This recipe for sweet potato casserole with marshmallows is mashed spiced sweet potatoes, topped with both a pecan streusel topping and plenty of mini marshmallows. A holiday classic that’s a family favorite!
Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and pecans, how can you go wrong with that combination? This easy sweet potato casserole is THE BEST, it’s sure to become a tradition on your Thanksgiving table. Serve it alongside Southern cornbread dressing and bacon roasted brussels sprouts.
Thanksgiving, is one of my favorite holidays. Let me tell you, this sweet potato casserole with marshmallows is the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever had. It’s a MUST for the holidays. To be honest, my kids ask for it year round.
This easy sweet potato casserole has the best of both worlds with a crunchy pecan streusel topping AND a generous amount of mini marshmallows. The mashed sweet potato mixture underneath all that topping is just lightly sweetened to create the perfect balance between savory and sweet. This Thanksgiving recipe goes perfectly with some of my favorite dishes like no bake pumpkin cheesecake, smoked turkey breast and instant pot cranberry sauce.
Table of Contents
- Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows Ingredients
- How To Cook Sweet Potatoes
- How Do You Make Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows?
- Tips For The Perfect Sweet Potato Casserole
- Quick Tip
- Recipe FAQs
- Flavor Variations
- More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
- Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows Video
- Love This Recipe?
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows Ingredients
To make sweet potato casserole with marshmallows you will need the following ingredients.
- Sweet Potatoes: Choose orange fleshed sweet potatoes such as the Garnet or Jewel varieties. Look for potatoes that are similar in size and shape so that they cook at the same rate.
- Butter: You can use either salted or unsalted butter, both work fine.
- Milk: Adding a little milk helps to make the casserole filling creamy. I typically use 1% or whole milk.
- Brown Sugar: While I prefer to use light brown sugar in this dish, dark brown sugar will also work well.
- Maple Syrup: Do not use imitiation maple flavor syrup (pancake syrup) in this recipe, it will not taste the same.
- Cinnamon: Add a sprinkle of cinnamon for a warm and complex flavor. Store your bottle of cinnamon in a cool, dark, place to maintain the potency of this spice.
- Egg: Using an egg helps to bind the sweet potato mixture as it bakes.
- Vanilla Extract: Choose 100% pure vanilla extract. Imitation vanilla is not a good substitute.
- Flour: All purpose flour is used to create the streusel topping. If you’re gluten free, you can use a gluten free flour blend.
- Pecans: Buy pre-chopped pecans to save on a little prep time!
- Marshmallows: Mini marshmallows are added during the last few minutes of the baking time so that they don’t burn.
How To Cook Sweet Potatoes
I recommend baking your potatoes for this dish. First, prick your sweet potatoes with a fork, then place them on a sheet pan or baking sheet. Bake them until the potatoes are fork tender. Let the yams cool, then peel them and cut the insides into chunks or scoop the insides out of the skins.
Another option is to boil your sweet potatoes. Peel the yams, then cut into 2 inch pieces. Boil for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain the potatoes, then proceed with the recipe.
If you’d look to cook your sweet potatoes in the air fryer, you can prick them with a fork and air fry at 370 degrees F for 40 minutes. For Instant Pot sweet potatoes, prick with a fork, and add 1 cup of water to your pot. Place the potatoes on a trivet, and cook on manual high pressure for 30 minutes.
How Do You Make Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows?
Place cooked sweet potato in a large bowl with butter, milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, egg and vanilla. Mash everything together until smooth. Place the mashed sweet potatoes mixture in a baking dish. Make a streusel topping in a separate small bowl by stirring together brown sugar, flour, melted butter and pecans. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potato filling and bake. Add miniature marshmallows the top of the casserole dish and bake a few more minutes. Serve the casserole and enjoy!
Tips For The Perfect Sweet Potato Casserole
- I like to roast my sweet potatoes, however, you can boil or steam cubed sweet potatoes if you would like.
- The marshmallows go on at the very end, otherwise the marshmallow topping could burn.
