Easy Sweet Potato Casserole has become a family favorite of ours. My family begs me to make this dish every Thanksgiving. So today, I’m sharing these easy fall dish that is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
When I was a child, both my grandmother and my mother always made candied yams for Thanksgiving. Candied yams is a traditional thanksgiving dish. First, they used canned yams. I don’t mean to offend if you use canned vegetables. I actually love to can food. But the yams always seemed mushy and soggy. Candied yams then top them with marshmallows, cherries, even pineapple. It was never a favorite of mine. I just didn’t care for the combination. So for years, when people passed them to me, I passed them right along.
Fast forward to my twenties. I can recall watching a morning program where Martha Stewart was a guest and was sharing her version of sweet potato casserole. Oh my, this dish looked divine and I’ll never forget what she said. She said it tasted like sweet potato pie without the crust. Now that I had to try. (I dare say, it is better because of the praline topping). So that day I headed to the store for my first try of sweet potato casserole. It was a huge hit at Thanksgiving. To this day, my family will pass over the pies to have the sweet potato casserole. I often get asked to bring it to Fall parties. Trust me, it’s delicious! What really makes this superb is the praline topping.
Making Sweet Potato Casserole
Over the years, I’ve tweaked Martha’s recipe based on my own experience. I’ve also been influenced by other versions. You will need a nice deep casserole dish. I personally love baking it in stoneware because it is so easy to go from oven to table. I also highly recommend using raw, fresh sweet potatoes. You can cook them any way you like (bake or boil). However, I have found that boiling them makes them much easier to mash because they are very tender. Baking also takes much more cook time.
Now, if you want to save yourself some time in the kitchen or want to save some real estate on your stove on Thanksgiving Day, you can always cook the potatoes the day before and store in the fridge. Then you can take them out when you are ready for them and create your casserole. I’ve been asked if you can prep the whole casserole the day before. Yes, you can. However, you’ll need to make sure you put it in a metal pan instead of glass or stoneware. Putting an ice-cold dish in a piping hot oven can cause the glass to shatter. Also, you may need to increase the cook time to an hour if your casserole is refrigerator cold.
One of my favorite kitchen tools I’ve ever come across is this brown sugar keeper. If you haven’t discovered this, you don’t know what you are missing. It contains a terra-cotta disk that keeps your brown sugar soft and fresh. And it isn’t just for brown sugar! They also sell little terra-cotta discs that keep lots of things soft and fresh. Things like cookies, baked goods, marshmallows, baker’s coconut and granulated sugar. Anything that you want to keep soft. Best of all you can use them forever. Just wash them with soap water whenever you want to put it in a different food container.
How To Make Sweet Potato Casserole
You will need about 3-4 lbs of sweet potatoes. It is up to you if you want to peel before or after boiling. I prefer to peel after so they aren’t too waterlogged. Once peeled, transfer the potatoes to a large bowl. Mash your sweet potato with a potato masher. I typically don’t mind lumps in mashed potatoes, but for this recipe, I recommend working out as much of the lumps as you can. In a separate small bowl, beat your eggs, then add them to your potato mixture. Then you will add your pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, milk, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, butter, and mix well. You will then pour the mixture into an ungreased casserole dish.
In a separate bowl, you will create a sugary praline topping. You will mix brown sugar, butter, flour, and pecans until it resembles a coarse mixture. The sprinkle atop the potato filling. You’ll bake it in the oven uncovered for about 45 mins. If you love this recipe, you should try another Fall favorite of mine Slowcooker Pumpkin Spice Latte. I make it every Thanksgiving as well! Your friends will ask you for that recipe also.
Easy Sweet Potato Casserole
Equipment
- Deep casserole dish
- potato masher
Ingredients
- 4 Large Sweet potatoes peeled, cut into large chunks
- ½ Cup Milk
- 2 Large Eggs Slightly beaten
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar packed
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ½ Stick Unsalted butter (4 tablespoons), melted
- 2 Tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
For the Topping
- ½ Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar Packed
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter melted
- ¼ Tsp Kosher Salt
- ¾ Cup Pecans Chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large stockpot, add peeled, cubed sweet potatoes with a pinch of salt into boiling water. Bring boil to high heat and then reduce heat and cook until potatoes are very tender (about 20 mins).
- Drain potatoes in colander and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Smash potatoes using a potato masher.
- In a small bowl, slightly beat eggs then add to the potato mash.
- Add milk, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, melted butter, vanilla into the bowl with potato and egg mixture. Stir ingredients well until fully combined.
- Transfer to an ungreased baking dish. Spread the mixture out so that it is even across the dish.
- In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the topping – brown sugar, pecans, all-purpose flour, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle topping over the pumpkin mixture.
- Place into the oven uncovered. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Storing and Leftovers
If you have any leftovers you can store them in an air tight container for three to four days. Leftovers are easily warmed up in the microwave or in the oven.
Friends, thank you so much for joining me today. I know that 2020 has been an exceptionally hard year. But I encourage you to make the best of it. FaceTime or Zoom with family and friends. Write some gratitude lists as a family. Focus on what is going right instead of all the things that wrong this year. There are always reasons to be grateful. Until next time friends. Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.
