This sweet potato casserole without marshmallows is our favorite special side dish for Fall and the Holiday season. The smooth sweet potatoes and buttery sweet pecan topping are hard to beat! It's always in the rotation for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also a fun addition to a cozy meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The buttery pecan topping and smooth sweet potatoes pair together perfectly.
- The recipe uses simple ingredients you likely already have on hand.
- It comes together easily and you can use leftover sweet potatoes. It is an easy sweet potato casserole recipe!
- You can make the sweet potato portion ahead of time and just add the topping the day of.
- It can be easily made gluten-free.
- It's the classic recipe you love without as much sugar.
- We leave off the mini marshmallow topping and let the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes shine.
- This is one of our favorite dishes to bring to the table for Thanksgiving dinner. It's always a huge hit!
Ingredient Notes
For the base ingredients:
- Sweet potatoes - you'll bake these and let them cool before mashing them to use as the base. We prefer to use fresh sweet potatoes instead of canned sweet potatoes.
- Brown sugar - you could use coconut sugar or pure maple syrup here as well, but you will get a slightly different taste.
- Regular milk or almond milk - you can use either type of milk for this recipe! For almond milk, unsweetened almond milk is our go-to.
- Egg
- Vanilla extract - just a touch of vanilla.
- Cinnamon
- Salt
For the streusel topping ingredients:
- Brown sugar
- Flour - all-purpose flour works great, feel free to use gluten-free flour if needed.
- Chopped pecans - be sure to use chopped raw pecans because they will bake and toast in the oven creating buttery, crunchy pecans.
- Butter
- Cinnamon
See the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and measurements.
Equipment You’ll Need
- Baking sheet and parchment paper
- Mixing bowl and electric mixer* or potato masher
- Small mixing bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- 9x13 baking dish
Step by Step Directions
For the full recipe instructions for this sweet potato casserole without marshmallows, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a fork to poke holes in the sweet potatoes. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are very soft and fork tender.
Let the potatoes cool to room temperature. Cut them in half and then remove and discard the sweet potato skin. Place the sweet potato in a large bowl.
Use an electric hand mixer to mix the sweet potatoes until they are smooth and no longer clumpy.
Add the 3 tbsp brown sugar, milk, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to the mashed sweet potatoes.
Mix until combined.
Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pan and use a spoon to spread it out into an even layer.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium bowl, add the rest of the brown sugar, flour, chopped pecans, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the softened butter and mix well until the “crumb” topping forms. Evenly spread the crumb topping on the top of the sweet potato mixture.
Add the pan to the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is golden brown. Once you take the pan out of the oven, let the pan cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips & Variations
- Make sure you let the topping get golden brown and bubbly before taking it out of the oven.
- Feel free to cook the sweet potatoes ahead of time and leave them in the fridge until you're ready to make the casserole.
- If you like extra crumble on top, feel free to make 1.5 times the topping amount we have listed.
- If you want your sweet potatoes extra buttery, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the sweet potato base.
- We prefer to bake the sweet potatoes instead of boiling the potatoes because it prevents them from getting watery.
FAQ
You can make this recipe and store it in the fridge until the next day. For periods longer than a day, we recommend baking the sweet potatoes in advance but assembling the crumb topping the day of.
Store leftovers in an air tight container for up to 3 days.
This recipe is vegetarian and can easily be made gluten-free with the use of 1:1 gluten-free flour. We have not tested this recipe with dairy-free butter.
If you like this easy sweet potato casserole without marshmallows, check out a few of our other sweet potato recipes
If you make this classic sweet potato casserole, please let us know how it turns out in the comments below and/or rate the recipe! Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram to show us your finished product—it makes our day every time we see you trying the recipes we love!
Sweet Potato Casserole Without Marshmallows
Ingredients
For the sweet potato base:
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/3 cup milk or almond milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon (depending on preference)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the pecan crumble topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour (gluten-free if needed)
- 1/2 cup chopped raw pecans
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon (depending on preference)
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a fork to poke holes in the sweet potatoes. Place the potatoes on the baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are very soft and fork tender.
- Let the potatoes cool to room temperature. Cut them in half and then remove and discard the sweet potato skin. Place the sweet potato in a large bowl.
- Use an electric hand mixer to mix the sweet potatoes until they are smooth and no longer clumpy. Add the 3 tbsp brown sugar, almond milk, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt to the mashed sweet potatoes. Mix until combined.
- Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pan and use a spoon to spread it out into an even layer.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, add the rest of the brown sugar, flour, chopped pecans, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the softened butter and mix well until the “crumb” topping forms. Evenly spread the crumb topping on the top of the sweet potato mixture.
- Add the pan to the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is golden brown. Once you take the pan out of the oven, let the pan cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- If you need to shorten the cook time you can cook the sweet potatoes ahead of time and leave them in the fridge until you're ready to make the casserole.
- If you need to make these in advance, you can make it and store it in the fridge until the next day and then reheat in the oven until warmed through. For periods longer than a day, we recommend baking the sweet potatoes in advance but assembling the crumble topping the day of.
- If you like extra crumble on top, feel free to make 1.5 times the topping amount we have listed.
- If you want your sweet potatoes extra buttery, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the sweet potato base.
- This recipe is vegetarian.
- Make it gluten-free: simply use a gluten-free flour in the crumble topping.
- We have not tested this recipe with a dairy-free butter so cannot speak to making it completely dairy-free. You can use almond milk instead of regular milk.
The recipe can be found on My Fitness Pal by searching "BWB Sweet Potato Casserole."
The nutrition content provided for each recipe is an estimate created through the My Fitness Pal database. Please be aware that the nutritional content of each recipe may vary based on the products you use, the precision of your measurements, and the source you use to obtain nutrition data. While we try to provide accurate information, we give no guarantee regarding the accuracy of the nutritional information provided.
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