This is a side dish you’re going to want on the holiday dinner table. Or maybe, on your regular fall dinner table. Because who can wait for the holidays? It is sweet potato season after all, which means in this house we’re cooking them a couple times a week. Give me all the sweet potatoes, please. They are the edible equivalent to a big warm hug.
Now that it’s officially November (plus chilly and dark at 6pm…tear…sob), I figure some of us are thinking about happier things…like the holidays and all the delightful holiday food. I know I am. It’s my favourite time of the year to cook and bake. For some reason, I always have oodles and oodles of recipe ideas floating through my mind this time of the year and can’t keep up with testing them all out. You should see my “to make” list…it’s massive!
In preparation for the holidays, I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time; I revamped my old sweet potato casserole recipe from 2009. It’s a good recipe, but with 5 years of recipe development under my belt I knew I could improve upon it. This version got lightened up and given a crazy good pecan oat maple crumble topping. It totally blew us away and the previous recipe is all but history in my mind.
Just look at this crunchy crumble…
Here are a few things I changed up:
1) cut sweetener by over half (you won’t even notice)
2) added some heart-healthy virgin coconut oil
3) added a new and improved crunchy topping – gives it a great texture contrast!
4) made this one gluten-free as the old one wasn’t
5) amped up the maple + cinnamon flavours
6) new photos…because 2009 wasn’t my best year for photography…hehe
I recommend serving each portion with a pat of vegan butter or coconut oil on top to really take it over the edge. The butter/oil melts and cascades all over the casserole. Bliss!!
I love you, sweet potatoes.
PS- If you haven’t tried it already, check out my Sweet Potato Oatmeal Breakfast Casserole. Dessert for breakfast!
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Sweet Potato Crumble Casserole
Yield
12 large side servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is a side dish you're going to want on the holiday dinner table! The crunchy nut crumble tastes just like an oatmeal cookie. I recommend serving this casserole with a pat of vegan butter or coconut oil to really take it over the top. Also try serving it with Coconut Whipped Cream for a decadent twist. In this recipe, I swapped out half the vegan butter for virgin coconut oil to add some heart-healthy fats while still retaining that lovely butter flavour.
Ingredients
For the sweet potato mash:
- 4 1/2 to 5 pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 to 5 large)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 mL) vegan butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 mL) virgin coconut oil
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37 mL) pure maple syrup, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt, or to taste
For the Crunchy Nut Crumble:
- 1 cup rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
- 1 1/3 cups pecan halves, chopped
- 1/3 cup almond meal or almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) virgin coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) vegan butter, melted
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37 mL) pure maple syrup
Directions
- Peel and roughly chop sweet potatoes into large chunks. Place into a large pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high, and gently boil for 10 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly grease a 2 1/2-quart (10-cup) casserole dish and set aside.
- Prepare the crumble topping: Pulse the oats in a food processor until coarsely chopped. In a medium bowl, stir together the chopped pecans, oats, almond meal/flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour on melted coconut oil, melted butter, and maple syrup. Stir until combined.
- Once cooked and drained, place sweet potatoes into a large bowl.
- Mash potatoes with the butter and coconut oil until smooth. Now, stir in the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Adjust to taste if desired. Spoon into casserole dish and smooth out.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping all over the sweet potato mixture, evenly.
- Bake, uncovered, at 375°F (190°C) for 16 to 23 minutes, until the dish is hot throughout. Plate and serve immediately with a pat of vegan butter or coconut oil.
Tip:
- For a creamy twist, try subbing some of the butter/oil in the sweet potato mash for full-fat canned coconut cream.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
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This looks A-Mazing! I’ll definitely be making this for the upcoming holidays! YUM
Xx
Any One of you girls, would there be a nice recipe win which the Shiitake Mushrooms are used? Either dried or fresh mushrooms. A recipe for a ‘mid-substantial value meal’, e.g. light dinner, would be great.
