This easy Sweet Potato Casserole recipe is topped with a brown sugar pecan toppings, and always steals the show on Thanksgiving. Best part is you can be prepared in advance for an easy make-ahead holiday side dish.
Want more Thanksgiving recipes? Try my Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey or Spatchcock Turkey, the Best Homemade Rolls, Cornbread Stuffing, or our Perfect Pie Crust!
Why I love this casserole:
- The Topping – The topping on this casserole is made with butter, pecans, flour, and brown sugar. It's so much better than the marshmallow topping on sweet potato casserole (in my opinion!).
- Make-Ahead – Want a stress-free Thanksgiving day? This whole casserole (as well as more of my Thanksgiving recipes) can be made a day or two in advance. Check out my Make Ahead Instructions at the end of the post for details!
- Crowd Pleaser – This is a HIT with family and friends every single year. The potatoes are creamy, and the topping adds the perfect crunchy texture. It will become a new staple on your Thanksgiving table!
How to make Sweet Potato Casserole:
Cook Sweet Potatoes: Place sweet potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to the pot to cover the potatoes a little more than half way. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer until fork tender. Drain, and place on a cutting board to cool. Once they are warm enough to handle, remove the skins and place them in a large mixing bowl.
Make Filling: Add eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla, sugar, salt, and butter and mash everything together until smooth. I start with a potato masher, and then use an electric mixer on low speed, for about 45 seconds, to get the mixture smooth (without over-mixing). Smooth into casserole dish.
Add Pecan Topping: Combine the topping ingredients– butter, chopped pecans, flour, and brown sugar–and sprinkle all over the top of your mashed sweet potato mixture.
Bake: Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Serve this sweet potato casserole with pecans alongside your favorite Thanksgiving recipes!
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows:
To add a marshmallow topping instead, simply top the casserole with a layer of miniature marshmallows and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the marshmallows are puffy and browned. You could also prepare this dish half and half with half pecan crumble mixture and half marshmallows. For this method, cook with half of the crumble for about 15 minutes first, then remove from the oven, cover the other half of the casserole with marshmallows and continue baking.
Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing Instructions:
To Make-Ahead: You can prepare this easy sweet potato casserole recipe 1-2 days in advance. First make the filling and smooth into your baking dish. Make the topping, but store seperatly. Add topping before baking. Here are some other great Make-Ahead Thanksgiving recipes.
To Store: Store sweet potato casserole covered in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
To Freeze: Prepare the sweet potato casserole completely, but don't bake it. Cover with a double layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature for 30 minutes on the counter before baking.
More Thanksgiving Staples:
- Best Homemade Rolls
- Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey
- Broccoli Casserole
- Perfect Mashed Potatoes
- Sausage Cranberry Pecan Stuffing
- Sweet Potato Souffle
- Cranberry Fluff Salad
- Apple Cranberry Fruit Salad
- Triple Berry Pie
- Other pie recipes
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Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4-5 large sweet potatoes (orange yams)
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk , or substitute cream, or half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter , melted
For the topping:*
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup pecans , chopped
Instructions
- Cook Potatoes: Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot. Add enough water to the pot to cover the potatoes a little more than half way. (You will need at least 3-4 inches of water but the water will not completely cover the potatoes!) Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat to a medium simmer. Cover and simmer until they feel tender when poked with a fork. It may take 20-40 minutes to cook your sweet potatoes depending on the size of the potatoes, but you don't want them to be mushy.
- Peel Potatoes: Drain water and place sweet potatoes on a plate or cutting board to cool down. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skin from the potatoes and place potatoes in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix: Add eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla, sugar, salt, and butter and mash everything together until smooth. I start with a potato masher, and then use an electric mixer on low speed, for about 45 seconds, to get the mixture smooth.
- Pour mixture into a lightly greased casserole dish. Anything around the size of an 8×11'' , 9×13'' or even a deep dish 10'' pie pan will work.
- Make Topping: Add flour, brown sugar and pecans to a mixing bowl. Add butter and cut in with a fork or pastry blender until well combined. Sprinkle topping over sweet potato mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe October 2017. Updated November 2019 and November 2023.
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This is my only go to sweet potato casserole recipe. It always gets rave reviews, even from people who don’t LOVE sweet potatoes. Delicious every time.
Jean please let me know which option you went with and how it turned out! I too wondered the same ☺️.
1/2 cup of oats and it was delicious. Perfectly chewy topping with the smooth sweet potato. Highly recommend this recipe- it was a hit at our potluck today!
Best sweet potato casserole I’ve had! Easy to make and the family all loved it!!
Hello, I just want to confirm that the single (1x) recipe serves 15 and would follow the (2x) recipe if I needed to serve a larger group of, say, 20?
Yes, to serve 20 I would double the recipe and bake it in two separate pans.
Can you put this into a crock pot? What would the cook time be?
I made this last year for Thanksgiving and while my dishes are usually lauded by everyone, this recipe got praises beyond the usual family members. DONT do the marshmallow crap, make this and bake the yams (red sweet potatoes) instead of boiling them.
Is the bake time and temp the same for a glass dish?
Yes!
Do you find it to come out better using the evaporated milk? Or is the cream, or half and half just as good? Would like to know the difference. Making it this Thursday for the first time. Thank you!
This is my first time using evaporated milk. I have been using plant based milks for the past decade or so. It came out oh soooooo rich and creamy. Tastes great!
Can you make with almond milk?
Yes, that would be fine.
Yes, almond milk….any of the plant based milks worked fine
I plan to make this for our Friendsgiving party, however my boyfriend is allergic to pecans and I’ve never been a fan of marshmallows. Will the topping be okay if I sub it for walnuts or should I just make two separate pans?
Yes, you could sub walnuts.
I had this at my office party and loved it. Now plan on making it myself and take it to another party. Can I bake it in a foil try?
Thanks,
Yes, that’s fine.
Thank you.
Do I need to adjust temperature or time when using the foil tray?
It will probably cook a little faster since it’s thin aluminum foil–but it will be pretty close!
For the sweet potato casserole, could I bake the potatoes instead of boiling them?
For the thanksgiving dressing could I use olive oil instead of butter to cook the vegetables and turkey sausage instead of regular sausage? Would it change the taste?
Thank you
For the sweet potato casserole, use you can bake the potatoes!
For the stuffing/dressing, I can’t recommend olive oil because it will drastically change the flavor, but turkey sausage would work great.
I baked them – way better than boiling them.
Very tasty recipe; I bake my sweet potatoes in the oven instead of boil. It concentrates the flavor and enhances it.
We had this dish at an office dinner this week. The only difference was that it also topped it with those little marshmellos melted over the top. It was the best I had ever tasted! Super taste warm or cool. (Well, I had to have seconds, didn’t I?)