Classic Sweet Potato Casserole
Thanksgiving isn't complete without this sweet potato casserole recipe! The golden marshmallow and pecan topping is the crunchy and sweet crown jewel on top of the velvety sweet potatoes.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes
- 1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter (half stick) softened
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup pecans chopped
- 1-2 cups mini marshmallows or more, to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and scrub the sweet potatoes (leave them whole and unpeeled) and then either 1) Boil: Pierce them each a couple of times with a fork or sharp knife, then add them to a large pot of water. Boil until very tender, then drain them. Or, 2) Bake: Pierce them all over, microwave for 6 minutes, and then roast them at 425F for 20 minutes or until tender.
- Preheat the oven to 375F and move the rack to the middle position. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and mash them in a large bowl with the brown sugar, butter, cream, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Ensure that they're well mashed and that the other ingredients are distributed evenly (e.g. no clumps of cinnamon). If the potatoes aren't mashing as smoothly as you like or you want them super smooth, you can use an immersion blender to purée them once you've manually mashed them as much as you can.
- Pour the sweet potato mixture into the greased baking dish. Spread it in an even layer.
- Top the sweet potatoes with the chopped pecans and the mini marshmallows.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the marshmallows are nice and golden. Watch it carefully towards the end so they don't burn (some ovens are hotter than others).
Notes
- I prefer to boil the sweet potatoes in their skins for 2 reasons - it's less work than peeling and chopping raw sweet potatoes, and they are less likely to end up watery. So, look for smaller sweet potatoes to make this process easier and faster. For the sweet potatoes in the photos, I used 4 medium sweet potatoes totaling 3 pounds and they took about 50 minutes to boil. You can buy pre-cut diced sweet potatoes to save time, just be sure to drain them thoroughly after boiling them.
- See the blog post for tips on how to make this recipe ahead.
Nutrition
Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 460mg | Potassium: 644mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 24483IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 2mg
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