Everyone loves this healthy sweet potato casserole with a crunchy oatmeal pecan topping. It’s lighter in sugar, absolutely delicious, vegan and gluten-free!
Sweet potato casserole has always been my FAVORITE holiday dish. Growing up my mom made it three times a year — Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter — and I was always so pumped to have it. Creamy sweet potatoes topped with a crunchy pecan and brown sugar topping = the best!
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Video:
I finally decided to use my mom’s classic sweet potato casserole recipe as a guide to make a healthy sweet potato casserole that’s made with better for you ingredients but not so “healthy” you don’t feel comfortable sharing it with family for a holiday meal. You know what I mean here, right? There are certain healthy recipes that I make for myself and Isaac and I LOVE them but I wouldn’t bring them to a party or a holiday dinner. This sweet potato casserole isn’t one of those recipes. It’s meant to be shared. We LOVE this healthy version of sweet potato casserole so much… maybe even a tiny bit more than mom’s, but we’ll keep that a secret.
My mom’s recipe uses canned yams, white sugar, white flour, eggs and butter. With a few small tweaks I was able to make a healthier version that’s also dairy-free and gluten-free!
Fresh sweet potatoes
Oat (or almond) flour and oatmeal for the topping
Coconut oil and flaxseed to replace the butter and eggs
Maple syrup instead of white sugar to sweeten the filling.
The one thing I didn’t change was the brown sugar for the topping. I wanted to make sure it still came out crunchy like the original version so I stuck with organic brown sugar. Coconut sugar might works well too if you happen to have that on hand.
Prepping the Casserole Ahead of Time
If you’re hosting Thanksgiving or don’t want to spend your holiday morning making your dish to share, you can prep this healthy sweet potato casserole ahead of time! I prefer to prep the sweet potato base, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and then prep the topping separately. On Thanksgiving morning, you can add the base to a casserole dish, add the topping and bake! If you just want to get it all done, you can bake the entire casserole ahead of time and keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. I don’t recommend freezing it because the consistency would likely change.
Need More Ideas? Here Are My Other Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes:
If you make this healthy sweet potato casserole be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how it turns out. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and our readers!
You (and your family) will love this healthy sweet potato casserole with a crunchy pecan topping. It’s lighter in sugar, absolutely delicious, vegan and gluten-free!
Ingredients
8 cups sweet potatoes (about 4 large potatoes)
1 cup canned coconut milk (light or regular)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup gluten-free old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup gluten-free oat flour or almond flour
3–4 tablespoons coconut oil, in solid form
Instructions
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into large chunks. Place the chunks in a large saucepan and cover with cold water, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer until the sweet potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Once done, drain well and let cool.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F and spray a little cooking spray on a 9×13 or 9×9 inch casserole dish.
In a mixing bowl, combine the pecans, oats, oat flour, and brown sugar. Cut in coconut oil with a fork or knife until the mixture is sandy with pea-sized chunks of oil. Set aside.
Place sweet potatoes into a large bowl and mash them with fork before adding coconut milk, maple syrup, oil, flaxseed, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to the bowl. Mix until everything is combined.
Spoon the sweet potato mixture into the prepared dish and sprinkle on the brown sugar and pecan mixture. Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the sweet potatoes are bubbling.
This recipe is AMAZING! My family loved it and it’s definitely a keeper. The coconut milk helps keep it creamy, and the spice combination is incredible. Thanks for providing a healthy and delicious take on a classic. ❤️
Oh yay!! I’m so glad you tried and loved this casserole, Lysandra! It’s one of my all-time faves. I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating. The ratings are super helpful to other readers!
This looks delicious and I plan to make for thanksgiving. Can you sub canned sweet potato in place of baking sweet potatoes? I just purchased a few cans from Whole Foods and am hoping I can use them as a shortcut! Thanks!
I made this recipe for a Friendsgiving with my mom’s group and it was a huge hit! So delicious! I’ll be making another pan for Thanksgiving. And sharing the recipe with my sister who is gluten and dairy intolerant. Thanks for a delicious recipe!
I’ve been making this casserole 2 years in a row now for both my family Thanksgiving dinners and Friendsgiving too and it’s always a hit! I have multiple family / friends that are gf or vegan so this is always my go-to recipe. Love it!
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Monica! I’m so glad this casserole is a hit with your family and friends. Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment / star rating. I so appreciate it! <3
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Anna. I’m so glad the casserole was a hit! I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating. They are super helpful to other EBF readers. <3
This was so good! I made it a for a Friendsgiving and people were grateful it wasn’t loaded with refined sugars. I cubed and roasted my sweet potatoes with a little avocado oil before mashing so they carmelized a bit more and it turned out great.
