Let’s make this healthier, vegan-friendly sweet potato casserole, made with freshly roasted sweet potatoes mashed with maple syrup and crowned with a salty, crunchy maple-pecan crumb topping!
Today kicks off Thanksgiving Week here on the blog! Instead of my usual Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts, I’m sharing a brand new thanksgiving recipe every day for the entire week, followed by a thanksgiving recipe roundup next Monday, full of all the recipes you need to make a simple, stress-free, wholesome, healthy thanksgiving feast for your loved ones.
To start?
We’re making SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE (!!).
I don’t know about you, but I was always a little suspicious of the marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole that’s (apparently) a traditional thanksgiving food.
Don’t get me wrong. I think marshmallows are tasty. I think sweet potatoes are downright delicious. I can imagine the two of them together well. But…I was never inclined to actually make such a dish, let alone add a dessert-level-sweet side dish to a meal that is always followed by an abundance of dessert options.
Since I was born and raised on Cape Cod and have lived in Massachusetts my entire life, I like to think I have some sort of authority when it comes to thanksgiving foods. And a marshmallow-topped anything just didn’t happen in my family or appear on any of my friend’s thanksgiving tables.
That isn’t to say it’s not part of the thanksgiving tradition. It’s just not part of mine. If you’re into the marshmallow-topped casserole, keep on keeping’ on- if you’re open to the concept of a more nuanced take on the original, that boasts an epic crunchy pecan topping and is only mildly sweet, this is the recipe for you.
Despite the fact that the original version doesn’t appeal to me, for the past few years, I haven’t been able to get the idea of some sort of sweet potato casserole out of my head. I love sweet potatoes, and since the marshmallow-topped casserole is full of dessert-appropriate ingredients, I started to think of a version that relied on another one of my favorite dessert additions: the crumb topping.
Much like an apple crisp or a crumb pie, this sweet potato casserole gets a generous layer of crumbly, craggy, crunchy pastry on top. But, instead of being just sweet, this crumb topping is balanced with salty, savory flavors, too. Smoked paprika, sea salt, black pepper, and pecans all help to balance the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes and maple syrup, and help make this dish just a little bit more appropriate for the dinner table.
If you’re a fan of sweet potatoes and pecans, and are looking for a fun new casserole to add to your thanksgiving spread, I think you are going to obsess over this salty-sweet take on the classic.
Stay tuned this week for six more brand new Thanksgiving recipes, as well as the Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup full of all of my favorite thanksgiving starters, sides, mains, drinks, and desserts on Monday, November 25th!
As always, if you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag me on Instagram so I can see all your Thanksgiving recipes in action!
Salted Maple Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients:
filling
- 3 large sweet potatoes, baked until tender (see notes)
- 3 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
topping
- 4 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup raw pecan halves
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Scoop the flesh of the sweet potatoes into a large (at least 11×7) casserole dish and add all filling ingredients to the dish. Use a potato masher to fully mash/combine the mixture together.
- Place all topping ingredients EXCEPT pecans into a small bowl. Use a fork to mash the oil into the flour mixture, then add in pecans and toss to combine.
- Pour the topping over the filling, spreading to form an even layer, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until pecans are golden.
- Serve immediately, or cool completely and store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
NOTES: 3 large sweet potatoes should weigh in at around 4lbs. If yours are on the smaller side, buy a 4th potato just in case! To bake, simply poke the skins several times with a fork, place on a roasting pan and bake @ 350 for 60+ minutes, or until completely tender. Recipe time does not include the time it takes to bake the potatoes.
MAKE IT GLUTEN-FREE: use oat flour, almond flour, chickpea flour, or a GF all-purpose flour blend in place of the whole wheat.
MAKE AHEAD: Bake the sweet potatoes up to 5 days in advance of thanksgiving and store in the fridge. Either make and assemble on the day of, or mix the filling mixture together on the day you bake the potatoes, and simply make the topping on the day of, right before baking.