Description
For all my sweet potato fiends, this scratch-made Sweet Potato Casserole is the side dish of your dreams! It’s loaded with roasted sweet potatoes, brown sugar richness, warm spices, and fragrant flair. The pecan streusel topping adds texture and crunch to this quintessential, holiday-staple side dish we all know and love.
Ingredients
For the sweet potato filling:
- 5 lbs sweet potatoes (about 6 medium-sized potatoes)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon maple flavor/extract
For the pecan topping:
- ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place an oven rack in the center position, and then preheat the oven to 425°F. Wrap each sweet potato tightly in foil and place on a large baking sheet.
- Bake the sweet potatoes for 1 hour- or until the potatoes are tender. Then remove potatoes from the oven (do not shut off the oven) and set aside until they’re cool enough to handle. Reduce the oven heat to 350°F.
- When ready, peel the skin off the potatoes and discard. Place the flesh into the body of a food processor, the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or inside a large bowl to mix using a handheld electric mixer. Process/mix the sweet potatoes until just mashed- careful not to over-process/mix. This step is a good measure to remove any stringy fibers from the baked sweet potatoes.
- If you use a food processor, empty the mashed sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Then add in the brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, cream, vanilla extract, and maple flavor/extract. Use a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients into the mashed sweet potatoes (or mix again) until well combined and silky smooth. Set aside.
- Lightly grease a large 10×10-inch baking dish (or any similarly large oven-safe baking vessel) with cooking spray and set aside. Empty the sweet potato filling into the baking dish and use a spoon to smooth the filling until it’s edge to edge in the baking dish.
- For the pecan topping: In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, melted butter, pecans, flour, rolled oats, and cinnamon. Use your fingers (fitted with disposable gloves, if desired) or a fork to stir the pecan topping until well combined. Then evenly sprinkle the topping over the sweet potato filling.
- Bake the sweet potato casserole until the topping is golden and lightly toasted with bubbling edges, about 30-35 minutes.
- Serve this sweet potato casserole alongside your favorite main entrees (it’s delicious paired with hearty mains like glazed ham, roasted chicken, or smothered turkey wings). Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-free needs? Swap the all-purpose flour for any gluten-free flour as a 1:1 ratio (we love Bob’s Red Mill gf flour!).
- Can I add marshmallows to this? Haha yes! If you’re a marshmallow on mashed sweet potato fan, you sure can top the dish with ’em if you’d like. After step 7 in the recipe card, sprinkle the mini marshmallows on top and broil for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until the marshmallows are lightly toasted. Alternatively, after baking the dish, you can sprinkle the mini marshmallows on top and use a handheld torch to lightly toast them as well. Yay!
- Please read blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.