Sweet Potato Casserole – Southern classic comfort food that is sweet and creamy topped with crunchy buttery pecan, brown sugar, and toasted gooey mini marshmallows. Irresistibly delicious with its heavenly goodness in every bite. A must-have holiday side dish or dessert that will surely bring joy to your loved ones.
There’s nothing as comforting as the smell of cinnamon, the sweetness of mashed sweet potatoes, and toasted marshmallows wafting in the air.
This easy sweet potato casserole is so uplifting to look at and much more when you taste it. I must say, it’d definitely be competing with Roasted Turkey and Green Bean Casserole on your plate.
And that creamy smooth texture, sweetness, added with the warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg is a feast on your palate. No wonder it’s a holiday staple!
Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe Ingredients and Substitutes
This sweet potato casserole with marshmallows recipe is a cinch to make. You just have to bake the sweet potatoes and mash them up until smooth. Then add all the ingredients and spices, mix and transfer to the baking dish. Easy peasy, right? And for the ingredients, you’ll just need:
Sweet Potato Casserole
- Sweet Potatoes– Sweet Potato, our main star, naturally delicious on its own and also highly nutritious. It’s an excellent source of vitamins A and C, and rich in antioxidants and minerals. Wow! If you want to take a shortcut, you can use canned yams as a substitute. Though you’ll need few recipe adjustments because canned yams are packed with syrup. You might need to cut down or completely skip the milk and sugar.
- Unsalted Butter – Make sure to use quality butter because it really elevates the flavor compared to margarine and cheap butter. You can also use salted butter without worry for this easy sweet potato casserole.
- Heavy Cream and Milk – These two complete the sweet potato casserole recipe. They make our classic comfort food creamy and rich. You can replace them with half-and-half, or you can just add more heavy cream in place of milk and vice versa.
- Eggs – are an Essential ingredient to make our sweet potato souffle light and airy while adding a nice and rich taste as well. Feel free to skip the eggs to make an eggless version. See my Egg Substitutes list here.
- Brown Sugar – I prefer using brown sugar because it gives out that caramel-y flavor because of the added molasses. Plus, it makes this casserole moist. You can easily swap it with white sugar anytime. If you want your casserole on the savory side, just cut down on the sugar or totally skip it.
Flavorings
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger – These three are the life of the party, without them, our casserole will just be plain dull and boring. And yes, you can just use Pumpkin Spice instead.
- Vanilla Extract – Amp up the flavor of your Southern sweet potato casserole with the addition of vanilla extract. You can actually make your own, click here to make Homemade Vanilla Extract.
Sweet Potato Casserole Toppings
- Butter – again, use quality butter for best results. Don’t you just love its rich and buttery goodness in every bite?
- Brown Sugar – adding more sweets to your comfort food toppings won’t hurt.
- Flour – it’ll give our streusel a nice and thick consistency for the perfect sweet potato casserole toppings.
- Pecans – Oh, how I love pecans! It adds more texture with its crunchiness. You can replace it with your favorite nuts like almonds, cashew, and walnuts. You might want to check out these Candied Pecans, too.
- Marshmallows – What makes this sweet potato casserole is the addition of toasted marshmallows on top. With soft and gooey holiday goodness that will surely hit your right in the feels.
Recipe Variations
- Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole – Oh yes! Enjoy the vegan version using vegan-approved butter and maple syrup.
- Sweet Potato Souffle – If you want them airy and light just add more eggs. It’s all about the eggs baby! 😉
- Savory Sweet Potato Casserole – Care to try this unsweetened version? Just season your sweet potatoes with pepper, paprika, chives, and garlic and you’re good to go. 😉
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans – Not a fan of the sweet pillowy softness of marshmallows? Crunchy pecan toppings are the next best thing!
Serving and Storage Instructions
Making Ahead
This Southern sweet potato casserole can be made a couple of days ahead just in time before you get busy preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner.
- Prepare and assemble – sweet potato casserole in a baking dish without the toppings.
- Cover and refrigerate – cover it tightly with foil or cling wrap and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days.
- When ready to bake – let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Bake – the premade sweet potato casserole as directed.
- Add the toppings – and bake again for another 10-15 minutes.
Pro Tip: I don’t recommend freezing this easy sweet potato casserole as it may change the texture and consistency. But if you insist, you can store them in a resealable bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw them in the fridge overnight and proceed with steps 3-5 above.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Place the leftover in an air-tight container or resealable bag.
- Refrigerate for 3-4 days.
- To reheat in the oven – cover the baking dish with foil and bake the leftover at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
- Microwave – heat on high for about 2-3 minutes or until hot.
FAQs
We need the eggs to stabilize the structure because of the added liquids like heavy cream and milk. Plus, eggs add a rich taste as well. 😉
Both works. It really depends on which of the two is more convenient for you.
Don’t overcook your sweet potatoes to avoid runny consistency. To fix it, you can just cook it again so the extra moisture will evaporate.
