For the love of all that is good, step away from the canned yams and marshmallows and give this sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecan crusted topping a try this year! Once you taste this creamy, sweet deliciousness you will need it as a staple for your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table forever more. It’s a family holiday favorite!
This decadent sweet potato recipe has graced our families holiday dinner tables for more years than I can remember and has been known to change the minds of people who didn’t think they even liked sweet potatoes. The pecan and brown sugar crust is what makes it irresistible. It is the perfect combination of silky potato goodness with sweet crunchy topping. Honestly, it could almost pass for dessert! Trust me, give this baked sweet potato casserole a try and you will never use those marshmallows or canned yams again!
Update: I’ve updated the oven baked method based on feedback that some sweet potatoes can drip maybe depending on how big your sweet potatoes are and leave a mess in your oven – you can definitely bake the sweet potatoes on a foil lined baking tray to avoid having to clean up any mess – I’ve never had this happen, but I use pretty big sweet potatoes – if you are using smaller ones, you may want to start checking them at 30 minutes!
A couple of tips for this recipe:
- You can do the initial cook of the sweet potatoes for this recipe either one of two ways. The first way, (my favorite), is to wash them, prick them, then throw them in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Take them out, let them cool enough that you can handle them, then cut them in half and scoop the potato out of the skin. Done! The second way is to peel the sweet potatoes, cut in to chunks, then boil them 15-20 minutes until they are fork tender, drain and done. Both ways work perfectly – I prefer throwing them in the oven early in the morning, especially on a holiday – then they are cooked and ready to assemble whenever I’m ready.
- We like a LOT of topping on our potatoes – it’s our favorite part of the casserole, so feel free to half the amount of topping if you want to – but my family LOVE it just like this.
- Don’t add the eggs if your potato mixture is too hot – they will scramble. Make sure and let the potatoes cool off a bit and mash in all the other ingredients first, then mash or stir in the beaten eggs.
Ingredients:
Topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Sweet potato mixture:
- 3-4 large sweet potatoes
- 1 stick butter, (1/2 cup), melted and cooled
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs, well beaten
Instructions:
- Pick one of these two methods for cooking your sweet potatoes. Baking them is my fav because it feels like less much work to me:
- Preheat the oven to 400. Wash the sweet potatoes, pat dry, then prick with a fork all over. Bake sweet potatoes on the rack or (to avoid the chance of any dripping) on a foil lined baking sheet at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour or until fork tender. (Size of potatoes will determine how long they need – if they are smaller start checking at 30 minutes.) Remove from oven and let them cool 15-20 minutes, then slice in half and scoop out the potato from the skins in to a large mixing bowl and mash. (Discard skins.) OR
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut in to chunks. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Drain the potatoes and place them in a large mixing bowl then mash.
- To bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 11×7, 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- For topping: Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in small mixing bowl and set aside.
- To make the sweet potato filling: To the mashed sweet potato’s, add the melted butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla and stir well.
- Mix in the beaten eggs thoroughly and pour the potato mixture in to your prepared baking dish.
- “Sprinkle” the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the topping mixture. (It’s wet, but use your fingers and sprinkle it over to get it as even as you can.)
- Bake for 30 minutes uncovered and then allow to set at least 20 minutes before serving.
Note: If you want to make this the night before, just make the sweet potato mixture and store covered in a tupperware without the topping in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. When ready, transfer the sweet potato mixture to a baking dish, throw on the topping and bake. (Let it bake a little longer as it will be cold.)
Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole
Ruth's Chris sweet potato casserole is creamy & sweet covered in a crispy brown sugar pecan topping - this is the only sweet potato recipe you need!
EQUIPMENT (Amazon Associate Links)
Ingredients
Topping
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Sweet Potato Mixture
- 3-4 large sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled (1 stick)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs well beaten
Instructions
Pick one of these two methods for cooking your sweet potatoes:
- Preheat the oven to 400. Wash the sweet potatoes, pat dry, then prick with a fork all over. Bake sweet potatoes on the rack or (to avoid the chance of any dripping) on a foil lined baking sheet at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour or until fork tender. (Size of potatoes will determine how long they need - if they are smaller start checking at 30 minutes.) Remove from oven and let them cool 15-20 minutes, then slice in half and scoop out the potato from the skins in to a large mixing bowl and mash. (Discard skins.)
OR
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut in to chunks. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Drain the potatoes and place them in a large mixing bowl then mash.
To bake the casserole:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 11×7, 8x8 or 9×9 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- For topping: Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in small mixing bowl and set aside.
- To make the sweet potato filling: To the mashed sweet potato’s, add the melted butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla and stir well.
- Mix in the beaten eggs thoroughly and pour the potato mixture in to your prepared baking dish.
- “Sprinkle” the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the topping mixture. (It’s wet, but use your fingers and sprinkle it over to get it as even as you can.)
- Bake for 30 minutes uncovered and then allow to set at least 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
A couple of tips for this recipe:
- You can do the initial cook of the sweet potatoes for this recipe either one of two ways. The first way, (my favorite), is to wash them, prick them, then throw them in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Take them out, let them cool enough that you can handle them, then cut them in half and scoop the potato out of the skin. Done! The second way is to peel the sweet potatoes, cut in to chunks, then boil them 15-20 minutes until they are fork tender, drain and done. Both ways work perfectly – I prefer throwing them in the oven early in the morning, especially on a holiday – then they are cooked and ready to assemble whenever I’m ready.
- We like a LOT of topping on our potatoes – it’s our favorite part of the casserole, so feel free to half the amount of topping if you want to – but my family LOVE it just like this.
- Don’t add the eggs if your potato mixture is too hot – they will scramble. Make sure and let the potatoes cool off a bit and mash in all the other ingredients first, then mash or stir in the beaten eggs.
Would you recommend doing everything the same even if I’m omitting nuts?
I have never tried it without nuts, however, I have substituted rolled oats for nuts in that kind of topping in other recipes and it worked well!
Do you use light or dark brown sugar?
I usually use light because that is what I keep on hand but you could use either! 🙂
Could you use canned yams and if so, how many 40 oz cans would I use. Of course, I would drain them.
I have not used canned yams for this but you should be able to substitute if you get ones that are not candied or have added sugar. (If you use candied, you will want to reduce the sugar you add to the potatoes or it will be too sweet.) You should only need 1 (40oz) can, (drained as you mentioned.) Let me know how it turns out if you try it!
How many people does it serve
A little goes a long way – we serve 12 with this.
I will say I decided to do the potatoes on the oven rack. I referred back and followed the direction as should be. What a mess I had! The potatoes dripped and the sugars in them were a sticky burnt mess on the rack and bottom of oven. I’ve done regular potatoes this way, not sure about this method for sweet potatoes. Thoughts?
Interesting, I’ve never had this happen, but I use pretty big potatoes – did you use smaller ones? It’s possible they were done quicker! Thank you for sharing the feedback – you could absolutely put them on a foil lined baking tray – I’ll update the directions to suggest this!