Nothing goes better in Fresh Sweet Potato casserole than the flavors of butter, vanilla, and a brown sugar nut topping. This naturally sweet vegetable serves well alongside any main dish or as a dessert to end a delicious meal.
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Traditionally, sweet potatoes are served at Thanksgiving and are always welcome in this casserole dish at our annual feasting table.
This recipe is from my mother-in-law. Soon after I married her son, I had to learn to cook. It was a must for survival. My sister-in-law was shocked one day to see my hands with multiple cuts on them. When she asked what happened, I said, "I'm learning how to cut up a chicken."
I questioned my mama why she didn't teach me how to cook, and she told me no one taught her either. We must have inherited the"sink or swim" tradition. Maybe it's because we took good food for granted until we had to learn for ourselves.
For more recipes to go with these sweet potatoes all year round, check out 20 Cajun Thanksgiving Recipes For Your Holiday Menu. From appetizers to desserts, they may steer you away from your traditional Thanksgiving meal, but they won't disappoint!
The Louisiana Sweet Potatoes
Every Christmas, we get a box of Louisiana sweet potatoes from friends in South Louisiana. They call it their candy, and they are right in doing so. This year we got them a little early with instructions not to eat them until after the 17th day of November. Someone had calculated their peak of flavor to the day, just in time for Thanksgiving.
Assembling The Casserole
The casserole is made with mashed sweet potatoes, so you can bake or boil them until they are cooked tender.
The butter, sugar, and vanilla blend well with the sweet potatoes. That's what makes them so irresistibly delicious. The eggs and milk help to bind and moisten the casserole dish.
The crunchy topping of brown sugar, butter, and pecans adds texture and flavor that complete this masterpiece. This makes me hungry!
More Recipes To Serve With Fresh Sweet Potato Casserole
- Brined And Roasted Turkey
- Cheesy, Creamy Green Bean Casserole
- Cornbread Dressing
- Louisiana Rice Dressing
- Congealed Salad, Lime Or Cherry Flavored
- Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad With Step-By-Step Instructions
- Fresh Fruit Salad
- Tropical Fruit Salad, A Mama’s Invention
Recipe
Fresh Sweet Potato Casserole
Serve this Sweet Potato Casserole with its brown sugar and nut topping as a side dish or dessert.
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes
- 3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Nut Topping
Instructions
Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9 x 13 x 2-inch casserole dish.
- Mix the potatoes, butter, eggs, sugar, milk, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl and pour into the prepared dish.
Nut Topping
- Mix the nut topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of the potatoes.
- Garnish with the rest of the pecans.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Peel and cube sweet potatoes to boil in water until they are tender, or bake them whole in the oven until fork-tender and scoop them out of the skins and into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
The hot potatoes with melt the butter when mixing the ingredients together.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: side dish / sweets
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: sweet potato casserole
Thanksgiving And Sweet Potatoes
The tradition of sweet potatoes served at Thanksgiving has traveled long since the first feast with the new settlers and Native Americans. It was November 1621, to be exact. So while continuing this feasting with thankfulness, we don't forget the sweet potato and its health benefits. It's loaded with fiber, vitamins C, and beta-carotene. If you're interested in learning more about the root vegetable, click here for Sweet Potato Facts & Tips from the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission.
You may be thinking, "This sweet potato casserole sure adds a lot of fluff camouflaging those healthy qualities." But I say, "You can eat a plain sweet potato any day of the year, but an occasional festive indulgence doesn't hurt." It's so worth it!
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Have a nice day!
"In happy moments, PRAISE GOD. In difficult moments, SEEK GOD. In quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. In painful moments, TRUST GOD. In every moment, THANK GOD.
Rick Warren
