Nothing says Thanksgiving more than sweet potatoes! This recipe is courtesy of my high school friend’s mom. I remember one Thanksgiving when Alicia bought me a plate of her mom’s food. When I tell you the Sweet Potato Mashed and the Mirliton casserole completely blew me away—-ya’ll it still has a chokehold on me today! My Mirlition Casserole recipe can be found here.
Shortly after that, I immediately asked for the recipe and made it for my family. To this day, on every Thanksgiving, those two dishes are always on our table. Over the years, I have tweaked it a bit to make it my own, such as adding vanilla extract.
Make this for your next Thanksgiving table and your guests will be begging for the recipe. They will even forget the sad, canned sweet potato with marshmallows on top. Seriously though, that way of serving sweet potatoes needs to die.
CASSEROLE OR SOUFFLE
Do a quick search, and you will find many recipes named Sweet Potato Casserole or Sweet Potato Souffle. But what is the difference? A souffle is usually lighter and is beaten with eggs. When I initially made this, it was more of a casserole, but I gradually made this into a souffle, which I find to have a smoother texture. Call it a casserole or souffle, it’s all good!
SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
For the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe, you can either boil the sweet potatoes or roast them in the oven. I find that roasting produces a sweeter potato. After the potatoes are cooked, I like to run the potatoes through a food mill. This is the one I own as the rubber legs ensure that the food mill stays put on your bowl. This is more time-consuming but I find you will get a smoother texture versus using a masher. I highly recommend you take the time to do this.
The casserole consists of mashed sweet potatoes, melted butter, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla extract, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and a pinch of salt. I’ve also added cinnamon and pumpkin spices to this and it’s amazing as well. The souffle is then baked in the oven and topped with a crunchy topping made of pecans.
The Toppings
This is where it can get controversial. The topping. I honestly cringe when I see sweet potatoes made with globs of marshmallows on top. I think we can do better and it’s time to graduate to something more sophisticated—a nice crunchy pecan topping.
The topping consists of a mixture of flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and pecans. It’s mixed together and sprinkled on top, developing an amazing crunchy topping. I promise you will never go back to the marshmallows again.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
The Sweet Potato
- 5 large sweet potato
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher saltThe Topping
- 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Set aside.
Step 2:
If roasting your potatoes, clean and scrub your potatoes. Add foil to a baking dish and place your potatoes on the dish. Roast for 1 hour until the potatoes are soft and tender.
If you are boiling, add a pinch of salt to your pot of water and boil for 15-20 minutes until soft. Stick a fork in to check for doneness.
Step 3:
Let your potatoes cool before peeling the skin off. Place your food mill over a large bowl and ensure it stays secure. Run the potatoes through your food mill. Go forward and backward to “clean” the blade and get all the potatoes through the mill. Set aside.
Step 4
Add the eggs, brown sugar, sugar, vanilla extract, melted butter, evaporated milk, and salt. Using an electric hand mixer, combine all ingredients until you get a smooth texture.
Step 5
Add the mixture to your prepared baking dish.
Step 6
To make the topping, place your brown sugar, granulated sugar, chopped pecans, flour, salt, and melted butter into a zip-lock bag. Shake to combine all ingredients. Add the topping on top of the baking dish. Bake for 45-50 minutes until lightly golden brown on top.
*if you do not have a food mill, just mash with a potato masher. You can also skip and use a hand-held blender to mix.