In my family, we love this Best Sweet Potato Casserole. Sweet, salty, and topped with a crunchy streusel! You’ll love this mashed sweet potato recipe and the nutty brown sugar crunch on top!
Tried this recipe at a local Ruth’s Chris restaurant many years ago. After several tweaks, it’s so similar and still delicious.
I originally published this recipe in November 2018. It’s been republished with new images in January 2022.
Aimee’s Recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole Notes
Taste: Sweet and savory with a rich vanilla flavor, topped with a nutty, brown sugar crumble.
Texture: Creamy and smooth mashed sweet potatoes paired with a crunchy, buttery pecan topping.
Ease to Make: Easy to prepare, with options to make ahead or bake in advance.
Cooking Method: Baked in the oven.
Top Tips:
- Add extra pecans for more crunch and flavor.
- Use fresh sweet potatoes for the best texture.
- Vanilla extract adds depth of flavor!
Every family has traditions, and in most cases, you can’t shake things up. Ever.
For instance, Thanksgiving. You are either a plain sweet potato or a mini marshmallows topped sweet potato family. No middle ground exists. (of course you could also love candied sweet potatoes)
For years, my family experienced division. Depending on who hosted Thanksgiving dinner, we either had gooey, sweet marshmallow sweet potato casserole or a simpler version. The simpler casserole had just a little butter and brown sugar.
Now I serve both.
If you’ve ever been to a Ruth’s Chris restaurant you’ll recognize these potatoes!
- Sweet and creamy mashed sweet potatoes.
- Topped with a brown sugar crumble with a crunch for salty pecans.
- One of the best things about these sweet potatoes is that you can prepare them in advance. This way, you only need to bake the casserole on Thanksgiving.
For more holiday side dishes, don’t forget the Instant Pot Green Bean Casserole, and of course Pistachio Salad!
“This has been my go-to recipe for a long time now, I make it for every holiday or potluck and it never disappoints! Thank you!” – Hannah
Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes. Choose fresh sweet potatoes that have no root growing off them.
- Sugars. You’ll want sugar for the mashed sweet potato and brown sugar for the pecan topping.
- Vanilla extract. These candied potatoes are almost like a dessert. Using real vanilla extract (or try my homemade vanilla extract) gives even more flavor.
- Eggs. Helps the casserole fluff up to a delicious texture.
- Unsalted butter. If using salted butter, omit the extra kosher salt in the recipe.
How to Make The Best Sweet Potato Casserole
Start by cooking your sweet potatoes.
- Bake. You can bake them in the oven (my preferred method), at 400 degrees F for an hour.
- Stove Top. Or you can peel and boil potatoes in a large pot of water (for about half an hour).
- Microwave. The third way would be to poke them with a fork and microwave the potatoes for about 15-20 minutes.
- Instant Pot. Cook them tender by using my Instant Pot Sweet Potato recipe!
Mash the sweet potatoes.
Once you cook your potatoes, combine them in a large bowl with the sugar, salt, vanilla extract, eggs, and melted butter. Using a mixer or potato masher, beat them for about 4-5 minutes until fluffy and smooth.
Bake. Pour this into a 2 qt casserole dish and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping. While the potatoes are baking, make your streusel topping. Combine brown sugar with flour, chopped pecans, and melted butter. Stir together with a fork and set aside.
After you cook the sweet potatoes, add the streusel on top. You can also add extra pecans. Then, put them back in the oven to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Store sweet potato casserole in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
PRO TIP: Try my recipe for sweet potato casserole with marshmallows next!
Making ahead of time
Nothing is worse than determining what goes in the oven and when. Fortunately, this recipe for sweet potato casserole gets it’s “BEST” rating because of the flexibility.
Here are THREE options on how to make today’s sweet potato casserole recipe:
- First, you could bake as written above, if oven space is not an issue.
- Or, you could bake the 25 minutes, top with the streusel and refrigerate until the next day. Then you would only need to pop it back into the oven for about 20 minutes.
