Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Casserole

By Marian Burros

Updated Nov. 12, 2025

Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Casserole
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
2 hours
Rating
4(3,548)
Comments
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This version of the classic Thanksgiving side dish forgoes the traditional marshmallow topping for a generous sprinkle of brown sugar, butter and pecans. You get crunchy, soft and sweet all in one glorious bite.

Featured in: On Thanksgiving, What's a Chef to Do?

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 4medium-large sweet potatoes (about 3 pounds)
  • 6tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼cup orange juice
  • ¼cup heavy cream or whole milk
  • 3½tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½teaspoon salt

    • For the Topping

    • 3tablespoons unsalted butter, softened slightly
    • ½cup dark brown sugar
    • ¾cup chopped pecans
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

349 calories; 19 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 221 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    To make the casserole, heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes until very tender, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Remove and let cool. Reduce heat to 350 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half, scoop out flesh and mash until smooth. You should have about 4 cups. Using a hand mixer, mix in brown sugar, orange juice, heavy cream, butter, vanilla and salt. Place in a casserole dish.

  3. Step 3

    To make the topping, combine the butter, brown sugar and pecans. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
3,548 user ratings
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Comments

mk

How far ahead can you bake the sweet potatoes? Thank you!

SpomerE

Can this be made ahead of time?

Bea

Why all the sugar? There is sugar in the orange juice and sweet potatoes are already sweet. I am going to make this without added sugar in the main part of the dish and half the amount of sugar recommended for the topping. Has anyone tried that yet?

kes

I absolutely love sweet potatoes and have cooked them every way imaginable. This might be my favorite recipe. Somebody drank the last of the orange juice that I bought for this recipe so I substituted about the only thing I had which was sugar free ginger ale. I also roasted the sweet potatoes 1h 30m instead of 1h 20m. They were beautifully carmelizing.

Stephanie G

Really great and easy recipe. I agree that there's no need for sugar in the sweet potatoes, just in the topping. Adding a couple tablespoons of bourbon and a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg are great in the sweet potato mix. Made it all one day ahead and finished the last 30 minutes of baking just before serving.

Elleville

This was very tasty, but overly sweet. My mods included adding some orange zest, substituting some maple syrup in the topping mixture. I would make it again, but with less sugar, and probably add cinnamon and cayenne or chili crisp to make it more interesting.

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