Incredibly delicious, healthy sweet potato casserole with a crunchy pecan crumble topping is a lightened up version of the classic. It’s the perfect side dish for your holiday meals! This recipe can easily be made vegan and gluten free too!
Sweet potato casserole is one of those traditional holiday recipes that cannot be skipped. There are so many delicious ways to enjoy sweet potatoes, but this healthy sweet potato casserole with pecan crumble topping is one of my favorites. The crunchy, nutty, buttery topping is simply amazing!
This comforting sweet potato casserole is really easy to make with simple ingredients, leaving the flavors of the sweet potatoes and pecans to really shine through. It’s so tasty you’re going to want to make it all of the time, and most certainly for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
Ingredients Needed:
This healthy sweet potato casserole tastes amazing and will complete your holiday meal! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Sweet potatoes – This recipe starts with fresh sweet potatoes that are boiled until soft and can be made into a puree.
- Oat milk – A small amount of milk helps to make the sweet potato filling super smooth and creamy. I like oat milk, but feel free to use whatever milk you prefer.
- Butter – Adds wonderful flavor and richness. Vegan butter works great too!
- Spices – For warm and cozy flavor, we’re using salt, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon.
- Pecan crumble topping – This crunchy topping is just fabulous when paired with the creamy sweet potatoes. It’s easy to make with rolled oats, almond flour, coconut sugar, chopped pecans, salt, nutmeg and melted butter or liquid coconut oil.
How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
For full, printable instructions, reference the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cook the sweet potatoes – Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until very soft, 20-25 minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes, return to the pan or transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Make the sweet potato filling – Add the oat milk, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Mash until smooth, with a potato masher or puree with an immersion blender. Scrape the mixture into a 3-quart baking dish and smooth the top.
- Make the pecan topping – Combine the oats, almond flour, coconut sugar, pecans, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter until the mixture clumps together. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potatoes in an even layer.
- Bake the casserole – Place the casserole in a preheated oven 25-30 minutes, until the topping is crisp and golden brown.
What to Serve with Sweet Potato Casserole
This sweet potato casserole pairs perfectly with a variety of meats. I serve this recipe with roasted turkey or ham for an amazing holiday meal. You can also serve sweet potato casserole alongside roasted chicken or steak for an everyday weeknight dinner.
Tips For Making Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
- Miss the marshmallows? Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows over the top during the last 5 minutes of the baking process. If you decide to do this, you can either keep the pecan topping or leave it off.
- I prefer to boil my sweet potatoes for this recipe, but you can also steam or roast the potatoes if you’d prefer.
- Don’t love pecans? Walnuts or even almonds are a great substitute.
- There are no eggs in this side dish, so it can easily be made dairy free and vegan! Simply, use a dairy-free milk and vegan butter.
- For gluten-free sweet potato casserole, just be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
Make Ahead
If you’re making this dish for Thanksgiving or another holiday and don’t want to spend extra time the day of prepping this recipe, you can make this sweet potato casserole up to one day ahead of time! I recommend prepping and storing the sweet potato filling and the pecan topping separately, so the pecan topping doesn’t get too soft. You’ll want to store each in an airtight container in the fridge.
On the day you plan to serve it, transfer the sweet potato mixture into a casserole dish, add the topping and bake per the instructions.
If you’d prefer the casserole be stored fully cooked, you can bake the entire casserole ahead of time. Once it’s completely cooled, cover it tightly and place it in the fridge for 1-2 days. To rewarm, heat the oven to 350°F and reheat the casserole for about 20 minutes, or until it’s warm.
I don’t recommend freezing this dish because the consistency would likely change.
Storing & Reheating
- Storing leftovers – store any leftover healthy sweet potato casserole covered in the baking pan or in separate, airtight containers in the fridge for up to four days.
- To reheat – simply rewarm a portion of the casserole in the microwave, or feel free to reheat the entire baking dish if you’d like to warm up more than one serving.
More Holiday Side Dishes
Looking for more side dish recipes to round out your holiday meal? Here are some family-favs:
- Green Bean Almondine
- Wild Rice Stuffing
- Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
- Dairy-Free Mashed Potatoes
- Savory Mashed Butternut Squash
If you make and enjoy this healthy sweet potato casserole recipe, be sure to leave a comment and ★ rating below letting me know how they turned out. Your feedback is so helpful for me and our Clean & Delicious community (thank you!).
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes:
- 3 pounds (1.3kg) sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- ¼ cup unsweetened oat milk or other nondairy milk
- 2 tablespoons butter can use vegan, as needed
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Topping:
- ½ cup (45g) rolled oats
- ¼ cup (28g) fine almond flour
- 2 tablespoons (30g) coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup (40g) chopped pecans
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup (60ml) melted butter or liquid coconut oil
Instructions
- Put the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until very soft, 20-25 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Drain the sweet potatoes, return to the pan or transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the oat milk, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Mash until smooth, with a potato masher or puree with an immersion blender. Scrape the mixture into a 3-quart baking dish and smooth the top.
- Make the topping: Combine the oats, almond flour, coconut sugar, pecans, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter until the mixture clumps together.
- Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potatoes in an even layer. Bake the casserole in the preheated oven 25-30 minutes, until the topping is crisp and golden brown.
Sung-Hee Pak says
My first try on this recipe, but I love it! The crumble topping was a little less toasted than I wanted, so the next time I’ll have to experiment with that! I have to say that his satisfies my sweet tooth! Thank you Dani!!