This healthy sweet potato casserole recipe uses real food ingredients and tastes delicious! The combination of sweet potatoes, honey, spices, and maple-cinnamon pecans is amazing!
And even though this recipe is a Thanksgiving tradition, I actually crave this dish year-round! It’s that good.
As a child, I always avoided the sweet potato casserole at potlucks and get-togethers. The combination of flavors just wasn’t something I liked.
However, I believe if this recipe had been my first taste of sweet potato casserole, I would have loved it!
Also, I love knowing that this recipe uses real food ingredients that are nourishing and satisfying. The pecan topping is my favorite part.
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Notes
- This recipe calls for 4 pounds of sweet potatoes, which is about 5 large or 10 small potatoes. This is just an estimate, as the size of each potato varies greatly.
- For the milk in the recipe, you can use regular milk or cream. I believe almond milk would also work, but I haven’t tried it.
- Where the recipe calls for coconut oil, you can substitute butter.
- Either honey or maple syrup can be used to sweeten the casserole. I usually try to use maple syrup sparingly (to save money), so I use honey in the casserole and save the maple syrup for the pecan topping, which gives the nuts such a great maple-cinnamon flavor.
- Where the topping calls for flour, I usually use whole wheat, but you can also use all purpose, einkorn, or almond flour (I haven’t tested the almond flour yet).
Affiliate links included below, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure here.
Supplies Needed for This Recipe
Here are some basic supplies you may need to make this recipe:
- Glass measuring cup
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Medium and large mixing bowls
- Baking sheet
- 9″ x 13″ baking dish
How to Make a Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
To make this healthy sweet potato casserole, you’ll start by baking the sweet potatoes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Scrub the potatoes and then pierce with a fork, and bake on a baking sheet lined with foil for about 45 minutes to an hour until they are tender when pierced.
Once the potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes. Remove the skins and place in a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer). I like to use my stand mixer for this, but you can also just use a handheld electric mixer.
Add the milk, oil, honey, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt to the bowl with the potatoes. Beat with the electric mixer until the mixture is smooth.
Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish, and transfer the sweet potato mixture to the dish, spreading it out evenly in the dish.
For the pecan topping, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Combine all the topping ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and mix together. Sprinkle topping over the casserole.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbly and beginning to brown around the edges.
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 lbs sweet potatoes (about 5-6 large or 10-12 small potatoes)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (or butter)
- 1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup)
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
Pecan Topping
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- 1/2 cup flour (whole wheat, all purpose, spelt, almond)
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the sweet potatoes, and pierce each one with a fork. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour until they are tender when pierced with a fork.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, remove from oven and cool for about 5-10 minutes. Remove the skins and place potatoes in a large mixing bowl. I like to use my stand mixer for this, so I add them to my stand mixer bowl. You can also just use an electric handheld mixer with a large mixing bowl. Beat the sweet potatoes until smooth.
- Add the milk, oil, honey, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and vanilla to the bowl with the potatoes. Beat with the mixer until the mixture is smooth.
- Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish, and transfer the sweet potato mixture to the dish, spreading it evenly with a spoon.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Make the pecan topping. Roughly chop the pecans, and combine all the topping ingredients in a separate small or medium-sized mixing bowl, and mix together. Sprinkle topping over the casserole.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbly and beginning to brown around the edges.
Sounds like a great recipe. We’ve been subbing sweet potatoes for potatoes quite a bit. Never been a fan of the traditional sweet potato Thanksgiving recipes but this one is intriguing.
Thanks so much!