- You can also bake it as directed. Let it sit on the table for about 30 minutes. Cover it with foil to keep it hot. This gives you time and space to warm up some dinner rolls and get the rest of your food heated and ready.
Tips for Simple Sweet Potato Casserole
After making this casserole for countless holidays, I’ve learned a few small details can make a big difference. You want the sweet potatoes creamy and fluffy, with a buttery pecan topping that stays crunchy instead of sinking into the filling.
- Let the potatoes cool slightly before adding the eggs. If the sweet potatoes are piping hot, you risk cooking bits of the egg before everything is mixed together.
- Don’t skip the salt. With sugar in the filling and brown sugar in the topping, that teaspoon of kosher salt is important. It balances the sweetness and brings out the flavor of the sweet potatoes.
- Use an electric mixer for the fluffiest filling. I beat my sweet potato mixture for several minutes until it’s light and smooth. A potato masher works if you prefer more texture, while the mixer gives this casserole that creamy, almost souffle-like consistency.
- Watch the topping, not just the timer. During the final 10-15 minutes, you’re looking for a lightly browned, crisp streusel. If your pecans are browning faster than the casserole is heating, keep foil on top!
How to Serve the Best Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole is best served warm, after letting it rest for about 5-10 minutes out of the oven. This gives the creamy filling a chance to set slightly while keeping that brown sugar pecan topping crisp.
My family makes this casserole most often for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it pairs beautifully with all the classics. Since the sweet potatoes are rich and slightly sweet, I especially like adding something savory or fresh to the plate for balance.
For a complete holiday meal, try serving it with:
- Turkey or Ham– Using my Thanksgiving turkey recipe or honey glazed ham, this buttery casserole is a perfect contrast to a savory main dish.
- Green Bean Casserole– my French’s green bean casserole recipe is the perfect side dish.
- Mashed Potatoes– Yes, you can absolutely serve two kinds of potatoes for holidays. I don’t make the rules.
- Dinner Rolls– fresh rolls or my easy Artisan bread is perfect because we don’t count carbs on holidays.
And don’t save this recipe only for holidays. It’s just as easy and delicious alongside pork tenderloin and roasted chicken.
Thanksgiving Recipes
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Sweet Potatoes Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
For the Mashed Sweet Potatoes:
- 4 large sweet potatoes
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
For the streusel topping:
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Cook sweet potatoes in desired manner, until soft. See notes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 2 qt baking dish with nonstick spray (I use coconut oil spray). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked sweet potatoes, granulated sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and melted butter. Beat with an electric mixer for about 4-5 minutes, until fluffy and smooth.
- Pour into prepared dish. Bake for 25 minutes.
- While baking, prepare streusel topping by combining brown sugar, flour, pecans, and melted butter in a small bowl. Mix with a fork and set aside.
- Sprinkle the baked sweet potato mixture with streusel and return to oven for about 10-15 minutes until crumble is lightly browned. Serve immediately or cover with foil and serve in 30 minutes.
Notes
- For the sweet potatoes you can cook them your favorite way. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for one hour. Or pierce with fork and microwave for 15 minutes (or more depending on size). Or peel and boil them for 30 minutes.
- Butter– for a traditional Ruths Chris topping, you’ll want to melt the butter. If you prefer more of a crumble, just use softened butter instead.
- First, you could bake as written above, if oven space is not an issue.
- Or, you could bake the 25 minutes, top with the streusel and refrigerate until the next day. Then you would only need to pop it back into the oven for about 20 minutes.
- You could also bake it as directed for entirety and allow to sit on the table for about 30 minutes (covered with foil to keep hot). This gives you time and space to warm up some dinner rolls and get the rest of your food heated and ready.
Hello Aimme Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I want to cook a yummy Sweet Potato Casserole so I checked online for recipes but I want to try yours! I read the recipe, went to the market and bought everythinhg that I needed and followed the instructions 🙂 I love it, every step was well explained and easy to make. Everyone loved the sweet potato casserole 🙂 can’t wait to try more yummy recipes.