Shiitake have great nutritional profiles –> very healthy mushroom to digest, providing benefits almost like from the Chaga and Reishi (Lingzhi) medicinal mushrooms. Mainly they taste well i reckon ;–). Thanks girls!
Warm regards
LOVE this recipe. My whole clan loves it. Thank you so much! I’m supposed to avoid nuts due to diverticulitis, so I just make a smaller casserole for myself without the nuts. Still delicious. We devoured it! Thanks! Amybeth Hurst
Would regular flour sub for almond meal/flour?
This recipe was delicious albeit a little too sweet for me. Less sweetener and I’m bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner! Thanks for the recipe. :)
This is so great thank you so much !! I am always happy to get new inspirations for my vegan cooking. Please visit my vegan senses vegan blog :)
all the best, Katy from Vegan Senses Blog
vegansenses,com
I made this over the weekend and it was (and is as leftovers) so good. I didn’t use all of the maple syrup it called for and it was perfect. It’s added to the Christmas dinner menu. Thanks again for a great recipe.
That flavor combo sounds fantastic. And the crunchy topping – YUM!
Yum! This looks like it needs to be made for my Thanksgiving dinner : )
Looks amazing! Trying this tonight!
love your blog. your recipes always inspire. my 12 ear old daughter decided to go vegan this spring, after years of being vegetarian, after researching the horrors of animal treatment. Your book came at an ideal moment and I discovered your blog from there. I have tried many of your recipes and have been delighted with the results time and again. Who new that animal free would be the best food we ever tasted and would leave us feeling better than ever wrt our own health, that of the animals and that of the planet. I have one suggestion which might make finding recipes a bit easier: would it be possible to put some reference to the date released on your recipes? Not all recipes can always be found via the recipepage or the index. I ususally remember about when I saw a particularily enticing recipe come out, so knowing where to search chronologically may make the search a little easier for those recipes not easily found with recipepage. BTW, you have the sweetest baby ever. Enjoy every moment; they all grow up way too quickly.
Thanks for your kind words Anne! I will look into adding a date. :)
I just made a 1/2 batch trial run in preparation for Thanksgiving. It is wonderful!! I love the topping. I usually make a traditional southern sweet potato casserole that has whole milk, a couple eggs, over a stick of butter and tons of white sugar and brown sugar. This is so much healthier and tastes so good!
Just wondering…could I use spelt flour instead of almond flour for the topping?
Just made it! So delicious!!! Will definitely be on the Thanksgiving table in a couple of weeks. Probably be in my breakfast bowl tomorrow morning, too! Thank you for such a great recipe.
Thanks for another delicious recipe! It was just the right amount of sweetness. I loved that I could still taste the sweet potato, and I couldn’t stop eating the crisp! I went ahead and added a little bit of coriander to the sweet potato mixture for giggles. Made this for a potluck and I went home with an empty casserole dish!
Something wonderful to listen to while enjoying this recipe :)
I made this dish last night. I have to say it was a bit to sweet for our taste. I am thinking of a way to make it a bit more savoury. I think I’m eating leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.
I made this dish Sunday night as a Thanksgiving trial run and have to say it’s even better the second day…heated up in the microwave or mixed into my morning bowl of oatmeal. I still miss the traditional Southern recipe with all of the fat, but with this I can do away with all of the guilt.
This was really tasty! I omitted the vegan butter and eliminated the coconut oil in the topping – didn’t want the dish to be too coco-nutty and it turned out perfect. Love the creaminess of the sweet potatoes and the crunchiness of the topping. Looking forward to making this over and over again.
This was great! I made it for an early Thanksgiving dinner and loved it. It made a lot, but leftovers were awesome too. I even ate the last little bit for breakfast, I’ll have to try your breakfast casserole version soon. I only used 1.5 TBS maple syrup in the potato mixture because mine seemed sweet, but followed everything else. Will definitely make this again, thanks!