- I prefer to mash my sweet potatoes with a hand masher for a more rustic texture, but you can puree the sweet potatoes in a food processor if you prefer them to be on the smoother side. You could also beat them with an electric mixer until they’re light and fluffy.
- You can use any sweet potato that you like with red flesh or orange flesh including garnet or jewel yams.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you’re looking to serve a large crowd.
- The recipe will work with canned sweet potatoes, but freshly cooked potatoes have a better flavor and texture. If you’re using canned sweet potatoes, make sure they don’t contain any sugar.
Quick Tip
You can peel your roasted sweet potatoes and slice them into chunks or scoop the potatoes out of their skins. Either way works!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can assemble this casserole the day before you plan to bake it. Simply cook and mash the potatoes, then add the streusel topping, cover and refrigerate. You may need to add 7-10 minutes to the bake time if you’re starting with a cold casserole.
In order to avoid excess water in a sweet potato casserole, roast the sweet potatoes in an oven before using them in casserole. Roasting them evaporates some of the moisture.
Sweet potato casserole thickens with sweet potatoes and an egg. If you want a thicker casserole you can add an additional egg.
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Flavor Variations
This sweet potato casserole with marshmallows is fantastic; however, you can change the flavors to suit your own tastes.
- No Marshmallows: Not a fan of marshmallows? You can leave them off entirely and still have a fabulous dish.
- Nuts: If you don’t like pecans, try chopped walnuts or almonds instead.
- Dark Brown Sugar: For a more intense molasses and caramel flavor try dark brown sugar.
- Marshmallows: You can use flavored marshmallows like maple marshmallows. Feel free to arrange your marshmallows in a decorative pattern or simply sprinkle them over the top.
- Filling: For more flavor you can add two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Feel free to add up to 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt to the mashed potato mixture for a more sweet and savory flavor balance. Use heavy cream instead of milk for an even creamier dish.
This recipe has gotten countless rave reviews. It’s so delicious you could have it for dessert! Your family is sure to love it too!
More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
25 mins
Cranberry Jello Salad
6 hrs 10 mins
Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts
30 mins
Winter Fruit Salad
10 mins
Sweet Potato Casserole With Marshmallows Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
Ingredients
For the casserole
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes cleaned
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- cooking spray
For the topping
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup miniature marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Prick the potatoes with a fork and place them on the pan.
- Bake the potatoes until tender, 45 minutes to an hour.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open, scoop out the insides and place the potatoes in a large bowl.
- Add the 4 tablespoons of butter, milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, egg and vanilla to the bowl.
- Use a potato masher or hand mixer to mash or beat the potatoes until mostly smooth.
- Grease a 9 inch square pan or 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Spread the sweet potato mixture evenly in the pan.
- In another bowl, mix together the brown sugar, flour, melted butter and pecans until crumbly. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the sweet potatoes.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until topping has lightly browned.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle the marshmallows over the top then return to the oven.
- Bake for an additional 3-5 or until marshmallows are just melted.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can peel your roasted sweet potatoes and slice them into chunks or scoop the potatoes out of their skins. Either way works!
- I like to roast my sweet potatoes, however, you can boil or steam cubed sweet potatoes if you would like.
- The marshmallows go on at the very end, otherwise the marshmallow topping could burn.
Wow. Made this for two thanksgivings and got rave reviews! So delicious, thanks!!
Amazing!! This was my first time ever making sweet potato casserole, and it turned out wonderfully! Will definitely be making this again!
If made the day before should I wait to add the topping?
You can add the brown sugar streusel on top the day before, but hold off on the marshmallows.
I made this last year and it was amazing. Making my list for this year and I can’t recall.. salted or unsalted butter?
Thanks for this recipe!!
Either will work, although I typically use salted butter!
Wow… Everyone loved it and ill be sure to make it again except triple the recipe. Thank you
We are from Guatemala, Central America so we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but this is my third Christmas doing this casserole and my family LOVES IT!! Also, this year I’m trying the turkey brine recipe, thanks a lot!! 🙂
So glad to hear everyone loves it, hope you have a great Christmas!
