Sweet Potato Casserole
Made with mashed roasted sweet potatoes and a crunchy pecan topping with an ooey gooey melted marshmallow center!
You know how they say that “when it rains, it pours”? Well, I got to personally experience that yesterday. My site was down for 4 hours due to my problematic web host, it was pouring rain during my 4-mile run, the rain then somehow damaged my iPhone, and when I wanted to get an old-fashioned donut – the only thing that was probably going to make me feel better – I had no cash on me. Not even $0.80 in coins! So yes, when it rains, it freaking pours.
But with a huge batch of tacos for dinner last night, I’m slowly starting to recover from this day. Not to mention these sweet potatoes that I’ve had 3 nights in a row.
A side note here – please don’t mind all of these photos. I just spent my life savings on a new macro lens so I was a bit of camera-happy when shooting these. After all, melted marshmallows is such a pretty sight, right?
No, but really, I’ve made several kinds of sweet potato casseroles for the holidays in the past couple of years but I think I’ve finally perfected this. It’s a simple casserole with roasted sweet potatoes but the star of this sweet potato dish are the toppings.
I usually see recipes with either a pecan streusel or marshmallow topping but with this, you get both! A crunchy, crushed corn flakes pecan topping on the outer rim and then a ooey, gooey marshmallow topping right in the center that just melts right into the potatoes.
You get the best of both worlds on this casserole, and I promise you – it’s going to be the #1 hit at your Thanksgiving dinner!
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
For the topping
- 1 ¼ cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
- ⅓ cup pecans, chopped
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup miniature marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place potatoes onto prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Let cool before peeling.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9-inch pie plate or coat with nonstick spray.
- To make the topping, combine cornflakes, pecans and brown sugar. Stir in butter until well combined; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sweet potatoes, butter, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla and salt on medium-high until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add sweet potato mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with cornflakes mixture around the outside of the dish, leaving room in the center.
- Place into oven and bake until the topping is golden, about 20 minutes. Add marshmallows to the middle and bake until lightly golden on top, an additional 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
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This looks soooooo good !!! I’ve been looking for hours for a perfect sweet potato casserole and I found it !!! I will definitely be making this for my co workers on thanksgiving 🙂 I just have a question though, how many servings will this give me ?
This recipe will give you about 6 servings. Let me know how this turns out for your coworkers!
Looks A.MA.ZING.
Awesome, yes! And thanks for such a great website 🙂 🙂
Sorry, me again – I need to make this for about 10/12 people. Can I double the recipe, mix it up Wednesday night, put it in a 2qt dish, and put the toppings on Thursday afternoon before popping it in the oven?
Gina, if you are doubling the recipe, you may need to use a larger baking dish. And as mentioned in my previous comment to you before, you can most definitely mix everything the night before and pop it in the oven with the toppings 20-30 minutes before serving time. Hope that helps!
Hello! Thank you for the recipe.
If I double this recipe, do you think a 9 x 13 dish would work? Would glass pyrex pan work or do you think a non-stick pan only?
Thanks in advance for the reply!
A 9×13 glass baking dish should work fine but I would have an extra small casserole dish just in case everything doesn’t fit. Hope that helps!
Thanks – what size casserole dish did you use here in the photos you took? 1qt? 2qt? I don’t want to use the wrong size, as there is a big difference between a 1qt and 2qt – it could mess it up 🙁 I don’t want any last minute surprises.
Sorry, I just saw you said you used a small of for photo purposes – but do you suggest a 1qt or 2qt casserole dish? A 9″ pie dish seems like it wouldn’t be deep enough..
You can use a 2-quart casserole dish to be safe, although as stated in the directions, a 9-inch pie plate should be sufficient as well. Hope that helps!
thanks 🙂
Hi! I’m definitely planning on making this for Thanksgiving. I am allergic to pecans though – what would you suggest as a replacement? I’ve seen oatmeal used in other recipes… what do you think?
I’m not very keen on the oatmeal suggestion since you won’t be able to get that nutty, crunchy topping. Are you allergic to all types of nuts?
Unfortunately yes, except peanuts and pistachios (don’t ask me why). I have a granola crunch mix I use to top yogurt – do you think that’d work?
Actually it looks like these were baked in a small ramekin not a pie dish. Anyway I’m doing this dish this holiday. OMG! I can’t wait. Was looking for something to wow my family with. This will definitely be a treat. Thank you so much sharing! Gorgeous pictures.
Hello, you wrote “a 9-inch pie plate”, but the photo looks like a round casserole dish, not a pie plate. Can you please confirm? I am making this and need to know what size baking dish to use. I assumed it was a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish, but then I saw you wrote 9-inch pie plate. Please help, I want to make this next week 🙂
PS: Do you think I could mix it up the night before and refrigerate, and add the toppings and bake it the next day? Thanks so much.
Gina, I used a small round casserole dish in the photo for photographic purposes only. As stated in the directions, you can use a 9-inch pie plate. You can most definitely make this ahead of time, refrigerate, and add the toppings and bake when ready to serve. That’s what I plan to do for Thanksgiving!
Sorry you’ve been having a rough time! But on the bright side, your pics with the new lens are stunning! And this recipe looks amazing!
This looks so amazing! I’ve been wondering whether a macro lens would be worth it, and it looks like it definitely is. I love the close-ups and the details you were able to capture!
It’s so worth it! You’ll absolutely love the freedom of getting so close!
No need to apologize for all of the pics – they are GORGEOUS! I have that same 100mm macro and it’s amazing! 🙂
Oh my gosh, this sweet potato casserole look amazing, and the marshmallows too!!! I can have this as side and dessert. Love sweet potatoes so much! I can eat it all year round… 🙂 Hope your iphone survived in rain!
My brains still cannot get around the whole marshmallows on casserole thing. Can you tell I’m not American? Except that your cornflakes and pecan topping sounds soooo incredible! Glad this dish gave you some comfort. It stinks when Murphy comes out to play.
How gorgeous is this casserole?! And I love that I get not one but two incredible toppings!
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What a terrible no good kind of a day!! But holy cow, these sweet potatoes! They have everything I love on them in one awesome bowl!!!
Thank you Jocelyn! And thanks for the pin on the BHG board 🙂
It’s unfair how good that looks
Nice recipe. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Sorry to hear about your bad day!
This casserole looks amazing! I love that you used corn flakes for the added crunch.
This casserole is gorgeous! I love that you used corn flakes in the topping in addition to the pecans. It looks so crunchy!