Why do we only make Sweet Potato Casserole on Thanksgiving?? This is a tragedy. Sweet Potato Casserole is a dessert that we get to pretend is a side dish. A cobbler masquerading as a vegetable. It’s a miracle, people! And we need to eat it more than once a year!
Listen. If you don’t love Sweet Potato Casserole, I need you to forget everything you’ve ever thought about it. Forget every iteration of slimy sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows and other disappointing variations of a truly heavenly dish. Forget them, and let me teach you the ways.
This Sweet Potato Casserole is a beloved family recipe, brought to you by my dear Granny, Jean Dunnaway. She has to bring two pans every year to have enough to feed her family of sweet potato fanatics.
May I suggest using your Instant Pot to cook the sweet potatoes? You can certainly boil them on the stove top, but if you chop them up and toss them in the Instant Pot, it’s mess-free, and super fast. It’s a life changing addition to an already life changing recipe!
The topping is made up of brown sugar, shredded coconut, pecans, and butter. I am not kidding when I say I could just pour it into a bowl and eat it plain. To prepare this dish in advance, you can make the sweet potato mixture up to 3 days in advance, and mix up the topping to store in a ziploc bag. I may or may not have snuck little pinches of the topping straight from the bag while it waited to be baked. It’s anyone’s guess.
Please let this glorious dish grace your Thanksgiving table this year. I promise it’ll make the list of things you are grateful for.
The Best Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 4-5 sweet potatoes
- 1 c sugar
- 1/2 c milk
- 1/3 c butter
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1 c chopped pecans
- 1/2 c flour
- 1/3 c melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch chunks. Place into a large pot and cover in water. Boil until potatoes are tender and pierced very easily by a fork. OR place sweet potato chunks in Instant Pot. Add 1 c water. Set on high pressure for 10 minutes. Quick release pressure and drain sweet potatoes.
- In a large bowl, mash sweet potatoes until smooth. Stir in sugar, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Spread evenly into a 9×13 pan.
- In a separate bowl, combine coconut, brown sugar, pecans, flour, and melted butter. Mix with a fork or your finger until combined and crumbly. Spread evenly over potatoes and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until topping is browned and potatoes are bubbly.
- To prepare in advance: Prepare potatoes and spread into dish. Cover tightly. Mix together topping ingredients and store in a ziploc bag or other sealed container. Potatoes and topping can be refrigerated for up to 3 days before baking. Before baking, spread topping evenly over potatoes, and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
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