Hi Morgan – Yes, you can use coconut milk instead of almond milk. If you’re going to take out the flaxseed I would use 1 egg in place of it because the flaxseed replaces the egg in this recipe.
Brittany, my wife utilized the Oatmeal Cookie recipe. She interchanged 1/4 cup of flour with a 1/4 cup of ground flax meal and reducecd 1/4 cup of Oatmeal and added 1/4 of Almond Meal. She substituted Coconut Oil with Avacado Oil. Next time we would increase the spices to our taste. We used raisins and walnuts in our recipe. Delicious. Thank you for sharing. David & Diana Herbek
Hi David, I’m so happy to hear that you and your wife tried and enjoyed this recipe. I’m glad it turned out well with your modifications. I’m sure the added raisins and walnuts were delicious. And thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it! The ratings are super helpful to other EBF readers.
Thank you, Brittany. The combination of sweet potato + maple syrup + vanilla + cinnamon + nutmeg + pecans is a match made in heaven. I’ve added this recipe to a mini sweet potato recipe roundup for flexitarians.
Goood day!This is kid off off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog.
Is it tough to seet upp your own blog? I’m nnot very techincal but I can figure things out
pretty quick. I’mthinking about creating my ownn bbut I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips
or suggestions? Appreciate it
Hi, saw this on Instagram, great!
I’m european though, and it seems
confusing, is this casserole a dessert,
or a side dish for main meal
One comment was for breakfast?
how would you
catagorise it! Thanks
Mairi-a: A sweet potato casserole is a traditional side dish for a main meal, especially a meal for the holidays or for a social event in the U.S. There are many traditional American recipes for sweet potato pie, which is a dessert and would contain very similar ingredients (brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, etc.). The chief difference is pastry dough for pie, and only a streusel topping for the casserole.
Breakfast casseroles are not as popular in the U.S. as sweetened cereal, but we typically make them egg-based, similar to quiche and are often light on vegetables and heavy on meat. Having this sweet potato casserole for breakfast is not a traditional suggestion, but a very good way to increase the consumption of vegetables.
Older, more traditional American recipes tend to emphasize sweet preparations with this particular root vegetable, but other cultures tend to prepare them with more savory ingredients.
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving, and it was great! I loved the flavor of the sweet potatoes and the crunchy topping. Delicious, and healthier than so may other recipe. A keeper – I will definitely make it again.
Made your sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. It camer out delicious! I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe. I roasted the sweet potatoes to add in the carmelized flavor. Worked great! I omitted the coconut oil and used almond butter for the topping. I omitted the coconut oil in the sweet potato mixture and replaced with a homemade walnut butter since it adds a buttery flavor. Worked great making it ahead then adding the prepared crumb topping just before putting in the oven.
Initially, I planned to double the recipe, but due to sick guests cancelling after I baked the sweet potatoes, I’m going to make the second batch today and freeze it. I think I’ll freeze it in a zip lock bag molded to the size of the baking dish so it won’t have to be defrosted to fit the dish.
Definitely a keeper recipe! Thank you for taking the time to create such a wonderful recipe.
We tried this new recipe for our family Thanksgiving. Now that we have a dairy-free nephew, we have to give up our old (butter-filled) recipes and search out new ones. THIS ONE IS AWESOME!!! Give it a try with your families this year! You won’t be disappointed.
Yay!! This makes me so happy, Allison. And I’m totally with ya on having the leftovers for breakfast. That might be the best part about making this. Also, thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it and I know other readers will appreciate it as well. 🙂
Please help!!! This is my favorite sweet potato casserole recipe and I just went to look at it again because I plan on making it for Easter and the recipe isn’t coming up. I used my phone and the computer so I’m thinking it’s not just me. Can you please send me the recipe or try to get it loaded back onto this page? It will be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Becky! Thanks so much for letting me know about the recipe issue. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but the recipe is updated now! I hope you enjoy the casserole this weekend. Happy Easter.
This was my favourite recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole, I last made it at Christmas, but now you can’t see the recipe on your website! It just shows all the pics but not the list of ingredients or instructions. Please help!! Can you repost this recipe?
I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. I’ve been making some changes to the back-end of my site to help speed things up and this recipe was deleted in the process. I went in and updated it so it should be good to go. Enjoy!
