The Best And Worst Canned Sweet Potatoes, According To Customers

Sweet potato casserole, sweet potato pie, candied sweet potatoes — sweet potatoes are the duct tape of the holiday food world. But that's not just because of this super food's versatile "hey it's technically a vegetable" dessert potential. While the holiday mayhem causes life as you know it to crash down around you, sweet potato dishes can be effortless to whip up for your impending family gathering if you opt out of baking the vegetable and say "Yes we can."  But, foodies be warned: If you pick the wrong canned sweet potato brand, you could be stuck serving up a sad sweet potato pie on Christmas Day. Thankfully, we (and helpful customer reviews) are here to keep you from making that mistake. 

Based on the words of actual customers, we've curated a who's hot and who's not list of the best and worst canned sweet potato brands in grocery stores. So go forward and get ready to study this list (which uses yams and sweet potatoes interchangeably; they're generally the same thing in the U.S., although true yams aren't sweet potatoes at all) to ensure no one will ever be able to guess your new signature Friendsgiving dessert came from a can. All prices referenced in this article were accurate as of the publishing date but may vary depending on when and where you're buying your yams.

In the heart of Harlem is Sylvia's Restaurant, an eatery with tantalizing soul food that has made it famous enough to become a celebrity-loved spot and popular enough to make extra ka-ching by selling its own at-home food brand. While we can't blame Sylvia's for opting to sell grocery store products — in fact, some of the restaurant's at-home goods, like its perpetually sold-out Kickin' Hot hot sauce, seem to be tasty hits among foodies — we can blame the business for creating the atrocity that is Sylvia's Restaurant Yams.

Costing $3.32 per 15-ounce can from Instacart, "The Queen of Soul Food's" canned yams are coated in light syrup and are meant to taste, according to the can, "dee-licious!" But despite the brand's attempt at manifestation, the universe is apparently not listening. According to one unsatisfied Amazon reviewer, Sylvia's canned sweet potatoes are baby-food levels of squishy and mushy. Yeah — no. Pass on this canned yam brand if you know what's good for your sweet potato casserole.

Who is Sugary Sam? No one knows for sure. But we do know that his delicious canned sweet potatoes will rock your world. In fact, one customer even stated that this brand's take on canned sweet potatoes tastes as good as the yams their momma used to make — straight out of the can. It's no wonder "taste" (said admiringly) is the most frequently mentioned word in the product's Walmart review section.

But aside from these canned potatoes' (which go for $4.24 per 15-ounce can from Walmart) great flavor, those who've bought these ready-to-eat veggies also report that they have another very important pro: Sugary Sam's Sweet Potatoes are high quality. AKA, they aren't a mushy mess and are made with premium sweet potatoes that you don't have to worry about seeing roots or blemishes in. With a great taste and proper sweet potato texture, many customers report Sugary Sam's Sweet Potatoes have been a staple in their families for years. So we can trust and stand by Sugary Sam's product — and even forgive the brand for totally missing the opportunity to call its canned potatoes Sugary Sam's Canned Yams.

Kroger's Simple Truth brand is billed on the grocer's website as containing "affordable and delicious" foodie fare — but do not go towards their siren call, foodies. Because, yes, Simple Truth Organic Yams are cost-effective (a 15-ounce can of these USDA-certified organic, kosher yams only costs $2.89 a pop) but their taste is a far cry from delicious.

Several Kroger shoppers have almost nothing good to say about this brand of canned sweet potatoes. However, while many reviewers had gripes with how sugary these organic yams were (they aren't advertised as being dipped in any syrups or including added sugar), most customers agree these potatoes' main and most repulsive problem is that they are more liquid than solid. We don't think we can paint a better picture of exactly how watery Simple Truth Organic Yams are than one unhappy customer who wrote on Kroger's website that the product is best served to a "toothless person, or a pet."

So far, the only better-for-you brand of canned sweet potatoes on our list has proven to be good for your health but bad for the soul. However, our next customer-loved canned yam brand is breaking boundaries by being preservative and artificial-flavor-free and (get this) absolutely delicious. This Aldi find product goes for $2.95 for a 29-ounce can — but Happy Harvest Yams' great price is only one of the good qualities it lists on its dating profile.

