This Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows Recipe is a sweet and savory side dish for the holidays. Rich and creamy sweet potatoes with a gooey toasted marshmallow topping is the perfect recipe.
My grandma always served holiday sweet potatoes with marshmallows. You can either serve this dish with mashed sweet potatoes, or cook them and keep them in chunks instead. Either way is delicious.
This recipe was originally published in November 2019. The recipe notes and images were updated in November 2025.
Aimee’s Recipe Notes
FYI. You could use this delicious Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole recipe for the streusel topping and add marshmallows. No reason you can’t combine them BOTH!
Taste & Texture: Creamy mashed sweet potatoes with cozy spices and sweet, gooey marshmallows on top.
Ease to Make: boil or bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time. Mash and assemble casserole.
Top Tip: Use fresh sweet potatoes (not canned yams) for best flavor and texture.
This has been our go to family sweet potato casserole for the hoildays for years. it is amazing. The kids love it and ask for it.
– Whitney
How to Cook Sweet Potatoes
I use two techniques regularly for cooking my sweet potatoes. Choose whichever option works best for you and your kitchen. Regardless of your cooking method, you’ll want the sweet potatoes peeled and mashed once cooked.
Oven Baked. Wash potatoes and poke with a fork. Place unpeeled sweet potatoes on baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree F oven for about an hour (place a piece of aluminum foil on the baking sheet for easy clean up)! Once done, slice in half and scoop out center.
Instant Pot. You can also cook your sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot! This method also results in easy clean up without making a mess in the kitchen.
How to Make Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
- Start with cooked sweet potatoes. Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and melted butter. I like to use an electric mixer on low speed to mash them, but you could use a hand masher for a rustic texture, or a food processor for a smoother texture.
- Transfer filling to a greased 2 qt baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows on top. Or use my homemade marshmallows for a rich finish. Return to oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Don’t over-cook the Sweet Potatoes. If they are too wet, the casserole will be mushy or runny. Drain any excess liquid if needed.
- Make ahead. Assemble the casserole 24 hours in advance. Cover with foil and refrigerate (leave off the marshmallows). Bake when ready as directed. You may need to add a few extra minutes since this will be chilled.
- Texture options. If you want a little crunch, add some candied pecans on top of the sweet potato casserole before baking. Then add marshmallows as directed.
- Storage. Cover the leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until warm.
More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
This is the best sweet potato casserole recipe, but there are plenty of other sides that grace our holiday table.
- Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole is a must have any holiday. I’m a big fan of the crunchy corn flake topping.
- Of course, Green Bean Casserole with those crispy fried onions on top are a winner. Do you see a pattern with crunchy toppings?
- Well, while we’re at it can we discuss this Ritz Mac and Cheese? So creamy, but baked to perfection (and again with a crunchy, buttery topping).
- It would be a holiday without Mashed Potatoes. We love easy, baked mashed potatoes, but this loaded potato salad is amazing too!
- No holiday is complete with a basked of Dinner Rolls. This is my favorite, easy recipe…no kneading required!
- Well, now your oven is full, where will the turkey go? Have you tried my Crock Pot Turkey Breast recipe? I’ve even added in my favorite stuffing recipe!
- Served up with some Instant Pot Green Bean Casserole and a bowl of homemade cranberry sauce, you’re family is going to rave over your Thanksgiving side dishes!
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Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large sweet potatoes
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 bag 10 ounce mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Cook sweet potatoes until soft, either in oven or boiling them (see notes below).
- Place peeled sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl and add brown sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and melted butter. Mix until well blended. Transfer filling to a greased 2 qt baking dish.
- Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows on top. Return to oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Notes
- To bake sweet potatoes: Place unpeeled sweet potatoes on baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree F oven for about an hour (place a piece of aluminum foil on the baking sheet for easy clean up)! Once done, slice in half and scoop out center.
- Make ahead. Assemble the casserole 24 hours in advance. Cover with foil and refrigerate (leave off the marshmallows). Bake when ready as directed. You may need to add a few extra minutes since this will be chilled.
- Texture options. If you want a little crunch, add some candied pecans on top of the sweet potato casserole before baking. Then add marshmallows as directed.
- Storage. Cover the leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until warm.
- Don’t over-cook the Sweet Potatoes. If they are too wet, the casserole will be mushy or runny. Drain any excess liquid if needed.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks and step by step photos showing how to make casserole.
Video
Nutrition
Delicious Thanksgiving Recipes
Tender, flavorful Sweet Potato Casserole topped with a soft marshmallow topping! Add this classic recipe to your holiday table today!
It does taste amazing, and it has been my go to dessert for pretty much any occasion.
I was curious though if there was a specific weight of the potatoes?
Everyone’s idea of large can be different and my store has some large tators! About each one they have is weighed at a pound a piece.
So I was just curious what the weight was of everyone’s idea of large!
Will one 40 oz can of sweet potatoes be sufficient?
I made this recipe but cut it in half and it was delicious. If I made the full recipe but put it in two 8×8 dishes would I cut the baking time?
I cut this recipe in half and it was delicious. Could I do the full recipe but split it into two 8×8 dishes? If so, would I bake at normal time or would I have to cut time back?
So I didn’t realize I had to cook it for 30 minutes before putting the marshmallows.. so I put the marshmallows on, can I still cook it for 30 minutes without burning the marshmallows?
The marshmallows will definitely burn. I would remove them before cooking.
This has been our go to family sweet potato casserole for the hoildays for years. it is amazing. The kids love it and ask for it. We use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Thank you for a great recipe
Absolutely delicious! Perfect amount of all the ingredients. Not too sweet. This will definitely be a keeper!
This was wonderful and easy to follow directions. I used the canned yams. We will have this again. 😊
Followed direction to the “T”. Didn’t add anything…..Turned out Fantastic!
Thanks
Happy to hear it 🙂
This was good. I used your idea of baking the potatoes. Instead of the orange fleshed ended up with sweet yellow potatoes which worked fine. Melted the butter with walnut oil for nuttier flave, with pinch of salt, and brown sugar, just chopped cooked taters with a fork, tossed with the butter mixture, topped with the marshmallows, baked, etc. was plenty sweet and left out the eggs and vanilla (IMO much better without).
Can you use BRUCE’S YAMS, instead of the SWEET POTATOES???😉
Yes, I did a combination of a 40 oz. can of Bruce’s and a couple of nice sized raw sweet potatoes. You absolutely do not need to peel the potatoes before you boil them because the peel slips off very easily once you cool them down with cold water. Put them together in a big bowl and mash away! I use cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and a touch of ginger along with melted butter and brown sugar (I only had dark) which was fine! I also broke up about a cup of pecans with my fingers and added to the mixture. I cooked this for about 45 minutes on 350 degrees then took it out of the oven and covered the whole top with the big ‘s’mores (square) marshmallows and put it back in the oven for about 15 more minutes for them to become golden brown! They were absolutely delicious!!!
If I’m using a 9×13 pan should I cook it for 20 min?