Nothing beats my mom's, Sweet Potato Casserole with Canned Yams. She always served as part of dinner and not dessert. It's got a sweet and crunchy nut topping, creamy sweet potato filling and not a marshmallow in sight. Made with pantry ingredients, you'll be making this from Thanksgiving to Passover and beyond.
TL;DR - Sweet Potato Casserole Quick Look
- 🥧 Why you'll love it: Classic Thanksgiving flavor without the extra work. No peeling potatoes, let the can opener do all the work.
- ⏲️ Prep Time: 10 min prep
- 🔥 Cook Time: 30 min bake
- 🍠 Key ingredient: Canned yams (drained and mashed). Can use homemade mashed sweet potatoes or a sweet potato puree or even leftover roasted sweet potatoes.
- 🧊 Make‑ahead: Refrigerate up to 2 days before baking.
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Key Ingredients
- Canned Sweet Potatoes: One of the reasons this recipe is so simple is that you can start with a can of already cooked sweet potatoes instead of using fresh sweet potatoes. I like to use either Bruce's Yam or Princella Cut Sweet Potatoes that both come in a 40 oz can and make this recipe a breeze to put together.
- Flour: I use King Arthur All Purpose Flour. For Passover cooking, I substitute with matzo cake meal.
- Milk: You an use dairy or plant based milk.
Adjust the sweet potato casserole for dietary restrictions
- To make it dairy-free you can easily substitute the butter for any plant based butter substitute. And, while the recipe is written with almond milk, soy milk or non-dairy creamer are other good alternatives.
- Make it gluten-free by substituting the flour in the topping for a gluten free alternative. I would use either King Arthurs Gluten Free Flour Mix or Trader Joes' all purpose gluten-free baking mix.
- Make it nut-free by substituting the almond milk for soy or dairy milk and swapping the pecans for old fashioned oats.
How to make a sweet potato casserole
Step 1: Start by preparing an 8" springform pan by spraying it liberally with cooking spray and wrapping the bottom in aluminum foil. This will prevent any of the sweet potato pie mixture from leaking onto your oven and making a giant mess!
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl combine the drained canned sweet potatoes, sugar, almond milk, vanilla extract and large eggs.
Step 3: With an electric mixer on medium speed, mix until the ingredients are well combined.
Step 4: Pour the smooth sweet potato filling mixture into the prepared springform pan.
Step 5: Make the topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, pecans and butter.
Step 6: Once combined, spread evenly on top of the sweet potato casserole filling.
Step 7: Bake. Place the springform pan on a baking sheet and bake at 400 ℉ until the middle is set.
🔥Baking Tip
If the sweet potato casserole is getting too dark on top, but the middle is not yet set, lightly cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and continue baking. When the center of the pie is no longer "jiggly", you'll know it's done.
Make Ahead Tips
Luckily, this is a great dish to make ahead and store in the refrigerator or make in advance and freeze.
- To make and freeze ahead of time: Bake the sweet potato casserole all the way through, and then let it cool completely. Wrap it well in layers of plastic wrap and then top with foil for best results and then put into the freezer. Sweet potato casserole freezes well up for up to three months.
- To make a day in advance: Follow the recipe as directed and let cool. Cover well and refrigerate once cooled completely. Before serving, bring to room temperature on the counter and then reheat on 300℉ for about 20 minutes. You don't want to dry it out, just warm it up.
If you are making this far in advance, I would consider doubling the recipe and baking it in an disposable aluminum pan, so you can go straight from oven to freezer without tying up your baking dishes for too long.
Serving Suggestions for sweet potato casserole with canned yams
This recipe is a winner for holiday tables all year long!
- For Thanksgiving: Along with the turkey, easy sides include easy sweet potato casserole, garlic butter dinner rolls, a big platter of roasted vegetables, my Asian Cabbage Salad and a challah stuffing.
- For Hanukkah: For a meat meal, serve this with your favorite brisket recipe, a pile of homemade potato latkes and roasted baby carrots. If you want to go dairy, serve with the best noodle kugel, tuna fish and potato bourekas.
- For Passover Seder: We like to mix things up and serve this sesame ginger salmon at our 2nd night seder and this sweet potato casserole is a perfect accompaniment with roasted broccoli and farfel muffins.
Recipe FAQ's
Simply substitute the flour for cake meal and voila, Kosher for Passover sweet potato pie. Looking for other kosher for Passover recipes? I've got you covered here.
Yes you can. To do this, roast or bake large sweet potatoes in advance so they can cool before you use them. Take off the skin, then with a potato masher, mash the whole sweet potatoes really well. Alternatively, pop the flesh of the cooked sweet potatoes into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment whip them until smooth. For the texture of sweet potato pie filling to be right, you want to get it really smooth.
Yes, you can. Feel free to leave off the topping or add some marshmallows to the top in the last 10 minutes of baking.
More Great Thanksgiving Side Dishes
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📖 Recipe
Simple Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
Filling
- 40 oz can sweet potatoes/yams drained
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup almond milk or whole milk, soy milk, coffee rich
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
Topping
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup butter or margarine, plant based butter substitute
Instructions
- Prepare an 8" springform pan by spraying liberally with cooking spray and wrapping the bottom in aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- In a blender or large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, combine drained sweet potatoes, sugar, almond milk, vanilla, and eggs. Pour smooth filling mixture into the prepared springform pan.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, pecans and butter. Once combined, spread evenly on top of sweet potato mixture.
- Bake at 400℉ for 35-40 minutes, until the middle is set. If it's getting too dark, but middle is not yet set, lightly cover with foil.
Notes
- To make and freeze ahead of time: Bake the sweet potato casserole all the way through, and then let it cool completely. Wrap it well in layers of plastic wrap and then top with foil for best results and then put into the freezer. Sweet potato casserole freezes well up for up to three months.
- To make a day in advance: Follow the recipe as directed and let cool. Cover well and refrigerate once cooled completely. Before serving, bring to room temperature on the counter and then reheat on 300℉ for about 20 minutes. You don't want to dry it out, just warm it up.
- Double the recipe: The sweet potato casserole doubles easily to feed a larger crowd. Double all the ingredients and bake it in a 9x13" pan.
- Yam Substitute: If you don't want to use canned yams, easily swap mashed sweet potatoes in the same quantity and follow the recipe as written.
Marni Katz says
Our favorite sweet potato casserole and the one that is one every holiday table.