Bobby Flay Bakes His Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes Twice And Adds One Spicy Ingredient

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Grill master Bobby Flay isn't just the king of barbecue — he is master of various types of cuisine. For serving up a Thanksgiving feast, Flay loves infusing spice, so it comes as little surprise that he adds some South-of-the-border heat to the holiday meal. In approaching sweet potatoes for the Thanksgiving table, he amps things up with chipotle peppers (per Food Network). Flay also double-bakes the vegetable for over-the-top texture. He suggests using a ricer, which makes the process easier and the texture more consistent. The result is tender, fluffy flesh and crispy skins for simultaneous softness and crunch. 

The pairing of sweet potato and chipotle works well because it's a classic match-up of spicy with sweet. The chipotle peppers lend spice and smokiness to the sweetness of the vegetable, forming a bite that has an interesting depth of flavor. Of course, you could add some crunch with some toasted nuts — pecans work well here — or some sunflower seeds. You could lean into the Mexican inspiration and top each one with salsa macha. If you want to amp up the sweetness, take a page out of his sweet potatoes with a date-lime glaze (via Instagram), and whip some date molasses into the crème fraîche he adds to the mash.

Pressed for time? Take a page out of his pan-roasted sweet potatoes, but keep the heat by adding some of that smoky chipotle pepper in the bourbon glaze (per Instagram). Chipotle and sweet potatoes are a go-to combination for Flay, but he similarly applies a little heat to dishes like smoked chile scalloped sweet potatoes and spicy maple Hasselback sweet potatoes – two other great options for a Thanksgiving side.

Ina Garten — one of the two celebrity chefs who inspires Bobby Flay — is another Food Network star who favors the flavor mixture of chipotle and sweet potato. She and Flay have collaborated in the kitchen, including preparing Thanksgiving recipes together on camera. Garten's signature sweet potato-chipotle dish is a casserole, while her "Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" also features a recipe for baked sweet potato topped with a chipotle, maple syrup, and zesty orange compound butter. 

While they share an affinity for chipotle and sweet potato, the two expert foodies differ a bit in their approaches to preparing a twice-baked version. While the Barefoot Contessa simply mashes the inner sweet potato with a fork before combining it with other ingredients, Flay uses that ricer to achieve a luscious texture that only a ricer seems to deliver, which makes it one of the best kitchen tools for mashing potatoes.

Garten and Flay also differ in their preferred approaches to serving large meals, such as a Thanksgiving dinner. Garten prefers buffet-style when feeding a crowd, placing the food away from the dining area and keeping the table uncluttered, while Bobby Flay prefers to serve his food family style, with all the dishes on the table and within reach. Whether the serving dishes are close at hand or distanced from the guests, though, chances are good that a Bobby Flay or Ina Garten-prepared Thanksgiving will include some form of chipotle and sweet potato mash-up.