At a 2019 Thanksgiving cooking event, Ina Garten named Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes as her favorite Thanksgiving side. The recipe, from her 2016 cookbook Cooking for Jeffrey, puts a smoky, spicy twist on a familiar holiday dish—and can be assembled up to three days before baking.
Which Thanksgiving side did Ina Garten call her favorite?
Parade reported that Garten and actor Jennifer Garner demonstrated the recipe at a Walmart-sponsored Thanksgiving cooking event in Malibu, California, on November 15, 2019. Garten described her approach as doing “something that’s traditional, with a little surprise.” In this case, the familiar sweet potato side gets chipotle chiles and maple syrup.
The event report identifies Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes as Garten’s favorite side at that demonstration; it does not establish a definitive ranking of all her Thanksgiving sides. Garner joined as Garten’s sous chef and shared a different family tradition: her grandmother’s sweet potato pudding with brown sugar and marshmallows. Read Parade’s event report and recipe.
What makes the sweet potatoes different?
Chipotle chiles in adobo bring smoke and heat, while maple syrup adds sweetness. Milk, cream, and butter make the potatoes rich and smooth. The result keeps the recognizable comfort of a holiday sweet potato dish while leaning savory and smoky rather than toward a marshmallow-topped pudding.
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Parade’s printed recipe serves 8 and was excerpted from Cooking for Jeffrey (2016).
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Ingredients
- 4 pounds (about 6) sweet potatoes
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo, with seeds
- ¼ cup pure Grade A maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Pierce the sweet potatoes with a knife, place them on a sheet pan, and roast for 1 to 1¼ hours, until very tender.
- When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes. Beat them in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth.
- In a small saucepan, bring the milk, cream, and chipotle chiles to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the milk mixture to the potatoes along with the maple syrup, butter, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix until combined.
- Transfer to a 12 × 9-inch oval oven-to-table baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until heated through. If baking straight from the refrigerator, allow 40–45 minutes.
Can you make the dish ahead?
Yes. After assembling the potato mixture in its baking dish, cover and refrigerate it for up to 3 days. Bake it for 40–45 minutes when chilled, rather than the 30 minutes specified for the freshly assembled dish. The potatoes still need their initial roasting before assembly.
Other Garten recipes to consider for Thanksgiving
A November 2025 roundup by Ina Garten recipe enthusiast Trent Pheifer offers a broader selection of Garten dishes that could suit a Thanksgiving table. It includes potato-fennel gratin, mushroom and leek bread pudding, maple roasted butternut squash, spinach gratin, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower gratin, twice-baked sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce, among others. These are Pheifer’s curated picks, not a verified list of Garten’s personal favorites. See Pheifer’s Thanksgiving roundup.
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Garten’s practical advice for hosting
Garten told Parade, “You can make a few things, buy a few things,” adding, “It doesn’t have to kill you.” Her point is a useful one for a holiday menu: choose the dishes worth making from scratch and let purchased food fill in the rest.
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