Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel

About This Recipe

Sweet potato casserole is one of Thanksgiving's most beloved traditions — a dish that occupies a strange, delicious middle ground between a side dish and a dessert. The base is silky, warmly spiced mashed sweet potato enriched with butter, cream and a touch of vanilla, almost pudding-like in its sweetness and comfort. The topping is where things get contentious: pecans-and-brown-sugar streusel (the superior option) versus the retro charm of toasted mini marshmallows. The sweet potato itself, native to the Americas and a nutritional powerhouse, has been central to Southern American cooking since colonial times and is cooked in everything from pies to biscuits to soups. As a Thanksgiving casserole, it developed in the mid-20th century into the intensely sweet, butter-enriched version now considered essential on millions of American holiday tables. The pecan streusel version balances the sweetness of the potato base with the caramel crunch of brown sugar, butter and toasted pecans. Make this a day ahead — it actually improves as the flavors meld — and bake at the last minute to get the streusel hot and crackling. It will disappear before any other dish on the Thanksgiving table.

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 3 lbssweet potatoes(peeled and cubed)
• 6 tbspunsalted butter(melted)
• ⅓ cupbrown sugar
• ½ cupheavy cream
• 2 largeeggs(beaten)
• 1 tsppure vanilla extract
• 1 tspcinnamon
• ¼ tspnutmeg
• ½ tspsalt
• 1 cuppecan halves(for streusel)
• ½ cuppacked brown sugar(for streusel)
• ⅓ cupall-purpose flour(for streusel)
• 4 tbspcold butter(cubed, for streusel)

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook sweet potatoes

   Boil cubed sweet potatoes in salted water 15–18 minutes until very tender. Drain thoroughly. Alternatively, roast whole potatoes at 400°F for 50 minutes for deeper flavor.

2. 2

   Make the filling

   Mash sweet potatoes until smooth. Beat in melted butter, brown sugar, cream, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until silky. Taste and adjust sweetness.

3. 3

   Make the streusel

   Mix brown sugar and flour. Cut in cold butter with your fingers until crumbly. Stir in pecan halves.

4. 4

   Assemble and bake

   Spread sweet potato filling in a buttered 9×13 baking dish. Top evenly with pecan streusel. Bake at 350°F for 35–40 minutes until topping is caramelized and filling is set.

   Don't put the casserole too high in the oven or the streusel burns before the filling is hot through.

Variations

• •

  Marshmallow topped: use 3 cups mini marshmallows instead of streusel for the retro classic.

• •

  Maple Sweet Potato Casserole: replace brown sugar with pure maple syrup in the filling.

• •

  Savory Sweet Potato Casserole: omit sugar, add Parmesan, rosemary and garlic for a savory side.

Storage

Refrigerate covered up to 3 days. Reheat at 325°F covered with foil for 20 minutes. Topping loses crispiness on storage — freshen under the broiler for 2 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions