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Thanksgiving Day is a day that should be relaxing and full of delicious foods as you gather around the Thanksgiving table. However, meal planning for this big day can be stressful. This definitely isn’t the first holiday I’ve been scrambling to come up with side dishes that all of my guests will love.
After perfecting my new favorite holiday side dish, I’m finally be able to share with you a big winner at my holiday meal. Introducing you to my Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole. This is the best sweet potato casserole recipe I’ve enjoyed, and it’s a healthier version than the classic potato casserole. This will hands down be your new perfect Thanksgiving side dish.
Our sweet potato casserole is gluten-free and made with wholesome ingredients like roasted sweet potatoes, coconut milk, almond flour, and coconut sugar – no refined brown sugar or white sugar in this recipe!
Where’s the recipe?
Over here at My Crazy Good Life we not only like to create healthy recipes, but we try to make them as helpful and informative as possible. In this article, you’ll find ingredient information, detailed cooking instructions, recipe tips, and nutrition and healthy eating plan calculations.
If you’d like to get straight to the recipe, and bypass all the extra info, just scroll down to the bottom of the page where you’ll find the easy to print recipe card for this Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole!
Ingredients in Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
- Sweet potatoes: fresh sweet potatoes are a naturally sweet vegetable that is packed full of vitamins and minerals. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, like purple, orange, and white. I usually pick the orange variety for this recipe.
- Coconut sugar: coconut sugar is a healthier alternative to brown sugar or white sugar.
- Butter: I love the richness of butter in this recipe, but if you’d like to make this a vegan sweet potato casserole, you could use a vegan butter substitute like Earth Balance or coconut oil, though I’ve never tried it those ways.
- Vanilla extract: you really want to make sure you get real, pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla.
- Coconut milk: I like to use canned coconut milk for this recipe.
- Eggs: Aquafaba can be used as an egg substitute if you are wanting to modify the recipe to be completely vegan. https://mycrazygoodlife.com/what-is-aquafaba/
- Almond flour: I use almond flour to keep this recipe gluten free. If you don’t have almond flour, and don’t follow a gluten free diet, you could use whole wheat flour or oat flour – however I haven’t tried these substitutions personally.
- Pecans: pecans are a great crunchy topping and add flavor to this recipe! In addition to being delicious, they’re also a good source of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. If you have nut allergies, just omit the pecan topping from your recipe.
How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole in the Instant Pot/Oven
- Cook your sweet potatoes. (see recipe tips)
- In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes using a potato masher. Then add ½ cup coconut sugar, ½ cup of melted butter, vanilla, coconut milk, and eggs, and stir to combine. You can mix by hand or with an electric mixer. Make sure all large chunks are visible.
- Grease a casserole or baking dish and then add the sweet potato mixture to the dish. Spread with a spatula to create an even layer.
- In a medium sized bowl, add a ¼ cup of melted butter and a ¼ cup coconut sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then mix in almond flour and chopped pecans. Stir until well mixed and crumbly.
- Sprinkle the pecan mixture on top of the casserole.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF for 30 minutes.
Recipe tips
- I love to cook sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot, because they come out perfect every time and I can mash them right up! You can also bake, boil or use any other method that you prefer to get them cooked and mashable.
- I prefer to use canned coconut milk, but you can also use almond milk.
- If you’re following the 21 Day Fix and want more FIX approved Thanksgiving recipes, like green bean casserole, check out this post.
- Let the healthier sweet potato casserole cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container if any leftovers are remaining.
- If you are looking to make this vegan – substitute out regular butter for vegan butter or use coconut oil. You can also sub out the eggs for aquafaba or chia seeds.
Healthy eating plans
21 Day Fix
Entire recipe = 12 servings
Casserole plus topping per serving:
1/2 yellow container, 3 sweetener teaspoons, 3 oil teaspoon, about 1/12 red container (I wouldn’t even count this), and about 1/2 blue container.
2B Mindset
This recipe counts as a Fiber Filled Carb (FFC) or a silly carb, so you’ll still want to eat it in moderation and within the limits of the program. But, it’s not off limits like some marshmallow varieties would be.
Weight Watchers
Points per serving, using unsweetened almond milk in place of the coconut milk
11 Blue Plan Points | 12 Green Plan Points | 10 Purple Plan Points | 2023 Points: 12 (when using unsweetened almond milk)
Looking for more healthy holiday side dishes?
- My Healthy Thanksgiving Menu
- Perfect Instant Pot Roast Turkey
- Sweet Stuffed Acorn Squash
- Vegan Cauliflower Stuffing
- Mashed Cauliflower
- Garlic Rosemary Smashed Potatoes
- Dairy Free Butternut Squash Soup
- Roasted Cauliflower Steaks
- Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
Equipment
- Baking Dish
- Mixing Bowls
- Instant Pot 6 qt
Ingredients
Bottom Layer:
- 3 cups sweet potato boiled, peeled, and mashed
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup coconut milk or almond milk
- 2 eggs
Optional: salt to taste
Topping:
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Cook your sweet potatoes. (see recipe tips) 3 cups sweet potato
- In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes using a potato masher. Then add coconut sugar, melted butter, vanilla, coconut milk, and eggs, and stir to combine. You can mix by hand or with an electric mixer. Make sure all large chunks are visible. ½ cup coconut sugar, ½ cup butter, 1 tsp vanilla, ½ cup coconut milk, 2 eggs
- Grease a casserole or baking dish and then add the sweet potato mixture to the dish. Spread with a spatula to create an even layer.
- In a medium sized bowl, add a ¼ cup of melted butter and a ¼ cup coconut sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then mix in almond flour and chopped pecans. Stir until well mixed and crumbly. ¼ cup butter, ¼ cup coconut sugar, ½ cup almond flour, ½ cup pecans
- Sprinkle the pecan mixture on top of the casserole.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF for 30 minutes.
Notes
- I love to cook sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot, because they come out perfect every time and I can mash them right up! You can also bake, boil or use any other method that you prefer to get them cooked and mashable.
- I like to use canned coconut milk, but you can also use almond milk.
- If you’re following the 21 Day Fix and want more FIX approved Thanksgiving recipes, like green bean casserole, check out this post.
- Let the healthier sweet potato casserole cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container if any leftovers are remaining.
- If you are looking to make this vegan – substitute out regular butter for vegan butter or use coconut oil. You can also sub out the eggs for aquafaba or chia seeds.
- 11 Blue Plan Points | 12 Green Plan Points | 10 Purple Plan Points | 2023 Points: 12 (when using unsweetened almond milk)
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Would this be 21 day fix approved and if so how would I count it
Hi there! Per serving, this would be 1Y, 2 sweetener teaspoons, 2 oil teaspoons, about 1/6R, and about 3/4B ;) I’ll add that to the recipe now!
Hi! I made this for today and it is amazing and a huge hit! Thanks so much!
What size pan do you use to bake the sweet potato casserole in?
Typically a 9×13 casserole dish!
How many sweet potatoes normally produce 3 cups of mash?? I would like to make this for Thanksgiving
It depends on the size of your potatoes, but could be anywhere from 1-2 potatoes per cup :)