Sweet Potato Souffle – delicate, puffed up and fluffy festive dish, both savory and sweet.
Souffle is one of the dishes that people are most scared to make. I must admit I was the one of them. But it is not much different then making a sponge cake – you need to whip egg whites to soft peeks and gently fold them into base mixture. The only difference is that here you use very little flour so that souffle cannot hold its shape long after it is taken out of the oven. That is why it needs to be served immediately.
If you’re expecting guests, you can make sweet potato and egg yolks mixture and keep the unbeaten egg whites separately. As soon as your guests arrive (or about 30 minutes earlier) beat the egg whites, fold them into the base mixture and bake. This will ensure that you will have perfectly lifted souffle at the right time.
I’ve collected some very useful tips to help us all make successful souffle:
PRO TIPS
- Use room temperature eggs – they will whip easier and and give you more lift.
- Add acid like lemon juice or white vinegar to the egg whites to help strengthen the mixture.
- Do not overfold whipped egg whites into the sweet potato mixture or you will deflate the batter.
- Fill ramekins all the way to the top. Level off the top of the souffle with a knife to get flat top.
- Place ramekins with souffle on preheated baking sheet to help boost them up.
- Bake souffle on the bottom oven rack to help it lift.
- Turn off your oven fan.
- Do not open the oven door too soon.
I’m sorry I did not take the picture of souffles while they were still in the oven – they had wonderful dome shaped tops. As soon as I brought them out of the oven and to the room where I was filming, which was under 1 minute, they deflated about 50%. While I was shooting photo after photo they were falling more and more from one second to another.
Below you will get the recipe for basic Sweet Potato Souffle. You need to decide whether you want to make it sweet or savory. For the sweet version, in Step 2 add maple syrup, cinnamon and/or pumpkin spice to the basic mixture. For the savory version, add some grated cheese, chopped chives, ground nutmeg, ground pepper and garlic powder.
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato (from about 1 medium to large sweet potato)
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- SWEET:
- maple syrup, cinnamon, pumpkin spice
- SAVORY:
- grated cheese, chopped chives, ground nutmeg, ground pepper, garlic powder
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Preheate oven to 350 F (175 C). Place baking sheet on the bottom oven rack to warm it up.
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Using blender or food processor, mix sweet potato with butter. Add salt, milk and egg yolks and blend until smooth. Add additional ingredients for the sweet or savory savory sweet potato souffle.
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Whisk egg whites with lemon juice until soft peeks form. Gently fold into sweet potato mixture using rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
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Spoon mixture to the top of buttered remekins. Level off the tops with a knife.
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Place on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes in the oven (with fan turned off).
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Serve immediately, garnished with pecans and maple syrup or chopped chives (optional).