Hooray!! This casserole is one of my favorites from childhood so I LOVE being able to share this healthier version with you and your family. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment too. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Do you mix in the liquid portion of the canned coconut milk or just measure 1 cup of the solid cream part? This looks perfect for this year’s feast, thank you for republishing the recipe!!
What else would work instead of almond flour? It comes in large quantities and afraid it will go to waste. Want to make this for Thanksgiving for a brother-in-law who is gluten free.
Looks amazing!! I want to make this recipe this year for thanksgiving and have family with nut allergies, would the recipe work with vegan marshmallows instead of the nut topping (even though it looks delicious!)
This looks amazing! Can you confirm if you’re using regular coconut milk (like drinking milk) or the coconut milk that comes in a can and is thicker? Also by chance do you have the recipe for the mini version? I’d love to make a small portion just for me on any given day ????
The vegan version I made this year was almost the same. Except I add coconut to my sweet potatoes, some unsweetened Cashew milk and use Agave for sweetener. (In the past I used Eagle Brand milk so I was looking for a healthier substitute. I did not tell family members that I had changed my recipe. Several commented that it was even better than last year. My picky Dad even went back for seconds.
Hey there Brit. If we wanted to use eggs instead of flax seed, how many eggs would you recommend? Would you then keep the coconut oil measurement the same?
Hi Pam. Prepping early is such a good idea. That said, I don’t know how well this freezes because I haven’t tried it. If you do end up testing it out I’d love for you to report back about how it held up! 🙂
I eat sweet potatoes all year round so I’m glad you didn’t wait to share this one! Love the idea of crunchy pecans on top- my favorite topping for sweet potato casserole!
Yummy! This is right up my alley and I may need to put it on my “request list” for when I visit my parents over Christmas. Mondays are not fun, and this one is extra hard. But at least it’s good to get back to healthy eating for the week!
Can you please let me know what maple syrup you use? Grade A or B? Looks like a great recipe! I love anything made out of sweet potato. Cannot wait to try this. I got all the ingredients todaY except maple syrup. Making this over the weekend!
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This recipe is AMAZING! My family loved it and it’s definitely a keeper. The coconut milk helps keep it creamy, and the spice combination is incredible. Thanks for providing a healthy and delicious take on a classic. ❤️
★★★★★
Oh yay!! I’m so glad you tried and loved this casserole, Lysandra! It’s one of my all-time faves. I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating. The ratings are super helpful to other readers!
This looks delicious and I plan to make for thanksgiving. Can you sub canned sweet potato in place of baking sweet potatoes? I just purchased a few cans from Whole Foods and am hoping I can use them as a shortcut! Thanks!
★★★★★
Hey Angela! Yes, I think canned sweet potatoes would work just fine. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think, definitely let me know how it turns out!
I made this recipe for a Friendsgiving with my mom’s group and it was a huge hit! So delicious! I’ll be making another pan for Thanksgiving. And sharing the recipe with my sister who is gluten and dairy intolerant. Thanks for a delicious recipe!
★★★★★
I’ve been making this casserole 2 years in a row now for both my family Thanksgiving dinners and Friendsgiving too and it’s always a hit! I have multiple family / friends that are gf or vegan so this is always my go-to recipe. Love it!
★★★★★
Ahh yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Monica! I’m so glad this casserole is a hit with your family and friends. Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment / star rating. I so appreciate it! <3
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear, Anna. I’m so glad the casserole was a hit! I really appreciate you coming back to leave a comment and star rating. They are super helpful to other EBF readers. <3
This was so good! I made it a for a Friendsgiving and people were grateful it wasn’t loaded with refined sugars. I cubed and roasted my sweet potatoes with a little avocado oil before mashing so they carmelized a bit more and it turned out great.
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear that this recipe was a hit! Thank you for trying it. <3
Can you omit the ground flaxseed and sub unsweetened almond milk for coconut milk?
Hi Morgan – Yes, you can use coconut milk instead of almond milk. If you’re going to take out the flaxseed I would use 1 egg in place of it because the flaxseed replaces the egg in this recipe.
Brittany, my wife utilized the Oatmeal Cookie recipe. She interchanged 1/4 cup of flour with a 1/4 cup of ground flax meal and reducecd 1/4 cup of Oatmeal and added 1/4 of Almond Meal. She substituted Coconut Oil with Avacado Oil. Next time we would increase the spices to our taste. We used raisins and walnuts in our recipe. Delicious. Thank you for sharing. David & Diana Herbek
★★★★★
Hi David, I’m so happy to hear that you and your wife tried and enjoyed this recipe. I’m glad it turned out well with your modifications. I’m sure the added raisins and walnuts were delicious. And thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and star rating, I so appreciate it! The ratings are super helpful to other EBF readers.
