

    Just what I was looking for, for this yearโ€™s thanksgiving table. Usually I do chipotle and lime in whipped sweets. This year Iโ€™ll try yours. Thanks.

    1. Mark Hinds

      You’re welcome and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do!