Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole made with fresh sweet potatoes, sweetened with a touch of maple syrup, and finished with the perfect pecan streusel topping.

The Best Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

This is the best every healthy sweet potato casserole! Can I say that? I’m saying that.

This healthy sweet potato casserole is made with roasted sweet potatoes, cozy cinnamon, creamy coconut milk, and real maple syrup for the most delicious sweet potato filling. Then, we take things to the next level with a delicious and super easy to make pecan streusel topping.

This healthier spin on the classic side dish is absolutely delicious and such a crowd pleasing dish. Plus, it’s entirely gluten-free and I include dairy-free and nut-free options below just in case you need those, too.

Watch How to Make This Recipe

More Sweet Potato Recipes

casserole ingredients

Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Ingredients

Note: full ingredients list & measurements provided in the Recipe Card, below.

  • Sweet potatoes
  • Full fat coconut milk
  • Maple syrup
  • Ghee or butter
  • Vanilla extract
  • Cinnamon
  • Ground ginger
  • Ground nutmeg
  • Egg
  • Gluten-free oats
  • Almond flour
  • Pecans
  • Dark brown sugar

roasted sweet potatoes

The Best Way to Cook Sweet Potatoes

Roast: This is my preferred way of cooking the sweet potatoes in this casserole because it is incredibly easy, develops flavor, and is also a very hands off way of prepping the sweet potatoes. All you have to do is prick the sweet potatoes on the outside with a fork or knife and then roast them on a lined sheet pan for forty-five minutes to an hour until tender. You can check out this post on how to roast sweet potatoes for all my favorite tips and tricks!

Boil: If you do not want to roast the sweet potatoes, boiling them is another great option. All you need is a large stock pot filled with water to do this. You can boil the sweet potatoes whole, with the skin on, or peel them and dice them into large chunks. Boil the sweet potatoes until tender.

Microwave: If you are really pressed for time, you can also microwave your sweet potatoes. To do this, just prick the sweet potatoes on the outside with a knife or fork, four or five times. Place a single potato on a microwave safe plate and microwave for five minutes. The potato should be fork tender all the way to the center once it is done. If the potato is still hard, you can continue to microwave if for one minutes at a time until fully tender.

streusel ingredients

How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole

Note: full ingredients list & measurements provided in the Recipe Card, below.

Step One: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place them on a sheet pan lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake the sweet potatoes until they are fork tender. This usually takes around one hour. Once the potatoes are tender, remove them from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Step Two: Peel the sweet potatoes (the skins should easily slip off) and add the sweet potato flesh to a large mixing bowl. Next, add the coconut milk, maple syrup, ghee, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and egg to the mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to beat everything until smooth and creamy. You can add an extra splash of coconut milk if you want the potatoes to be creamier.

Step Three: Transfer the sweet potatoes to a 9×13 baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the potatoes evenly in the casserole dish.

Step Four: Next, make the pecan streusel topping. Combine the oats, pecans, almond flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Use your hands to work the butter into the oat mixture until the butter is fully incorporated and you have a crumb like streusel topping.

Step Five: Sprinkle the streusel topping over the sweet potatoes. Bake the casserole at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the casserole is golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy! 

casserole before baking

How to Make a Dairy Free or Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole

I like to use butter in this casserole, but if you need to keep things entirely dairy-free, feel free to substitute it for ghee or coconut oil. If you are choosing to use ghee or coconut oil in the streusel topping, be sure that it is room temperature and semi-solid, not melted.

Need to Make The Casserole Nut-Free?

If you need to keep this sweet potato casserole nut free, you can use oat flour, all-purpose flour, or gluten-free flour instead of almond flour in the streusel topping. You can also leave leave out the pecans altogether. If the streusel topping seems a little too sticky without the pecans, just add in another half cup of oats to the mix.

All About Prepping The Casserole Ahead of Time

  • Cook the sweet potatoes ahead of time. One way to prep this casserole in advance is to cook your sweet potatoes in advance. Once they are cooked, just store them in the fridge until you are ready to make the casserole.
  • Prep and assemble the sweet potato casserole. If you want to go ahead and do most of the work, you can prep the sweet potato casserole in advance and store covered in the fridge until you are ready to bake the next day. Let the casserole come to room temperature before baking.
  • Bake the sweet potato casserole and heat the next day. If you would like, you can also fully make and bake the casserole a day in advance and just warm it up before serving!

sweet potato casserole in bowls

More Thanksgiving Recipes to Serve

Here are few more of our reader favorite Thanksgiving recipes to add your menu this holiday season:

Get all of our best Thanksgiving recipes, here!

I hope you give this Sweet Potato Casserole a try! They are so easy to make and delicious! If you do give this recipe a try, let me know! 

Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews and ratings help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you trust and love.

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healthy sweet potato casserole in pan

Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 8 reviews
  • Author: Ashlea Carver
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Sides
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Description

Healthy sweet potato casserole made with fresh sweet potatoes, sweetened with a touch of maple syrup, and finished with the perfect pecan streusel topping.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes (roughly 3 large sweet potatoes)
  • 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon ghee or butter (melted)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • Pinch of sea salt

For the Pecan Streusel Topping

  • 1 ½ cups gluten free oats
  • ½ cup almond flour
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
  • 6 tablespoons butter

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
  2. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place them on a sheet pan lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake the sweet potatoes until they are fork tender. This usually takes around one hour. Once the potatoes are tender, remove them from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  3. Peel the sweet potatoes (the skins should easily slip off) and add the sweet potato flesh to a large mixing bowl. Next, add the coconut milk, maple syrup, ghee, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and egg to the mixing bowl. Use an electric beater to beat everything until smooth and creamy. You can add an extra splash of coconut milk if you want the potatoes to be creamier. 
  4. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a 9×13 baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the potatoes evenly in the casserole dish. 
  5. Next, make the pecan streusel topping. Combine the oats, pecans, almond flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Use your hands to work the butter into the oat mixture until the butter is fully incorporated and you have a crumb like streusel topping.
  6. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the sweet potatoes. Bake the casserole at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the casserole is golden brown. 
  7. Serve warm and enjoy!

Recipe by: Ashlea Carver / All the Healthy Things | Photography by: Casey Colodny / THE MINDFUL HAPA

 

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20 Comments

  1. Hi Ashlea! Looks fabulous! What do you think about subbing the brown sugar out for coconut sugar? I rarely ever use brown sugar but do have coconut sugar on hand. Also, thank you for sub ideas for the almond flour. Would the King Arthur Gluten Free Flour (what I have on hand) work? I do plan on adding the pecans, but just don’t have almond flour.

    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      Hi, Amy! Yes – I think subbing coconut sugar would work great! I think using some gluten free flour could work too, if the crumble seems a bit too dry you can add a bit more butter if needed. Hope that helps!

      1. More butter is always better IMO! 😉 Thank you, I’m going to give it a try and report back! Would it be sacralegious to add GF marshmallows in the strussel topping (asking for a friend LOL)?

      2. Ashlea Carver says:

        Haha, I don’t think a few GF marshmallows could hurt! Happy holidays!

  2. I am always trying different sweet potato casserole recipes but not anymore. This will be my go to! It was perfect!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      Thrilled to hear that, Kate!

  3. Such a good recipe! We had to sub a flax egg because I ran out of eggs right before I made this, but it still worked great! Will definitely keep making this year after year!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      yay! so glad it worked out, Megan! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!

  4. Made this recipe for thanksgiving and love love loved it! Will 100% be making again. The topping is delicious!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      Yay! happy you loved the recipe, Colleen!

  5. Alison Pierce says:

    Made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! I had to leave out the pecans but I added the extra oatmeal as recommended and it turned out great. So good!!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      so glad you loved it, Alison!

  6. I made this for a small Thanksgiving gathering with my brother and sister-in-law, and it turned out great! Just enough sweetness with a perfect crunch from the topping. Unless your oven runs super hot I would recommend roasting the sweet potatoes for the full hour. I tested mine at 45 minutes and pulled the smaller ones out since they slid off the fork fairly easily, but I still had several harder pieces that refused to blend in with the mixture (a quick pop in the microwave and mashing with a fork fixed that). I cut the potatoes into pieces after peeling but will probably mash a bit more before adding other ingredients next time to make it easier. Despite needing to finesse my technique a bit, the flavors were amazing!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      Glad you loved the recipe, Kristen and thank you so much for sharing those helpful notes with everyone!

  7. Ashlea nailed this. The topping to sweet potato ratio is perfect-i love a generous topping. Looking forward to enjoying the leftovers for breakfast!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      thank you so much, Amanda! I love a generous topping, too. Sounds like you’re my kind of people! So happy you enjoyed the recipe!

  8. Mary Katherine Cheeley says:

    Made for the first time today. So good! I love that it seems lighter simply by the topping being streusel and not sticky. It was a hit with everyone else too!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      So happy to hear it was a hit with everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review!

  9. This was so yummy!!!!! The crumble topping was *to die for* ….definitely didn’t scrape that off the top or anything… 😛






  10. Rachael Ryan says:

    I’m doing thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws for the first time this year, which means only about 2 people will be eating sweet potatoes this year. So you think it would be easy enough to just cut everything in half to make a smaller portion?
    Thanks!