I made this for a work potluck and for my family as well for thanksgiving. It was a HUGE hit!! everyone loved it and they were practically licking the pan clean LOL. I’ve been dreaming about this casserole that today I decided to make it again! Im only making half the recipe with the canned version. Hopefully it turns out just as delicious! currently impatiently waiting for it to be done!
So glad to hear it was a big hit! Thanks for reporting back!
This was delicious!! And a big hit with the family. The only substitution I had to do was honey for maple syrup. I didn’t realize I needed it until the day of. It came out great. Thank you for this recipe. Hope your thanksgiving was great. Happy holidays
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
I used canned yams for sake of time and ease and then omitted the 1/4 c. brown sugar. It was soooo good! Love the combo with crumble topping and marshmallows, thank you!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it, hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Did you remove the sugar because of to substitution of canned yams or just preference?
Canned yams often contain added sugar. Just check the ingredients list on your can, if there’s sugar added you can cut back the amount of sugar in this recipe. If there’s no sugar added, just follow the recipe as written!
🙂
I made it! I did, I did and it turned out fantastic! I must admit that I made some changes
I used coconut milk instead of reg milk (the refrigerated version, not canned)
Rice Flour instead of regular flour (a lot of my family is gluten free)
I did use walnuts instead of pecans.
I was told that the topping was good by my family members however, I think I want to try almond meal or maybe gluten free oatmeal.
It was sooooo easy and delicious. Next time I make it I will cont to use the coconut milk but will use reg flour. I will need help arranging my marshmallows better!
Thank you thank you thank you!
I’m going to make this for Thanksgiving dinner =) when I was looking at the recipe it says 1/4 cup milk, and packed brown sugar. And 1 teaspoon cinnamon and vanilla. And 4 tablespoons melted butter. But when I kept reading it says add 4 teaspoons of the milk,brown sugar, melted butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon and egg and vanilla. Do I go by the ingredients in the beginning?? Just dont want to make any mistakes.
The recipe says to add 4 tablespoons of melted butter which matches the ingredient list :). Hope you enjoy!
I just went to the store to get the ingredients and one sweet potato weighed 2 lbs. The recipe only calls for 2 lbs. How many potatoes do I really need. This is my first attempt to make a casserole and trying to learn. Help!!
You do want about 2 lbs, that must be one big sweet potato! That being said, the measurements on the filling for this casserole don’t have to be exact. If you want to do 2 1/4 lbs if you feel like 2 lbs isn’t enough, that’s fine. But the recipe is designed to be made with 2 lbs. Hope that helps!
You can make brown sugar by mixing a tablespoon of molasses with one cup of white sugar!
What if I don’t have brown sugar, what should I do?
You could substitute white sugar for brown sugar in the sweet potato filling, but I don’t know if white sugar would be a suitable substitute for brown sugar in the streusel. I’ve never tried it that way and typically streusel toppings contain brown sugar.
What do you think of using walnuts instead of pecans?
That would absolutely work!
This is so yummy. I love the make ahead tips. This year I thought I’d try using pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, do you think I’d just use the same amount as I do for the cinnamon? Thanks!
Yes you can use the same amount!
I’m hoping to try this recipe for Thanksgiving. If I double it and use a 9×13 pan, how long would the baking time be? Thanks!
You can add about 15-20 minutes to the bake time, you’re basically just trying to warm everything through. Hope you enjoy!
Hey there. Did you end up doubling the recipe? How did it turn out? I was going to make 2 separate pans to avoid ruining it but what do you think?
Many people have doubled it and used a 9″x13″ pan.
It seems like the holidays come faster and faster every year. What is Thanksgiving without sweet potato casserole. This looks like a delicious recipe!
I love sweet potatoes and I love it when I can find different ways to make it. I would like to try the recipe you have here.
I”m not normally a sweet potato fan but this casserole looks so good! I may need to try this soon!
Yum! This sweet potato casserole looks like the perfect guilty pleasure especially with how cold the weather is right now.