Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
This Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans is a true family heirloom-passed down through generations and perfected with every holiday. It's cozy with just the right balance of sweet and nutty.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (less if you pre-cook the sweet potatoes)
- ⏰ Cook Time: 55 minutes
- 💛 Flavor Profile: Sweet and savory, with a crunchy pecan topping.
- 🍽️ Good For: A Thanksgiving side dish to impress. This recipe has been in my family for generations, and is a hit at every holiday. It also makes a great Christmas dinner menu addition!
- 🔄 Make Ahead: Can be made up to three days in advance.
- 🧡 Difficulty: The easiest thing in your Thanksigiving spread.
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- 🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
- 🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 💛 The Ingredients You Need
- 🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- 🥣 Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans How-To
- 🙋🏻♀️ Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans FAQs
- 👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- 🦃 More Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes:
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hiya, friend: Every family has that one special dish that waves in the holiday season, and for my family, it is this Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans. With its velvety filling and nutty topping, it has the perfect blend of comfort and crunch in every bite.
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- It never fails: This sweet potato casserole is reliable and undemanding to put together (it's almost as easy as my slow cooker mashed potatoes recipe!). The ingredients are simple, the process is forgiving, and even if you're completely new to hosting Thanksgiving, it's sure to be a big hit!
- It plays well with everything: Whether your holiday spread stars my dry brine turkey recipe, a slow cooker glazed ham, or a roasted whole chicken, this sweet, nutty, nostalgic recipe will fit right in.
- It has history: Decades of tweaks, adjustments, and stories live in this recipe, and I'm so excited to share it with you!
💛 The Ingredients You Need
- Sweet potatoes: A time saving tip: make Instant Pot sweet potatoes instead of cooking them in the oven! Oven space is at a premium on Thanksgiving and this will free up oven space for other side dishes, desserts, and your main course! Have extra sweet potatoes that you don't know what to do with? Try making them into a coconut sweet potato pie with a food processor pie crust, or throw them into a sweet potato smoothie!
- Eggs: A couple of eggs are the perfect binder because they give form to the casserole without making it heavy or dense, leaving you with a melt-in-your-mouth casserole that is still firm enough to slice.
- Pecans: No sugary-sweet marshmallows here-just a golden layer of crisp pecan topping to provide a little savory crunch to counter some of the sweetness in the casserole.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Go gluten-free: You can make this easy sweet potato casserole recipe gluten-free by swapping your favorite gluten-free flour for the all-purpose flour-you'll still get that same crisp, nutty topping without sacrificing texture or flavor.
- Walnut brown sugar topping: Replace the pecans with chopped walnuts to make sweet potato casserole with a walnut brown sugar topping.
🥣 Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans How-To
Step 1: Cook the sweet potatoes in the oven or Instant Pot. When they are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh, leaving the skins behind.
Step 2: Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher, then mix with the sugar, ½ cup butter, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Step 3: Mix up the topping, crushing the butter into the other ingredients and breaking it up until the topping is crumbly.
Step 4: Spread the sweet potato mixture in an even layer in a greased 2-quart casserole dish or 11"x7" baking dish. No need to make it perfect-it will all come out even in the oven. Cover with the topping and bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes. You'll know it is ready when the pecan topping is golden brown and the center is firm.
🙋🏻♀️ Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans FAQs
You can make the whole recipe up to three days in advance. Assemble the casserole, then place the whole thing (unbaked) in the fridge covered in plastic wrap until it's showtime. When it's time for your Thanksgiving dinner, bake the casserole as described in the recipe directions. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for four to five days.
Your sweet potato casserole is done when the pecan topping has turned a golden brown. The center should be firm when you give the dish a little shimmy and wiggle. If you allow the sweet potato casserole to cool for 10-15 minutes on the counter before serving, the ingredients will set, making it even easier to serve.
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👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Speedy sweet potatoes: For a faster sweet potato casserole, either pre-bake your sweet potatoes or prep them in the Instant Pot. It will save you so much time assembling your casserole!
- Use a potato masher: Just like in my Instant Pot mashed potatoes recipe, you'll want to mash the sweet potatoes by hand for the best texture. Trust your potato masher or ricer (or even a fork in a pinch) for that perfect texture.
- Soften the butter: Let the butter for the topping soften at room temperature so that it mixes easily with the pecans, flour, and brown sugar and forms perfect clumps. You're looking for the topping to have a crumbly texture before it goes on top of the casserole.
- Let it rest: Give the casserole 10-15 minutes to set before serving. The center will firm up, making it easier to cut into, and it will give the flavors a little more time to meld.
🦃 More Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes:
If you tried this sweet potato casserole with pecans or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
Ingredients
- 4-5 sweet potatoes about 4 ½ to 5 cups mashed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place the whole sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, pierce several times with a fork, and bake in the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, or until soft all the way through (it may take more or less time, depending on the diameter of your sweet potatoes). Set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then scoop out the flesh and place in a large bowl. Mash until smooth.
- Add sugar, ½ cup butter, eggs, and vanilla to mashed sweet potatoes and stir until combined.
- Grease a 2-quart casserole dish or an 11"x7" baking dish. Spoon the sweet potatoes into the prepared dish in an even layer.
- Mix the topping ingredients together until crumbly. Spread evenly over the potatoes.
- Bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes, or until browned.
Notes
- Sweet potatoes may be baked a day or two in advance. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until the day you're making the casserole. If you do this, make sure to melt the ½ cup butter before adding it to the sweet potatoes.
- To save oven space, you can also cook the sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot
- You can make this with gluten-free all-purpose flour-the gluten-free version comes out just as great!
- This can be assembled up to 3 days in advance, and baked just before serving.
This classic sweet potato casserole has been in my family for decades! Its a must-make for us each Thanksgiving, and the leftovers are absolutely divine. This recipe is a gift from my family to yours. Enjoy!