This lightened-up Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole with roasted, mashed sweet potatoes and a praline topping is a wonderful Thanksgiving side dish.
Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole
This healthy sweet potato casserole has all the wonderful Thanksgiving flavors you crave for the holiday table. It’s a lighter version of the classic recipe with a layer of creamy, spiced sweet potatoes topped with a nutty pecan oat crumble. It’s loaded with vanilla and cinnamon – you’ll love it! I also have this old- fashioned Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow recipe or Mashed Sweet Potato Brulee. Perfect to serve with my Dry Brine Turkey!
Sweet Potato Casserole Ingredients
First up, let’s talk about what you’ll need for the filling:
- Sweet Potatoes: You’ll need 2 ½ pounds (about four to six medium potatoes).
- Milk: I made it with fat-free milk, but 1% or 2% would work. Or, if you want to keep it dairy-free, try it with almond milk or another milk alternative.
- Maple Syrup for a bit of sweetness
- Vanilla: Use two teaspoons of extract.
- Salt to balance out the sweetness
- Cinnamon for warm holiday flavor
- Eggs to bind the casserole and improve the texture
Next up – the praline topping!
- Nuts: Choose chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Flour: If you’re gluten-free, swap all-purpose flour for gluten-free.
- Oats: Get quick-cooking or gluten-free oats.
- Brown Monk Fruit Sweetener: Substitute it for stevia or brown sugar.
- Seasoning: Just a little cinnamon and salt enhances the flavor.
- Butter: Melted butter or coconut oil will work.
How to Make Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole
I tested out this easy sweet potato casserole a few ways. First, I boiled the sweet potatoes, but I loved it better with roasted ones since they caramelize and get sweet in the oven.
- Sweet Potatoes: Preheat the oven to 375°F, prick the potatoes with a fork, and place them on a sheet pan. Bake for an hour or so until tender and set aside to cool. Peel off the skin, and mash them with a fork in a large bowl.
- Combine the milk, maple syrup, salt, spices, and eggs with the potatoes, and pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
- Topping: Stir the nuts, flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together and then mix in the butter or coconut oil. Sprinkle the praline
mixture across the top of the sweet potato casserole. - Bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for at least five minutes before serving. Refrigerated leftovers will last four or five days.
Make Ahead Tips
If you’re hosting Thanksgiving, it’s essential to do some prep ahead of time. You can bake, peel, and mash the sweet potatoes a couple of days in advance. You could even make the potato mixture and topping a day before, but I’d wait to sprinkle the praline topping over the casserole until right before baking.
Do you put eggs in sweet potato casserole?
You definitely don’t want to skip the eggs in your casserole. They bind all the ingredients together, resulting in a fluffier texture that’s not dense. Just make sure to cool the potatoes first so the eggs don’t scramble when you mix them in.
More Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes You’ll Love:
- Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Mom’s Stuffing, Lightened Up
- Green Bean Casserole
- Cranberry Pear Sauce
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Your comments are helpful! If you’ve tried this healthy Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole recipe or any other on Skinnytaste, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. And if you took a photo of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can reshare it on my Stories!
Vanilla Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline Topping
Ingredients
FOR THE FILLING:
- 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, about 4 to 6 medium total*
- Olive oil spray
- 1/2 cup fat free milk , or milk alternative such as almond
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs, beaten
FOR THE TOPPING:
- 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour
- 1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats, or gluten-free oats
- 3 tablespoons brown monk fruit sweetener
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons melted butter, or coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prick potatoes with a fork and place on a sheet pan.
- Bake until tender, about 1 to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Set aside and let cool enough to handle.
- Meanwhile spray a 9 x 9 inch pan, 9 inch pie pan, or or 2 quart safe baking dish and set aside.
- Remove all the potatoes from the skin and mash with a fork or potato masher in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the milk, maple syrup, salt, spices and eggs to the bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until uniform in texture.
- Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish and smooth the top with a spatula.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the nuts, flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- Stir in the butter or coconut oil and mix well.
- Sprinkle the mixture evenly across the top of the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
This recipe was delicious! I usually make the traditional sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows and wanted to try something different, and this was perfect! Everyone loved it. I made it in an 8 1/2 by 11 glass casserole dish and it filled it to the rim. I also used about 3 tablespoons of butter to mix with the topping; otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. Wonderful recipe, thank you!
This is the easiest, most delicious sweet potato dish I have ever had. I made it for our “Friendsgiving” at work and there was not a bite left. Everyone asked for the recipe. This is going to be an every year recipe.
I needed to make this gluten and dairy free. I used GF flour, almond milk, coconut oil, and Swerve.
Made this for Thanksgiving and my family LOVED it. No one knew it was a healthier version. I made it with GF flour and oats so that GF family members could enjoy and it was so good! I couldn’t taste a difference using cup for cup GF flour. Will definitely make again- would be a delicious fall/winter side to any dish.
If I double the recipe, how does that change the cooking time?
Could this be baked as a pie rather than a casserole? The recipe is close to your pie recipe except for the cooking time– 1 hour for pie while just 30 min for casserole. I’m wondering how to add this topping to the pie recipe without burning it in the oven. Any tips??
I’m diabetic – wondering if I could use sugar free syrup instead of maple?
Sure
Can you use brown sugar instead if monk fruit? Thanks
Sure
Excellent taste. Good vanilla makes all the difference.
Simple and delicious! It was a total hit with my family.
Will add this to the fall/holiday menu from now on! Thanks!
I love this recipe so much! A perfect amount of sweet and crunchy and my family loves it, too! It’s the perfect recipe for the holidays.
Can canned sweet potatoes be used? If so, how much?
hello😊 yes, I’m wondering too,as Pat, if cann0ed sweet potatoes in place of baking them
I made this today. Half with marshmallows. The other half the praline topping. I also used vanilla almond milk in place of the regular milk. It was DELICIOUS!!! DEFINITELY ALREADY ON THE MENU FOR NEXT YEAR!!
Time saving tip….microwave potatoes then “roast them for about 10 minutes at 400 in your air fryer. Tastes like they were roasted a long time.
Thanks for the tip!
Could a different sweetener besides monk fruit be used? If so, what and how much?
I’m pretty sure the conversion for monk fruit to sugar is 1:1.
I used brown sugar, same measurement.
Can it be made in advance?
It did say you could make it a day ahead of time, but wait until just before baking to put the topping on. Hope this helps!
Delicious! My family has had a sweet potato casserole recipe we’ve had every Thanksgiving and Christmas my whole life, yummy but I find it too sweet. This one will likely be my own holiday sweet potato recipe for holidays from now on! I made the 2 components a day ahead and assembled Thanksgiving day. And I used regular brown sugar in place of monk sweetener, same measurement.
I have a family member with an egg allergy. Would a flax egg or soy yogurt be a decent alternative?
I was wondering the same thing!
I’m wondering too since I have three vegans to cook for.
Wondering the same, maybe apple sauce?
I think you can just omit it!