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 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!
Recipe Notes
“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 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 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.
Thanksgiving Recipes
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Sweet Potato 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.
My cousin made this for Thanksgiving and it was a fan favorite. I couldn’t get enough. I just got back from the grocery store with the ingredients so I can make it today!
LOVE it 🙂 It’s one of our family favorites 🙂
Do you use white sugar for the potato mixture? Thank you!
White sugar is granulated sugar hon!!
How many canned sweet potatoes should I use??
This was a great and easy recipe. Next time I would cut the streusel in half since it made too much for our liking.
Hi! I think there is a typo in your recipe – is the butter for the streusel actually meant to be melted? My streusel came out sticky as others have commented, and I think cold butter may have worked better. Thanks!
This was a huge hit today for Thanksgiving dinner! I added half a teaspoon of vanilla and sprinkled some cinnamon into the streusel mixture and it was to die for!
So happy to hear it 🙂
I made it for Thanksgiving and boy was it a hit! I just love it! Thank you!
Made this way instead of my normal way. I did added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the potatoes and strudel.
Yes my streusel came out sticky
Can I make this ahead of time and keep warm in the oven?
If I am using arrowroot powder instead of eggs, should I still cook it for the 25 minutes?
Can you freeze this recipe?
How many cups of mashed sweet potatoes would this recipe call for? 😀
I found another recipe calling for 4 and it listed as 8 cups sweet potatoes.
Can this be made without the nuts? My Dad is allergic to pecans?
Sure! Just skip them.
My family makes one very similar to this one, but we use walnuts instead of the pecans.
How long do you have to bake it if you double the recipe?
I am not Aimee but have a suggestion. The baking time is dependent on the size of the dish being baked. How thick is the determining factor. So if you have twice as much but in a larger dish the baking time is the same all other things being equal. It is the surface area and the thickness that matters. One quart of ingredients in a one quart casserole is about the same as two quarts of ingredients in a two quart casserole. See what I mean? Remember that the casserole dishes would need to be made the same so that the ingredients have the same surface area to volume ratios.
I am so excited to try this for Thanksgiving! It I want to double the recipe would it still work?
Enjoy! You can double it, making sure you have a dish large enough. I would also add some time to the baking to make sure it’s heated through 🙂
Question, going to bake my sweet potatoes as you mentioned. Do I need to wrap in foil or pierce with a fork before baking? I usually boil but heard flavor is better when you bake them?!
This looks delicious and I plan to try the recipe. My kids have always loved having marshmallows on their sweet potato casserole. Could I add some on top and how long should I cook with marshmallows?
Just made this. Omg… so delicious! I am allergic to nuts except almonds so just replaced the flour with almond flour and pecans with almonds. Delicious!
If I wanted to make ahead and freeze it, how would I do that? Thank you~
Hi! This looks great! I am lactose intolerant…do you think this would still work with a high quality margarine instead of butter?
I used a vegan butter and it still turned out really good!