Southern Sweet Potato Casserole (+Video)
This Easy Sweet Potato Casserole has a creamy filling made with canned sweet potatoes and is topped with a brown sugar streusel topping.
AN EASY RECIPE FOR SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
Sweet potato casserole is a must-have, must-make side dish for me at the holidays. I’ve mentioned this before but I would be totally happy with a bunch of side dishes for holiday meals. It just isn’t Thanksgiving for me without sweet potato casserole!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
I do a ton of cooking on Thanksgiving and over the years, I have learned ways to make my recipes not only easier to whip up but still have that same great taste I love. I use canned sweet potatoes or yams and I make this whole thing the night before, pop it into the refrigerator and it’s ready to bake the next day. If you want to prep this a few days or more in advance, you can freeze it (just make sure you wrap it really well.) Put into the refrigerator overnight to thaw and proceed with the cooking instructions below. Or cook from frozen but add on additional cooking time.
The pecan praline topping on this is my favorite but I will never turn down a good ole marshmallow topping either. Instead of the pecan praline topping, you can leave it off and top with mini marshmallows towards the end of cooking. If you put them on too early, they will burn. Or. you could do a half and half. Just don’t add the marshmallow topping until the end of cooking. Also, if you don’t like pecans in the topping, you can just leave them out.
Of course! You’ll need about 3 small sweet potatoes. They need to be cooked soft enough to be mashed. Boiling is probably the simplest way to make them. Just peel and dice the sweet potatoes into large cubes and boil until tender then continue with the recipe as written.
This answer is two-fold. Most people don’t allow their casseroles to set up after baking. The casserole needs at least 15-20 minutes to cool before serving. The casserole sets up as it cools. However, if you prefer a really thick sweet potato casserole, you can add about 2-3 tablespoons of flour to your sweet potato batter and this will help the mixture to thicken. This is an especially good idea if using fresh sweet potatoes.
If your sweet potato casserole turned out “watery”, its usually because you forgot to add eggs; you didn’t let your casserole have enough time to set up after baking or you used fresh sweet potatoes and didn’t boil them long enough before mashing. Sweet potatoes retain a lot of moisture so boiling them well beforehand will help release a lot of that excess moisture before adding them to your casserole mixture.
This one is for all you food fact nerds like me. Sweet potato casserole was actually invented by a marshmallow corporation in 1917. So the original recipe was intended to be made with marshmallows. They were trying to market the sweet pillowy treat with a recipe. This is a marketing technique we see regularly these days. However, southerners eventually morphed the original dish and added the sweet pecan brown sugar topping.
Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze leftovers. Cover and wrap well to protect from freezer burn. Casserole will freeze for up to 6 months.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- canned sweet potatoes
- salted butter
- milk
- sugar
- vanilla extract
- eggs
- brown sugar
- all-purpose flour
- chopped pecans
HOW TO MAKE SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE:
Preheat oven to 350f degrees. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes and stir in melted butter, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and beaten eggs. Stir until combined well.
Pour sweet potato mixture into a 2-quart (8-inch square) baking dish.
In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, flour and chopped pecans. Use a fork or your fingers until mixture becomes small crumbles.
Sprinkle crumbles over sweet potato mixture.
Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until topping is golden brown. Let casserole cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving. This is important as the casserole will set-up as it cools.
Makes 8 servings.
MORE SIDE DISH RECIPE IDEAS:
Originally published: November 2016
Updated and republished September 2019
Southern Sweet Potato Casserole (+Video)
Ingredients
For the casserole:
- 1 (29 oz) can sweet potatoes, drained
- ½ cup salted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, beaten
For the topping:
- 5 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes and stir in melted butter, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and beaten eggs. Stir until combined well.
- Pour sweet potato mixture into a 2-quart (8-inch square) baking dish.
- In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, flour and chopped pecans. Use a fork or your fingers until mixture becomes small crumbles.
- Sprinkle crumbles over sweet potato mixture.
- Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until topping is golden brown. Let casserole cool for at least 15-20 minutes before serving. This is important as the casserole will set-up as it cools.