Thank you, Brittany. The combination of sweet potato + maple syrup + vanilla + cinnamon + nutmeg + pecans is a match made in heaven. I’ve added this recipe to a mini sweet potato recipe roundup for flexitarians.
★★★★★
Goood day!This is kid off off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog.
Is it tough to seet upp your own blog? I’m nnot very techincal but I can figure things out
pretty quick. I’mthinking about creating my ownn bbut I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips
or suggestions? Appreciate it
★★★★★
actually, the dish is not very eye-catching.But, okay, importantly it’s good for health. Can you tell me the taste of it ?
Hi, saw this on Instagram, great!
I’m european though, and it seems
confusing, is this casserole a dessert,
or a side dish for main meal
One comment was for breakfast?
how would you
catagorise it! Thanks
Mairi-a: A sweet potato casserole is a traditional side dish for a main meal, especially a meal for the holidays or for a social event in the U.S. There are many traditional American recipes for sweet potato pie, which is a dessert and would contain very similar ingredients (brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, etc.). The chief difference is pastry dough for pie, and only a streusel topping for the casserole.
Breakfast casseroles are not as popular in the U.S. as sweetened cereal, but we typically make them egg-based, similar to quiche and are often light on vegetables and heavy on meat. Having this sweet potato casserole for breakfast is not a traditional suggestion, but a very good way to increase the consumption of vegetables.
Older, more traditional American recipes tend to emphasize sweet preparations with this particular root vegetable, but other cultures tend to prepare them with more savory ingredients.
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving, and it was great! I loved the flavor of the sweet potatoes and the crunchy topping. Delicious, and healthier than so may other recipe. A keeper – I will definitely make it again.
★★★★★
Made your sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. It camer out delicious! I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe. I roasted the sweet potatoes to add in the carmelized flavor. Worked great! I omitted the coconut oil and used almond butter for the topping. I omitted the coconut oil in the sweet potato mixture and replaced with a homemade walnut butter since it adds a buttery flavor. Worked great making it ahead then adding the prepared crumb topping just before putting in the oven.
Initially, I planned to double the recipe, but due to sick guests cancelling after I baked the sweet potatoes, I’m going to make the second batch today and freeze it. I think I’ll freeze it in a zip lock bag molded to the size of the baking dish so it won’t have to be defrosted to fit the dish.
Definitely a keeper recipe! Thank you for taking the time to create such a wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Just put this in the oven for the second year because it was such a big hit last year. Doubled the recipe this year so we’d have plenty!
Excited to try this for Thanksgiving!
Yay! You’ll have to come back and let me know how it turns out! 🙂
We tried this new recipe for our family Thanksgiving. Now that we have a dairy-free nephew, we have to give up our old (butter-filled) recipes and search out new ones. THIS ONE IS AWESOME!!! Give it a try with your families this year! You won’t be disappointed.
…and leftovers made an amazing breakfast today 😉
★★★★★
Yay!! This makes me so happy, Allison. And I’m totally with ya on having the leftovers for breakfast. That might be the best part about making this. Also, thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. I so appreciate it and I know other readers will appreciate it as well. 🙂
Please help!!! This is my favorite sweet potato casserole recipe and I just went to look at it again because I plan on making it for Easter and the recipe isn’t coming up. I used my phone and the computer so I’m thinking it’s not just me. Can you please send me the recipe or try to get it loaded back onto this page? It will be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Becky! Thanks so much for letting me know about the recipe issue. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but the recipe is updated now! I hope you enjoy the casserole this weekend. Happy Easter.
This was my favourite recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole, I last made it at Christmas, but now you can’t see the recipe on your website! It just shows all the pics but not the list of ingredients or instructions. Please help!! Can you repost this recipe?
I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. I’ve been making some changes to the back-end of my site to help speed things up and this recipe was deleted in the process. I went in and updated it so it should be good to go. Enjoy!
I have made this twice now! So delicious. I even had some people who don’t eat sweet potatoes eating them! Thank you for this great recipe!
Hooray!! This casserole is one of my favorites from childhood so I LOVE being able to share this healthier version with you and your family. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment too. I so appreciate it. 🙂
Do you mix in the liquid portion of the canned coconut milk or just measure 1 cup of the solid cream part? This looks perfect for this year’s feast, thank you for republishing the recipe!!
Good question. I shake the can before opening so that the liquid portion is mixed with the cream on the top and then use it. Hope this helps!
