Rosemary Maple Syrup Sweet Potatoes

Today’s recipe may be something you’d expect to see on as part of a holiday meal - maybe on a Thanksgiving Menu or as part of Christmas summer - but it’s actually one of two recipes we shot when camping in Ferris Provincial Park this past July!

So, you know, nowhere near Thanksgiving Day, even for us Canadians!

While I’ve made roast sweet potatoes before, this summer was the first time I’d adapted my roasted maple sweet potatoes recipe as a savory side dish to cook on a campfire!

I’ve always been a big fan of combining maple and rosemary, and a sweet potato dish with a delicious glaze sounded like a great candidate for the ol foil packet cooking treatment!

(The accompanying main dish was my Rosemary Maple Chicken.)

The maple glaze is the perfect addition for fire roasted sweet potatoes, and the foil makes for easy cleanup.

Sure, it might have been a bit of an odd thing to cook on a hot July night... but it also REALLY hit the spot after a long day of exploring!

Also: Sweet potatoes tout some decent nutritional benefits - certainly more than many other starches we tend to lean on when camping - AND (like many root vegetables) they keep really well.

So, it’s one of the dishes that we don’t really need to rely on rural availability for. We can store sweet potatoes in a cool, dark bin at the beginning of the trip, knowing they’ll still be good a week or two later!

Anyway, this tasty, super easy recipe is a good one when you’re looking to indulge a sweet tooth in a somewhat responsible manner 🙂 It’s also gluten free, paleo and AIP friendly (if you skip the black pepper).

Anyway, let’s take a look at what you need to know to make our campfire rosemary maple syrup sweet potatoes!

Ingredients

This recipe uses just a small handful of ingredients - really simple ingredients, at that. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding what you need at almost any grocery store. As always, I do have a few ingredient notes for you:

Real Maple Syrup

Maple syrup is the perfect compliment for the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes, and goes SO well with the earthy flavour of the rosemary.

I hate having to really drill down on this, but a completely feral comment on one of my other food blogs - YEARS AGO - has spooked me to this date.

SO: When I say “maple syrup”, I mean You’re looking to use Pure Maple Syrup - literally the boiled down sap from a maple tree.

Table syrup / pancake syrup is not the same thing. Please don’t use it in this recipe!

If maple syrup isn’t an option, use the same amount of packed brown sugar. The flavour profile will be a little different, but still great!

Dried Rosemary Powder

While you can buy Ground Rosemary, I can’t be bothered to have separate bottles of regular and powdered rosemary.

So, I take regular Dried Rosemary and just run it through a spice grinder to powder it, as needed. Super easy!

Because you want it powdered, I don’t recommend using fresh rosemary in this recipe. Fresh rosemary is too moist to easily break down into more of a powder, and I don’t like having bigger bits of it, in this particular recipe.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Fresh Sweet Potatoes
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Nonstick Spray

... I just really don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty straightforward!

How to Make Rosemary Maple Sweet Potatoes

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Get a medium fire going. You can cook this on a charcoal grill, a BBQ, or on a grill plate over a campfire.

In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, olive oil, and rosemary. Set aside.

Wash your sweet potatoes, and use a sharp knife to slice into ¼" thick slices. For best results, try to keep all the slices a consistent thickness - they’ll cook more evenly!

Place sweet potato slices in the mixing bowl, and gently toss to thoroughly coat the sweet potato slices with the syrup mix.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Lay 2 good sized pieces of heavy duty foil crosswise to each other, then spray generously with nonstick cooking spray.

Spread the coated sweet potatoes out in the center of the foil pieces.

Bring the ends of the bottom piece of foil up and over, holding them together and rolling down to secure them.

Then, repeat with the remaining sheet of foil.

I like to wrap a 3rd sheet of foil around the whole thing, with the ends on the other side from where the first set folded together.

This helps prevent any leakage when the package is flipped on the fire.

Carefully open the packet to check for doneness - you want them golden brown and soft all the way through.

Season with additional salt and/or pepper if desired, and serve hot!

Leftovers:

Once cooled to room temperature, transfer any leftover sweet potatoes to a freezer bag or other airtight container. We’ll usually put them in a serving dish with a tight lid, so we can reheat and serve it right from the same container.

Leftovers should keep in the fridge for a few days, at least.

More Camping Recipes

Looking for great ideas to cook on a campfire, or in an RV? Here's a few simple recipes to start with!

Apple Fritter Bread Pudding
Apple Fritter French Toast
Banana Protein Pancakes
Beef and Root Vegetable Stew
Cabbage Roll Soup Mix [Just Add Meat and Water!]
Campfire Chili
Camping Breakfast Skillet
Camping Tacos, 2 Ways
Dutch Oven Pulled Chicken
Grilled Tuna Tacos
Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread
Campfire Haystack Cookies
Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Hobo Eggs
Jalapeno Cheddar Bannock
Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs
Hearty Campfire Beef Stew
The Ultimate S'Mores Board
Traditional Bannock

... But wait, there's more! See our main Camping Recipes page for ALL of our camping recipes - snacks, desserts, mixes to make ahead of time, and more!

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!