Customers gleefully report this brand of canned sweet potatoes has a perfect level of sweetness that is so good you can skip adding the cut yams into a sweet potato pie and opt to enjoy them straight out of the can. But if you do choose to turn these ready-made sweet potatoes into pie filling, one Happy Harvest fan reported their soft yet still-solid consistency allows them to blend seamlessly with your other pie ingredients for a no-hassle holiday treat. Due to being additive and gluten-free while also tasting great and having a good texture, Happy Harvest has even been regarded by one reviewer as the epitome of what canned sweet potatoes should be.

And now we're back to everything canned sweet potatoes shouldn't be. The next entry on our avoid-at-all-costs canned sweet potatoes list is a reminder that slapping the word "Southern" onto something doesn't make it good. Although Bruce's Yams' packaging reports the product is made with "real Southern style," we assure you a real Southerner would not come anywhere close to this stuff.

Costing $1.54 per 15-ounce can, customers report that Bruce's canned yams have a lot of problems. First up on the list of grievances is that, where some other "worst" canned sweet potatoes on this list had a liquid consistency, Bruce's cans are typically filled with more liquid than actual sweet potatoes. In fact, one reviewer estimated that there were only 10 ounces of sweet potatoes in the 15-ounce can — and the sweet potatoes that were accounted for had a texture that was, in the words of another customer on Walmart's website, "mediocre" at best. However, at the top of the list of crimes committed by Bruce's Yams is that this product has a horrible taste that lacks any sweetness.

While Southerners may want to petition to have Bruce's Yams take the South's name out of their mushy, flavorless mouth, Princella Sweet Potatoes are more than welcome to keep their claim to being a Southern-style delight. Actually — because they also have "made with real Southern-style" on their packaging — these canned sweet potatoes are likely produced by the same company churning out Bruce's, even though, kind of like a divorced couple, neither Bruce nor Princella claim to be associated with the other on their respective websites. And hey, we can understand why. Because unlike Bruce's, Princella, which goes for $2.54 a 29-ounce can, provides its customers with a tasty good deal.

As one reviewer on Walmart's website wrote, these syrup-doused, ready-to-eat veggies are "the tenderest canned sweet potatoes" they've ever had the pleasure of purchasing. But Princella's remarkable tenderness would be nothing without (you guessed it) a remarkable taste — which it also has. In fact, thanks to their silky texture and great taste, one customer noted that all you have to do to turn Princella Sweet Potatoes into a bonafide holiday treat is mix them with brown sugar and marshmallows, throw the dish into the oven, and then dig in.

If you love sweet potato pie and casserole, you need to help rise up to dethrone Royal Prince Candied Sweet Potatoes. At a price point of $2.39 for a 15.5-ounce can, these blue-blooded canned potatoes' biggest issue is their inconsistent quality. While some reviewers report Royal Prince Candied Sweet Potatoes have a great homemade-mashed-sweet-potato taste, just as many state the product's consistency, flavor, and (most scarily) quality are the stuff of nightmares.

One Google reviewer reported their can of Royal Prince's sweet potatoes wasn't only mostly juice, but the potatoes themselves "didn't look right." Another customer, in a particularly passionate spell of hatred, reported that for the first half of her life, she thought she hated sweet potatoes because her parents only ever served her Royal Prince, which she reports have a consistency and flavor wretched enough to make a grown man cry.

But if those first two strikes didn't convince you that Royal Prince Candied Sweet Potatoes can destroy your taste buds and spirit, one Walmart customer stated their can of the brand's pre-made sweet potatoes came with roots and (be prepared to be grossed out) a bug. So while some Royal Prince's Candied Sweet Potato cans have the potential to be good, it's apparent that when they are bad, they are horror-story-level bad. And do you really want to play a game of canned sweet potato roulette?

Kroger's Simple Truth Organic Yams have failed us, but the brand's generic brand of syrupy sweet potatoes triumphs where its brother has fallen short. Costing an incredibly low $1.59 for a 15-ounce can, Kroger Cut Yams (which are doused in syrup) are also one of the best deals in our canned sweet potato burn book. But their price isn't what's made them one of our (and customers') picks for some of the best canned sweet potatoes on the market.

Loyal Kroger customers report they can't get enough of this generic brand of sweet potatoes because, first and foremost, these veggies taste like dessert. In fact, reviewers have gushed that Kroger's canned sweet potatoes have a sugary flavor that makes them perfect for an array of sweet potato treats. And Kroger Cut Yams' other big triumph is that they have a winning consistency, with reviewers saying that they are an ideal balance between solid and soft. Kroger Cut Yams' high quality and low price have made them an Instacart-verified popular item at the popular grocery chain — and reminded us that Kroger can, in fact, put out delicious products.