People adore puffy cuisine, with souffles being one of the most adaptable examples. Not much can actually go wrong as long as the egg whites in the batter aren’t completely deflated. These souffles are more simpler to make than the conventional technique, which calls for a saucy base, because the base is mashed sweet potatoes. After coming out of the oven, they will soon deflate, so act quickly and take those pictures! If desired, drizzle maple syrup with cayenne to serve.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 5-ounce souffles |
Ingredients
- 2 orange-fleshed sweet potatoes
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 4 fried sage leaves
Instructions
- Place sweet potatoes on a microwave-safe plate. Prick sweet potatoes with the tip of a knife. Microwave until very soft, about 10 minutes. Let cool briefly until safe to handle.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Halve sweet potatoes and scoop flesh out into a bowl.
- Separate egg whites and yolks into individual mixing bowls. Generously butter four 5-ounce ramekins.
- Transfer 1 cup mashed sweet potato to the bowl of egg yolks. Pour in milk. Season with salt and cayenne. Whisk until smooth, slowly at first and faster once mixture starts to come together.
- Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Beat with a clean whisk until peaks are well-defined but still soft. Transfer 1/2 of the egg whites to the sweet potato mixture. Fold in with a spatula somewhat gently until most of the white streaks disappear. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in very gently, turning the bowl and scraping the sides, until whites are mostly blended in; a few streaks should still be visible.
- Gently spoon sweet potato mixture into the ramekins.
- Bake in the preheated oven until fully inflated and browned, about 15 minutes. Garnish with sage. Unmold or serve in ramekins.
- Sometimes even red-skinned sweet potatoes aren’t necessarily orange inside; you can scrape the skin to check.
- Instead of microwaving, feel free to roast them in the oven at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- I kept these very plain, so as not to distract you, but you can add all sorts of things – cheese, bacon, or herbs, etc. These will also shine as a dessert. Just add some warm spices and maple syrup or brown sugar to the mashed potatoes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 220 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 193 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 649 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
While mine did puff, these were not good at all to me…flavorless and I didn’t like the texture…it was like it wasn’t sweet potatoes….which was my initial thought we I saw the recipe details and how many eggs were included (which seemed like way too many….almost like baked eggs with a tad of potato with the ratios mentioned. 10 minutes did not soften my potatoes all the way through (and the recipe doesn’t specify the size so I figured average size was needed). Recipe also says 4 servings are 2 potatoes but notes it should equate to 1 cup (and that wasn’t true for me). I’m a pretty “good” cook so maybe it’s delicious and I messed something up…not worth trying again though.
I would’ve cooked mine a little bit longer but it was delicious. It tastes like pudding would love to make this again or a different kind of Souffles!
This was a tough one. As you can see from the picture, they came out of the oven exactly as Chef John said they would. But my wife gave it 2 stars for flavor. Then I realized you could serve it with a drizzle of maple syrup. My wife loved it after that and ate two the next night and finished them off the following. So, I now consider the maple drizzle a must.
Made mine with some leftover butternut squash that had been slathered with butter salt and brown sugar. Absolutely amazing. Thanks chef John!
I added two bananas that were getting too ripe. It added a sweet contrast to the savory. It was delicious.
Excellent, puffed up beautifully and they were nice and dense. We loved them. I only made 1/2 the recipe, to make two.
They baked up lovely, but taste salty…could you put sweetener in place of salt?
I love this recipe. I make it savory most of the time.. Slightly sweet, we drizzle raspberry chipolata and green chilies..Yumm
I missed something in the directions. Where do you add the rest of the plain, ( ie.not mixed with egg yolks) sweet potatoes?
Yummy!!!!!
Deplorable. My poor soufflés did not pouf so all, payed there like rocks. I don’t give up will try again some other time.