Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

Warm, sweet, and the perfect holiday dish! Our Southern Sweet Potato Casserole is insanely delicious with the fresh sweet potatoes, crunchy pecans, and amazing sweet topping. The best part is that making it fresh is so simple! It’s an added step to ensure you know exactly what you are eating and takes the can out of this one special dish. We find we can regulate the sweetness better as well.

Southern Sweet Potato Casserole in a baking dish

There is nothing better than comfort food. When the holidays come around, we crave all things traditional and delicious. Over the years, we have taken bits and pieces of our favorite parts of sweet potato casseroles and made one that combines all of the best parts! You can absolutely substitute canned yams but we choose fresh because we just love the taste and also the ability to regulate the preservatives we consume! It doesn’t add all that much more time to use fresh so we highly recommend it!

Can you freeze sweet potato casserole?
Sure! if you plan to make this ahead and freeze it, just leave the brown sugar topping off and it will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. When you are ready to eat it, take it out of the freezer, allow to thaw and add topping. Cook with normal time and temperature.

Can I used canned sweet potatoes in place of fresh?
Yes- since canned yams usually have already been sweetened, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar you add to the mixture. We recommend using 1/4 cup of sugar instead of the 1/2 cup for the fresh!

Can I eat sweet potato casserole even when it is not the holidays?
OF COURSE! We love making this dish with a pork roast, chicken or any protein you wish! This recipe is too good to only have once a year!!

Ingredients for casserole base:

  • 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs well beaten
  • 1 stick butter melted

Ingredients for topping:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1/3 stick butter

How to Make our Southern Sweet Potato Casserole:

Wash, peel and chop sweet potatoes.

Bring your water to a boil. Once boiling, add the chunks of sweet potato to the pot. Boil them in the water until soft, which will take approximately 15 minutes.

Chopped sweet potato on cutting board with butter and brown sugar

While potatoes are cooking, preheat oven to 350 F.

Once potatoes are soft, drain water from the pot and place the sweet potatoes in a bowl.  Mash completely.

Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter. Mix thoroughly. Pour sweet potato mixture into a 9×13 baking dish.

Sweet potatoes in a bowl with sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla
The base of Southern Sweet Potato Casserole in a baking dish

Combine all ingredients for the topping and set aside. Once the sweet potato mixture is in the baking dish, add the topping mixture evenly over potatoes.  

Ingredients for Southern Sweet Potato Casserole topping
Topping being spread over Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to set for at least 15 minutes before serving. You can also get to the step right before baking, and refrigerate for up to 48 hours before throwing in the oven! This is a great dish to make the day before and have ready to just pop in a warm oven when ready.

Southern Sweet Potato Casserole in a dish

SO many of the dishes we make in our family around the holidays are ones that have been passed down from moms, grandmothers, aunts and uncles. As delicious as they are, I feel like we know more now about nutrition than ever. Since we aim to be fresh and simple, we also love to incorporate healthy options as much as possible. While this particular dish would not rank as our healthiest by far, we did take replace canned veggies with fresh produce! Sometimes it just takes a small step in the right direction to start making a difference 🙂

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Southern Sweet Potato Casserole
Yield: serves 6-8

Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Additional Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • FOR THE SWEET POTATOES:
  • 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs well beaten
  • 1 stick butter melted
  • FOR THE TOPPING:
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1/3 stick butter

Instructions

    1. Wash, peel and chop sweet potatoes.
    2. Boil in water until soft, approximately 15 minutes.
    3. Mash and set aside.
    4. Preheat oven to 350.
    5. Combine all ingredients for topping and set aside.
    6. In a separate bowl, mix sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter.
    7. Pour sweet potato mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
    8. Add topping mixture evenly across top of potatoes.
    9. Bake for 30 minutes.
    10. Allow to set for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 548Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 103mgSodium: 392mgCarbohydrates: 63gFiber: 3gSugar: 48gProtein: 7g

(Nutritional information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)

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