Thank you and God Bless you!
So happy to hear this 🙂
Is it supposed to be 1/2 cup or 1/2 stick butter for the streusel? I used 1/2 cup (1 stick) as the directions indicated and it was way too much and butter pooled all over the top of the casserole.
I had no issues making. You might’ve used to small of a baking dish. Only thing I had to bake longer I doubled the topping. So I had to bake for closer to 30 mins
Thank you for this delicious recipe. I made it for Thanksgiving dinner and as always, it was a big hit. l lost my mom’s recipe so, this one was so close to hers. I added a teaspoon of orange zest and a teaspoon of orange juice to the sweet potatoes and added the same to the topping. Tasted like my mom’s recipe.😊
Yes , I also add orange zest. To me it’s a must.
1/2 cup butter. Did you combine it with the pecans and brown sugar?
I have made this recipe once before and everyone loved it! I plan to make it tomorrow again, but I need to make it vegan. I have vegan butter that I plan to substitute, but am not sure what to do about the egg. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Bobs red mill egg replacement best I’ve found
You can use flax seed for egg sub. Google ‘vegan egg substitutes’ you can choose from many.
Can this be made in a 9×9 dish?
Can this recipe be doubled? Would the baking time be increased?
You can double, triple or more as you want. If you use a bigger pan and don’t increase the depth you should need to increase the time!
Can you use canned sweet potatoes?
I boiled mine! I would like to know this answer too!
I have used canned in the past, but this year I’m using fresh just to compare.
I used canned twice and it was perfect I
Hello! My little guy has an egg allergy, so you have any recommendations for a substitute in this recipe for the eggs? Thanks!
Very good. Had these today with pork chops. Will do this one again and again.
I tried many recipes before, but this one is perfect. I made it for our Thanksgiving meal at work. Everyone loved it, I’ll make it again for my family every year. Thank you so much for the recipe.
So happy to hear it. It’s always a hit 🙂
Do you leave the skin on the potato? Making this for a friendsgiving!
No, do not leave the skin on!
Peeling can be a pain BUT of u choose to Bake them leave the skin on and when they are done the skin slips right off
Yes it does! I do not boil my potatoes any more. The flavor is so much bettet.
This is exactly what I needed to hear! The recipe doesn’t clarify that the potatoes need peeled after they’re baked and I need these kind of details in my life!
Nope, peel the potatoes.
I actúa tried them in my instant pot and so easy and fast!
Peel the potatoes.
Made this for Friendsgiving yesterday and everyone was raving about it! I also added mini marshmallows on top of the pecan streusel.
Marshmallows are the perfect addition : )
How would I freeze ahead of time?
Should I bake it all and freeze or bake sweet potatoe mixture and add strudel then freeze?
I need to know the same! Would love to freeze tonight and cook thursday
Has anybody made this with GF flour?
Yes it’s just fine with gf flour
GF flour would work great. We love using cup4cup.
Make every year with GF flour as my son has celiac. It’s his favorites side dish.
This was the best sweet potato casserole that we had tonight. Thank you for the recipe.
This sweet potato recipe was so delicious. I made this tonight and my family said they loved it.
So glad you enjoyed this meal!
I would like to make this for Christmas but make it a day or two in advance (without the topping). I can bake it Christmas day so should I freeze it unbaked or bake it and just reheat?
I was wondering how long extra I’d have to bake it for if I wanted to double the recipe?
Our Aunt Marion uses this recipe and adds a 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels Whiskey in the mix. Trust me on this…it makes the casserole taste so good! Don’t worry the alcohol cooks out but that sour mash mix gives the casserole such a nice added taste. You should try it sometime!
Sounds delicious!
Omg I added Heath toffee bits to my strudel mixture and marshmallows and it was out of this world, a thanksgiving classic is now being enjoyed as a summertime favorite!
This is a great recipe. I add coconut and raisers to the sweet potatoes. It really takes it up a notch!