Video
Notes
- Three small fresh sweet potatoes (peeled, diced and boiled) can be used instead of the canned sweet potatoes.
- A marshmallow topping can be used instead of the pecan topping. Put the marshmallows on around the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
How much brown sugar would I need in place of the white sugar?
I haven’t tested it that way so I’m not really sure – I am sorry!
Could I cook and reheat? Our oven space is going to be tight tomorrow.
Hi Anna – yep you sure can!
Can I make this one day prior and just store in the refrigerator?
Do you need to rinse the canned juice/liquid off of the potatoes before you mash them?
Hi Aine, no it’s not necessary to rinse.And yes, drain the sweet potatoes (I do have that included in the printable recipe) 🙂
Do you drain the canned sweet potatoes?? Thank you for sharing!
Can you use almond flour instead of regular flour to make it gluten free?
Hi Cara! I don’t cook or bake with almond flour so I’m really not sure. I’m sorry!
If you use unsalted butter, how much salt should i add if any
Can you use “canned yams”..?? I couldn’t find canned sweet potatoes…I know they’re kinda the same
You sure can Jody! 🙂
How much longer would I need to cook if I double the recipe? Do you think it would taste good with marshmallows and the praline topping?
Hi Kristi, you’d have to keep an eye on the time since I haven’t actually tested it with double the ingredients. For the topping, perhaps do half praline and half marshmallows? It might be too much with both on top of each other. 🙂
Do you use all purpose flour?
Hi Dana – yes 🙂
This is the best “Easy Sweet Potato Casserole I’ve EVER eaten!! Easy to make, everyone should try this around Thanksgiving or Christmas Holiday, or just anytime of the year!! SO,SO,SO GOOD!!!
Woo hoo!! Thank you, thank you Tracy! There are a lot of sweet potato casserole recipes out there so I am honored that you really love mine. Makes my day to hear!!
If I make this a day early, I’m just putting all the ingredients together right, not actually baking it until the next day right?
Do you use all-purpose flour in the topping?
Could you bake these in individual cups? I wonder what the cooking time would be?
If I wanted to double this recipe, do you think I could double it and bake it in a 9×13? How much longer do you think I would need to bake it for? Thanks!!
Could you make this recipe in a 9 X 13 BAKING DISH?
Hi Anna, yes you can. It’ll just be much thinner.
Hi, if I’m doubling the recipe (using two 29oz cans of sweet potatoes) will I need to double all other ingredients? Also, would a 9×13 dish work to bake it ? Thank you
Yep, just double all the other ingredients and a 9X13 should work. 🙂
Can this be made without eggs? Allergy! Maybe I could substitute something else?
Hi Karen, the eggs are needed as a binder. Perhaps a liquid egg substitute?
There is a vegan egg substitute called just egg I believe at Whole Foods or sprouts .. it’s not eggs but definitely works as a substitute
Thank you so much for helping!
Can I do the pecan topping AND marshmallow topping?
Can I make this early and freeze it
Hi Marilyn – you sure can!
I haven’t tried it yet but can you use fresh sweet potatoes?
Sure can, if you want to take the “Easy” out of the recipe title “Easy Sweet Potato Casserole” 🙂
Made it for luncheon with ladies….every bit eaten. It is great and easy to make.
I used to turn my nose up at recipes that used canned sweet potatoes instead of the real thing. But you know what? I’ll bet that in the final result with all that other goodness added in that you can’t even tell whether it’s canned or not! I am going to use the canned this year!
This sounds DELICIOUS!!!!! How do you think this recipe would work as a pie?
Looks delicious
We made this for Easter. Everyone raved and wanted the recipe. I made it exactly to your recipe. Wouldn’t change a thing!
Hi Angela, yes! You may just need to cook it a little extra time since you’ll be baking it from cold. Hope that helps! 🙂
Love the recipe and everybody enjoys it but I actually double this 4 times. We love it that much!!
Could I add cinnamon??
Absolutely! 🙂