Japanese Style Candied Sweet Potato Recipe (Daigaku Imo)

With a crispy skin, a sweet coating and a tender inside, these candied sweet potatoes are a perfect snack on a cool fall or wintery day. These go well with a cup of coffee or tea. This candied sweet potato recipe is easy to make and both kids and adults will love it as a snack.

My mom would often make this for us when we were kids. Especially in the Fall. She would put it in our bento boxes for lunch and I always looked forward to the slightly sweet taste. However, candied sweet potatoes are not often served in restaurants. Occasionally, if you eat at a set-meal (teishoku) restaurant, candied sweet potatoes will be served as dessert.

I’m a big fan of Japanese sweets as opposed to western-style sweets. I find that Japanese sweets aren’t as heavy with sugar. Japanese have the perfect amount of sweetness in their desserts. If you are also a fan of Japanese sweets, I recommend that you also try our shiratama dango fruit punch recipe.

Tips for Making Candied Sweet Potato Recipe (Daigaku Imo)

• In this recipe I use mirin as one of the seasonings. If you don’t have mirin, you can also substitute with 1/2 tbsp of sugar for every 1 tbsp of mirin. If you do have an asian supermarket nearby, I highly recommend you buy mirin. It can be used for many Japanese recipes, and also goes well with this recipe.
• When you are frying the potatoes, be careful not to handle them too much. As the potatoes get soft, if you are not careful, you can accidentally smash the potatoes.
• In the introduction, I mentioned this desert goes well with coffee and tea. If you want to eat it more as a dessert, rather than a snack, you can also serve it with vanilla ice cream.
• I purchased sweet potatoes from the USA for this recipe. The taste was about the same, but the texture is a little softer with potatoes from the USA. If you have the chance, I would recommend purchasing Japanese sweet potatoes. Please try this recipe with Japanese sweet potatoes if you can.

Candied Sweet Potato Recipe

With a crispy skin, a sweet coating and a tender inside, these candied sweet potatoes are a perfect snack on a cool fall or wintery day. These go well with a cup of coffee or tea. This candied sweet potato recipe is easy to make and both kids and adults will love it as a snack.

5 from 9 votes

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Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

Main Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 300 ml vegetable oil

Sweet Sauce Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• sesame seeds (add as you like)

Instructions

 

• Slice the potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Keep the skin on.
• Add 300 ml of vegetable oil into a frying pan
• Add the potatoes and fry for about 7 minutes on low heat. (Insert a toothpick into the potato. If it is easily inserted, the potatoes are finished)
  
• Occasionally stir and rotate the potatoes
• Remove the potatoes from the oil. (Fry a second batch of potatoes using the same method if all the potatoes won't fit into your frying pan)
• Add the sugar, mirin, honey, and soy sauce into a large pot
  
• Heat until boiling. Occasionally stir while heating so bottom doesn't burn
• Add the fried potatoes into the pot and mix with the sauce
  
• Add some sesame seeds to the pot and continue mixing
  
• Once fully mixed, turn off the stove, remove potatoes from the heat, serve, and enjoy!
  

Keyword Dessert, Sweet Potato

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