This looks so good, I might have to make this to have as part of breakfast next week!
Do it!! It would be delicious for breakfast.
This looks reeaaally good, especially that crumbly topping!
The topping is the best part, for sure!!
Pinning this!! Looks like a DELISH Thanksgiving dish 🙂
Thanks Tara!!
I’d love to make a small portion just for me on any given da
What else would work instead of almond flour? It comes in large quantities and afraid it will go to waste. Want to make this for Thanksgiving for a brother-in-law who is gluten free.
Oat flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour will work too!
This recipe is awesome! My kids love it! I do put a lil butter in mine and a beaten egg. I love this website!
Do you think you could substitute almond milk rather than coconut milk? My daughter doesn’t like coconut.
Yes! I think almond milk would work fine!
I t looks amazing. My grandson allergic to nuts, what can I substitute ?
★★★★★
I think you could easily replace the pecans with more oats! Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Looks amazing!! I want to make this recipe this year for thanksgiving and have family with nut allergies, would the recipe work with vegan marshmallows instead of the nut topping (even though it looks delicious!)
Love this recipe remake! Looks so delicious!
Hi. I can’t have maple. Do you think honey would work instead? Would I need to change the measurement?
This looks amazing! Can you confirm if you’re using regular coconut milk (like drinking milk) or the coconut milk that comes in a can and is thicker? Also by chance do you have the recipe for the mini version? I’d love to make a small portion just for me on any given day ????
Hi Maggie. I’m using coconut milk from a can. I don’t have a recipe for a mini version but you could try halving the recipe. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
The vegan version I made this year was almost the same. Except I add coconut to my sweet potatoes, some unsweetened Cashew milk and use Agave for sweetener. (In the past I used Eagle Brand milk so I was looking for a healthier substitute. I did not tell family members that I had changed my recipe. Several commented that it was even better than last year. My picky Dad even went back for seconds.
Do you add the ground flax seed to warm water as an egg substitute? the recipe didn’t really mention when or how to add the flax seed? Thank you!!
Hi Cheryl. You just add the ground flaxseed to the sweet potato mixture. Sorry that wasn’t clear. Just updated the recipe.
If the flaxseed were left out, would it change the consistency of the casserole at all? I’m wondering if it’s just for health benefits.
★★★★
It’s more for the health benefits. It will be fine without it if you don’t have any on hand!
Hey there Brit. If we wanted to use eggs instead of flax seed, how many eggs would you recommend? Would you then keep the coconut oil measurement the same?
Do you think you could substitute Stevia for Maple Syrup?
Sounds good! Can you prepare it the day before and bake the next day? I’m hoping to use this on Thanksgiving!
Yup! I actually made it last weekend and prepped it in advance. Worked out great!
Hi. Does this freeze well? I’m desperate for as many “make-ahead” recipes to get a jump on Thanksgiving and not be worn out by party time. Thank you!
Hi Pam. Prepping early is such a good idea. That said, I don’t know how well this freezes because I haven’t tried it. If you do end up testing it out I’d love for you to report back about how it held up! 🙂
I don’t see how much vanilla or cinnamon to add?
That’s so odd! I will make sure I add the measurements. It’s 1 teaspoon for each. 🙂
This looks delicious, Brittany!! I have a bunch of leftovers sweet potatoes so I might have to try this 🙂
I’m glad you didn’t wait til next year – I’m making this like, NOW.
Yay! I hope you love it. 🙂
I eat sweet potatoes all year round so I’m glad you didn’t wait to share this one! Love the idea of crunchy pecans on top- my favorite topping for sweet potato casserole!
Wow! As a lover of anything with sweet potatoes in, I love this, and especially with it being made “healthier”. Thank you Brittany. 😉
Yummy! This is right up my alley and I may need to put it on my “request list” for when I visit my parents over Christmas. Mondays are not fun, and this one is extra hard. But at least it’s good to get back to healthy eating for the week!
Looks so good! We got our Christmas tree this weekend too. It was great to put up the lights and decorate.
Looks yummy! Love the dish you made it in too, very pretty!
I finally made this delicious casserole last weekend! It tasted yummy ans everyone loved it. Thanks a lot for the recipe!
Hi Swarna. I usually buy Grade B, but A or B will work fine! I hope you love the casserole.
Hi Brittany,
Can you please let me know what maple syrup you use? Grade A or B? Looks like a great recipe! I love anything made out of sweet potato. Cannot wait to try this. I got all the ingredients todaY except maple syrup. Making this over the weekend!
Thanks,
Swarna