Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
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This delicious sweet potato casserole recipe is the perfect side dish, topped with a pecan and marshmallow streusel. You will love the fantastic flavor combination in this casserole.
Sweet potato casserole is one of my all-time favorite side dishes to serve up and eat for Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you love it like I do, you must try my Potatoes au Gratin or Parmesan Garlic Potatoes.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet potato casserole is a baked dish with mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar and butter served with a crumb topping. My version comes with a pecan streusel tossed with mini marshmallows, making it a sweet, salty, and savory side dish.
I believe sweet potato casserole can be whatever you want, a dessert or a side dish. I prefer it as a side dish because, with all of the salty, savory dishes served over the holidays, this is a great sweet side dish additive to your dinner table spread.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sweet Potatoes – You can use any breed of sweet potatoes for this recipe. You can also use yams.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my cooking and baking to control the sodium content and not a butter company.
- Sugar – This sweet potato casserole will need some light brown sugar. You can substitute it with dark brown sugar or regular granulated sugar.
- Spices – I use ground cinnamon with the mashed sweet potatoes. You can also add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg if desired.
- Eggs – Large eggs that are chilled or at room temperature are perfect.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is used for the pecan streusel.
- Nuts – I used pecans in the topping, but walnuts will also work well.
- Marshmallows – There are some mini marshmallows mixed in with the streusel topping. You can make this optional, with it still being exceptionally delicious.
How to Make Sweet Potato Casserole
Rinse the sweet potatoes using a colander.
Place them on a cookie sheet tray with parchment paper or foil and bake in the oven at 375° for 60 minutes. The parchment paper or foil will make clean-up easy because the sweet potatoes secrete their sticky insides.
Remove them and pull the outside peelings off, discard them, and place the insides of the sweet potatoes into a large bowl. I suggest using gloves or a towel because the sweet potatoes will be hot.
Using a hand masher, mash the sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and eggs until thoroughly mixed and mashed.
Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes to a non-stick sprayed 13×9 casserole dish. In a large bowl, cut some unsalted butter with a pastry knife or fork into brown sugar, flour, and roughly chopped pecans until the butter is about the size of rice.
Next, add the mini marshmallows, fold them into the mix until they are incorporated, and set them aside until they are ready to use on top of the sweet potato casserole.
Evenly sprinkle on the pecan and marshmallow streusel, completely covering the mashed sweet potatoes.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the streusel is cooked and the marshmallows are browned. Serve immediately!
Make Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead – You can make these up to 2 days ahead by following these instructions. Bake, peel, and mash them in a bowl with eggs, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes to a casserole dish, top off with the streusel, then chill it in the refrigerator. For the day the sweet potato casserole is served, pull it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking and then bake at 375° for 30 to 35 minutes.
Storing and Freezing: The casserole can be stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic for up to 5 days. It can also be frozen and covered for up to 2 months. Thaw for 1 day in the refrigerator before cooking and serving.
How to Reheat: To reheat the sweet potato casserole, add your desired portion to a casserole dish or pan, cover it, and heat it in the oven at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until hot. In addition, you can add them to the microwave and heat them until hot.
CHEF NOTES + TIPS
- I used a smaller 10×5 casserole dish because I wanted the layer of sweet potatoes to be thicker.
- This dish will hold for up to 1 hour, covered in foil, and kept in the oven at low temperatures (200°>).
- When making the streusel, you could do it in a food processor if you want to save some time or don’t have a pastry knife.
- This sweet potato casserole is sweet enough to be a dessert, so you may want to try it or make my sweet potato pie recipe.
More Potato Recipes
- Hasselback Potatoes
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Smashed Potatoes
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potatoes:
- 6 medium to large-size sweet potatoes
- 2 large eggs
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
For the Streusel :
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°.
- Add the potatoes to a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper or foil and bake in the oven at 375° for 60-70 minutes or until tender.
- Remove the potatoes pull the skin off and discard. Add the cooked insides to a large bowl.
- Add the eggs, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and pepper to the bowl and mash with a hand masher or electric hand beater until smooth.
- Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes to a 13×9 casserole dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, cut together the flour, brown sugar, pecans, and butter until the butter is the size of rice.
- Fold in the marshmallows and then evenly sprinkle the streusel over the mashed sweet potatoes, completely covering them.
- Bake in the oven at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes or until the marshmallows are browned. Serve.
I tried this recipe and it turned out great! Thank you
Thank you!
I made this recipes for the first time for our Thanksgiving Dinner and it was such a BIG hit, everyone said the BEST they ever had. It is now a family favorite and tradition for our dinner.
Excellent! Thank you!
Chef,
I’m so going to try the sweet potato casserole. Thanks for a sweet side!
Maureen
I make this every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s the best !!!! Everyone loves it!!!