What to Eat with Sweet Potato Casserole?
Thanksgiving or not, this delightful dish pairs well with these show-stopper entrees below.
- Slow Cooker Pork Chops
- Steak Tips
- Smoked Beer Can Chicken
- Pineapple Honey Baked Ham
- Nashville Hot Chicken
More Sides to Enjoy
How to Make Sweet Potato Casserole
Preparing the Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Wash and pierce the sweet potatoes – Wash sweet potatoes and remove any blemishes or dark spots. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork. Then wrap with aluminum foil. (Photos 1-3)
- Bake – at 400°F for about 50 – 60 minutes or more or until a fork easily presses into the center. Let it cool slightly. (Photo 4)
Make the Sweet Potato Mixture
- Scoop out sweet potatoes – Once sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle – remove skin or scoop out sweet potatoes. Place in a large bowl. (Photo 5)
- Mash sweet potatoes – with a potato masher until smooth. (Photo 6)
- Whisk the mixture – Then add milk and eggs, heavy cream, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and salt to taste. Whisk the mixture until smooth. (Photos 7-8)
- Spread sweet potato mixture – into prepared baking dish. (Photo 9-10)
Make the Toppings and Assemble
- Mix – In a medium bowl mix together flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt until moisten and the mixture clumps together. (Photos 11-12)
- Spread the toppings – Finally, add the pecans and then spread the mixture over the top of the sweet potatoes in an even layer. (Photo 13)
- Bake – until top is slightly brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot. (Photo 14)
- Add the marshmallows – Remove the sweet potato casserole from the oven after 25 minutes. Top with about a cup of marshmallows, then broil for about 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Start checking after 3 minutes. Remove and serve hot. (Photos 15-16)
Watch How To Make It
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This blog post was first published in November 2017 and has been updated with additional information, new photos, and a video.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 pounds or 1.36kg sweet potato cleaned
- ¼ cup or 60 ml milk
- 2 large egg
- ¼ cup or 60ml heavy cream
- 4 tablespoon or 56g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon or 25g brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon or 1g ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon or .5g ground ginger dried
- ½ teaspoon or 1.5g nutmeg
- 1 tsp or 5ml vanilla extract
- salt to taste
Toppings
- ½ cup or 68g all-purpose flour
- ½ cup or 100g brown sugar
- ¼ cup or 60ml butter melted
- salt to taste
- 4 ounce or 112g pecans chopped
- 1 cup or 60g mini marshmallow
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Wash sweet potatoes and remove any blemishes or dark spots. Pierce each sweet potato several times with a fork. Then wrap with aluminum foil.
- Bake at 400°F for about 50 – 60 minutes or more, or until a fork easily presses into the center. Let it cool slightly.
- Once sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle – remove skin or scoop out sweet potatoes. Place in a large bowl.
- With a potato masher, mash sweet potatoes until smooth. Then add milk, eggs, heavy cream, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and salt to taste. Whisk the mixture until smooth.
- Spread sweet potato mixture into prepared baking dish.
- For the toppings: In a medium bowl mix together flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt, until moisten and the mixture clumps together.
- Finally, add the pecans and then spread the mixture over the top of the sweet potatoes in an even layer.
- Bake until the top is slightly brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot.
- Remove the sweet potatoes casserole from the oven after 25 minutes. Top with about a cup of marshmallows, then broil for about 5 minutes or until slightly brown. Start checking after 3 minutes. Remove and serve hot.
Tips & Notes:
- Aside from baking, you can also boil the sweet potatoes in a dutch oven with enough water to cover the surface of the potatoes and bring to a boil. Do a fork testing to check if it’s tender.
- Use a metal potato masher to do the mashing. This yields a smoother result without any lumps.
- To make ahead, prepare the sweet potato mixture and tightly cover it with plastic wrap, and store it in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. You can also prepare the topping mixture ahead in a separate bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
- When ready to serve, take out the sweet potato mixture about 30 minutes before baking, then add the toppings and bake as directed.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Megan McCluskey says
how many does this serve?
ImmaculateBites says
It serves about 8-10. However, it can vary greatly depending on the number side order.
Donna says
All your recipes look so yummy and delicious.I will be trying a lot of them.Thanks for continuing sending them . Donna
Immaculate Bites says
Thanks so much for dropping by, Donna! Share with us how it turns out when you’ve tried this.
Melinda says
Hello! I live in Jamaica and don’t have access to the orange sweet potatoes. Can this recipe be made with Jamaican purple sweet potatoes? (White flesh) thanks!
ImmaculateBites says
Hello!
Yes it sure can. Enjoy!
Jessie says
Very tasty! Good for any season I my opinion! Just ate it for Memorial Day cookout.
imma africanbites says
Glad it turned out great for you, Jessie! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Betty says
You never cease to amaze me with your delicious recipes. I will make this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Have a most blessed holiday and thank you!