A healthier take on traditional sweet potato casserole with a crunchy pecan topping. It’s 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 brown sugar topping = the best!
Nowadays we typically spend Thanksgiving with Isaac’s family and they do the sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. I like them, but I miss the crunchy, brown sugar pecan topping. This shouldn’t be too surprising given my obsession with all things crunchy.
I finally decided to use my mom’s recipe as a guide to make a healthier (yet still decadent and delicious) version, which I’m sharing today. 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 vegan and gluten-free version of the casserole that was absolutely perfect.
I used fresh sweet potatoes, oat flour and oatmeal for the topping, coconut oil and flaxseed to replace the butter and eggs, and 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.
I LOVED this healthy version of the casserole so much… maybe even a tiny bit more than mom’s, but we’ll keep that a secret. I wasn’t the only one who loved it — it seemed like everyone at our Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving meal really liked it as well. Woot woot!
I hope you love it as much as we do.
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I tweaked my mom’s recipe to make a healthy sweet potato casserole with a crunchy pecan topping that’s 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° 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 ball. 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/16 of recipe
- Calories: 237
- Sugar: 18g
- Fat: 10g
- Carbohydrates: 35g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 3g
Looks yummy! Love the dish you made it in too, very pretty!
Looks so good! We got our Christmas tree this weekend too. It was great to put up the lights and decorate.
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!
Wow! As a lover of anything with sweet potatoes in, I love this, and especially with it being made “healthier”. Thank you Brittany. 😉
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!
I’m glad you didn’t wait til next year – I’m making this like, NOW.
Yay! I hope you love it. 🙂
This looks delicious, Brittany!! I have a bunch of leftovers sweet potatoes so I might have to try this 🙂
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. 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
Do you think you could substitute Stevia for Maple Syrup?
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.
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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?
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.
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. 🙂
Hi. I can’t have maple. Do you think honey would work instead? Would I need to change the measurement?
Love this recipe remake! Looks so delicious!
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!)
I t looks amazing. My grandson allergic to nuts, what can I substitute ?
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I think you could easily replace the pecans with more oats! Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
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!
This recipe is awesome! My kids love it! I do put a lil butter in mine and a beaten egg. I love this website!
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!
Pinning this!! Looks like a DELISH Thanksgiving dish 🙂
Thanks Tara!!
This looks reeaaally good, especially that crumbly topping!
The topping is the best part, for sure!!
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.
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!
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. 🙂
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!
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!
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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.