This dish may originate as a “Thanksgiving” side, but we enjoy it all year long! It pairs well with roasted chicken, steaks, roast beef, or any savory meat.
Growing up, we always had marshmallows on our sweet potatoes and I never really liked it. However, when I was introduced to pecans on sweet potatoes, I was blown away! Over the years, I’ve added my own twists to the recipe by adding more spices and milk to achieve the consistency and flavor I love.
If you are preparing this for Thanksgiving, you can add or take away the spices. Adding clove and nutmeg are delicious additions as well. I’d add about 1/4 tsp at first and add more after tasting it. I prefer this over pumpkin pie, so I don’t mind adding similar flavors. However, if you don’t want the sweet potatoes and the pumpkin pie to be too similar, you can omit all the spices (cinnamon and ginger), and it will still turn out delicious.
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Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole
Description
This dish shouldn’t only be enjoyed at Thanksgiving but all year long!
Ingredients
Filling
6 Sweet Potatoes
1/2 C Butter
2 Eggs
1/2 C milk
1 C Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
Topping
1 1/2 C Chopped Pecans
1 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C AP Flour
1/2 C Butter (softened)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Wash sweet potatoes, pierce the skins with a fork, wrap in tinfoil, and place on a baking tray to bake for 1.5-2 hours or until the potatoes are soft.
Carefully remove potatoes from the tin foil and cool for about 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle. NOTE: Don’t let them cool completely, you want the potatoes to be warm/hot enough to melt the butter. Remove skins with a butter knife and place the flesh of the potatoes in to a mixing bowl. Add butter and mix until butter is melted. NOTE: I like to use the whisk attachment for this because the whisk catches all those stringy bits inside the potatoes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. The filling will be very thin like a cake batter. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
Chop pecans to desired size and add to a small mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix with a spoon or your hands. The butter should be very softs to make this step easier.
Sprinkle the pecan topping over the filling until it’s completely covered.
Bake at 350 for 1-1.5 hours or until the filling no longer jiggles, a slight wobble is fine. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. Refrigerate leftovers up to a week, and reheat in the microwave.
Notes
Don’t let the potatoes cool completely before mixing in the butter, you want the potatoes to be warm/hot enough to melt the butter.
I like to use the whisk attachment to mix the filling because the whisk catches all those stringy bits inside the potatoes.
If you have smaller family, like mine, you can half or even quarter the recipe. Just bake in a smaller dish and bake for 30-45 minutes.
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