Simple Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet potato casserole with pecan topping is so easy to make and is perfect for your holiday meals! This dairy free gluten free sweet potato casserole is sweetened with maple syrup and is paleo and can be made vegan or Whole30 friendly! This healthy recipe can be made ahead if needed, you won't believe how simple this is to make!
Servings 8 servings
Calories 235kcal
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potato
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 egg whites or 3 tbsp. nut/seed butter for vegan
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Topping
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans roasted sunflower seeds for nut free
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp almond flour see below for substitutions
- 1 tbsp avocado oil or coconut oil or melted ghee
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- Cook 3 pounds sweet potatoes in oven, instant pot, on the stove or in the microwave (see below for instruction).
- While the sweet potatoes are cooking, make the topping by combining the chopped pecans, coconut sugar, almond flour, avocado oil and ground cinnamon. Stir well and set aside.
- Peel the skin from the cooked sweet potatoes and mash until smooth.
- Add the egg whites, ground cinnamon, maple syrup and pinch of salt to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer (optional). If no mixer, whip egg whites first to incorporate more air (you can also use a large food processor).
- Spray a casserole dish with non-stick and add the sweet potato mixture and smooth it down with a spatula or back of a spoon.
- Sprinkle the pecan topping over sweet potato layer and bake in 375F oven for 40 minutes, covering with foil for the first 20 minutes to protect the pecans from burning.
Video
Notes
How to cook sweet potatoes:
- Instant Pot: Place trivet in the instant pot, add 1 cup of water. Stack the sweet potatoes on top of the trivet and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow pressure to naturally release. After cooking, the skin will easily peel off the potatoes.
- Oven: Preheat the oven to 450F. Prick the skin 1-2 times with a fork and bake on a baking sheet for at least an hour. Allow to cool and peel the skin from the potatoes.
- Stove: Peel the potatoes and chop the potatoes into equal size cubes (about 1 inch). Cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are fork tender (you can easily insert a fork and they pretty much fall apart). Drain off all water from cooking before mashing.
- Microwave: Prick sweet potatoes 2-3 times with a fork. Place in microwave and microwave 10-15 minutes, depending on strength of your microwave. Allow to cool before peeling away the skin.
- Cook and mash sweet potatoes.
- In a bowl combine mash sweet potatoes, 2-3 tbsp. favorite nut or seed butter (tahini, almond butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter), maple syrup, cinnamon and pinch of salt. Whip with hand mixer or stand mixer if possible (or use your food processor).
- Add sweet potato mixture to casserole dish.
- Make the pecan topping, sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.
- Cook in 375F oven for 20 minutes.
- Cook and mash the potatoes.
- Soak 3-5 dates (pit removed) in hot water at least 15 minutes. Drain the hot water and blend up the dates in a high speed blender or food processor. Use this date mixture in place of the maple syrup.
- Add dates, egg whites, cinnamon and salt to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix well.
- Put sweet potato mixture in a casserole dish.
- For the topping finely chop 5 dates (pitted) and mix with chopped pecans, avocado oil and cinnamon until combined.
- Distribute topping over sweet potato mixture. Bake in 350F oven for 40 minutes, covering the dish for the first 30 minutes.
- This is a great dish to make the night before if you are preparing for a holiday meal. You will want to make the sweet potato layer and the pecan topping but do not combine them until right before serving if possible (the pecans can get soggy). Store the sweet potato mixture in the fridge and the pecan topping in an air tight container on the counter or in the fridge.
- If you have time, bake the sweet potato layer at 350F for 20 minutes. Allow it to cool, cover it and store in the fridge. The day you are serving this, add the pecan topping and bake 375F for 25 minutes.
- If you don’t have time to bake this the night before, add the sweet potato mixture to the casserole dish, cover and store in the fridge. The day you are serving this, add the pecan topping and bake 375F for 40 minutes, covering the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes of baking.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 15g