Sweet Potato Casserole, Southern Style

With Thanksgiving just 9 days away, I sat down today and started creating my grocery/shopping list. In the past you would have found me rooting through scraps of paper and note cards, trying to pull together all the recipes for those traditional Thanksgiving dishes my family enjoys this time of year. A few years ago, I typed up every single recipe, all pretty and neat. I printed them all out on cute little snowman paper.

 

Then I headed down to Office Depot and bought a three-ring binder and some mylar sleeves. Now, when it’s time to put that shopping list together, I just pull the Thanksgiving/Christmas Recipe Notebook down from the shelf and all the favorites are right there, tucked neatly away in their little protective sleeves. Makes cooking for the holidays so much easier.

Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving

A favorite in our Thanksgiving feast is Sweet Potato Casserole. If it is a favorite in your family but you’ve never had a recipe you really liked, I think I can help you out.  When it comes to “decorating” the top of our sweet potato casserole in years past, our family always had the “marshmallow vs crunchy topping” debate.  Some folks liked it one way and some, the other.

In 2002,  I came across a sweet potato casserole recipe in Southern Living that sounded great, but it was missing a few of the key spices I remember my mother-in-law always added to her sweet potato casserole.  I really liked her recipe but unfortunately, I had never written it down.  Most of her recipes were what we call a “put in and taste recipe” meaning you put some stuff in, taste it and if it doesn’t taste just right, you put some more stuff in and taste it again.  It’s kind of hard to write those type recipes down for future reference.

So I took that recipe and, added in a few of the spices I remembered my MIL to come up with my own version.  It came out pretty tasty and per was very much like the old family recipe we all loved.  One of the best parts was it ended the topping debate because this casserole combines the best of both worlds. You alternate the marshmallow topping with a delicious, easy-to-make, crunchy topping.  Everyone’s happy!

Here’s a photo of the one I made last year.

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

 

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
Print Recipe
4 from 1 vote

Sweet Potato Casserole

Found this recipe in a Southern Living magazine and changed it up a bit to make it taste more like an old family recipe we all love. You'll see my additions in the recipe below.
Course: Casserole (Great for Thanksgiving or Christmas)
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Sweet Potato Casserole, Southern Style
Servings: 8
Author: Susan (Between Naps on the Porch)

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups cornflakes cereal crushed
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter melted

My additions to this recipe:

  • I also include the following 4 spices to make it taste more like an old family recipe:
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

  • Bake sweet potatoes at 400º for about 1 hour or until tender. Let cool to touch. Peel and mash sweet potatoes.
  • Beat mashed sweet potatoes, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, extract and salt at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
  • Spoon potato mixture into a greased 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
  • Combine cornflakes cereal, pecans, brown sugar and butter in a small bowl.
  • Sprinkle diagonally over casserole in rows 2 inches apart.
  • Bake at 350º for 30 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.
  • Sprinkle alternate rows with marshmallows and bake 10 additional minutes.
  • Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

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Comments

  1. The Vintage Vignette says

    Sweet potato casserole…Yum! My sister makes something very similar to this casserole but just before serving she gives it a good splash of Khalua! Yummy. 🙂

  2. Cindy (Applestone Cottage) says

    Great looking recipe Susan and very clever getting everything all together and into a binder! I need to grow a brain and do that too! Please enter me for the pretty leaf ornaments! Cindy

  3. It is extremely interesting for me to read that article. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.

  4. Thanks for the great looking recipe, Susan. It looks really awesome so I will try making it this year.
    I should have followed your instructions & just copied down the ingredients. I tried just printing out the enlarged photo….totally unable to read it. Doh?!

    I started a binder just like yours several years ago & have all my favorite recipes in there but now my DD asked me to make her a similar one. *sigh* Can't she just wait for me to die so she can have this one? That's a lot of work!! LOL
    I'll have to make 2 copies of this recipe, one for her & one for me.
    Thanks for sharing it with us. 😀

    fondly,
    Rett

  5. I'm so glad that you posted your recipe because one of the dishes I'm in charge of for Thanksgiving is Sweet Potato Casserole. I like the idea of alternating marshmallows with the crunchy topping.

  6. I have also begun to organize my recipes into holidays and events. Of course many are duplicated into various holidays, so I just make duplicate copies…makes life easier….now I have to organize ALL the recipes I cut out of magazines and haven't tried yet!!

  7. Beverly@ My Sew Sweet Studio says

    I've already copied your yummy recipe and added ingred. to my shopping list. I search recipies every year for something different and end up doing the same one. Gonna give this a try. Thanks.

  8. That does sound yummy. I love your idea of putting everything neatly in a binder. My recipes are all bulging out of a small Rubbermaid-type tub. It takes me forever to dig a particular one out.

  9. Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions says

    I've never had a sweet potato casserole, but it looks good! My grandmother had the same way of making stuff ~ all family favorites, too. Since she taught me how to make these things, I wrote everything down.

  10. Christi @ A Southern Life says

    That recipe looks great. I like how your numbered the ingredients. I always do that with SL recipes because they always say mix this and that and the next x ingredients. Then, you have to go and count!

    Thanks for the great recipe.

    Christi @ A Southern Life

  11. My favorite sweet potato casserole is in the Taste of Georgia cookbook (I love that book!)- no marshmallows; we save them for hot chocolate! 🙂

  12. Heather@PixieDust says

    i do binders and sheet protectors, too!! some call me crazy and some are impressed. I just smile either way.

  13. My Cozy Casita says

    Susan: thanks for great recipe!!!
    I have also begun to organize al my holidays cookbook
    Thanks for sharing.
    XOX.

  14. Anything related to whipped sweet potatoes is perfection for my grandchildren …. I am going to go with this recipe on Thanksgiving Day. I remember as a child absolutely hating sweet potatoes AND now they are also a favorite of mine.

  15. Enchanted Rose Studio says

    Your casserole looks wonderful, Susan! Thanks for the recipe. Love the idea of keeping a binder! I need to organize the family recipes!

    Thank you for posting about the contest! I hope one of us here in our blog community wins!

    You are the best!

    hugs,

    Tina

  16. Lynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) says

    Susan, this looks delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I'm sure Bill will love it.. hope all is well your way..hugs ~lynne~

  17. I've only had this pie once when I visited my Aunt when I was 12.

    Does it taste like pumpkin ?

  18. marty (A Stroll Thru Life) says

    Love the recipe, this is one I will have to try. Thanks for sharing your favorite. Hugs, Marty

  19. fourkidsmom says

    Great idea for solving the dilema of crunchy or soft. I love it. Please enter me in giveaway, also finally became of follower after lurking for many many months.

  20. Hi Susan! This recipe looks great! I am in the process of doing a binder for my 'go to' recipes. But I am going to leave the recipes on the various pieces of paper (scribbbled, typed, and neatly written by so many friends and family) and on the various torn pages from a magazine, complete with stains, smudges and notes….it is a living history of our life! 🙂 Love your blog!!! Rosie

  21. Susan, I used this one last year; but I am going to add your ML touches this year and see what happens. Thank you so much for sharing.

  22. Susan just curious; why do you have 1 2 3 4 5 next to some of the items? On your paper?

  23. Hi Susan, I just had a recollection of a conversation with you where you said you need to get organized, OH MY, I think you are the organized,decorating Diva!! I bow to you Oh organized one! You never cease to amaze me and this recipe sounds YUM!! Hugs Kathysue

  24. Well, I am totally unorganized; all my recipes are in the bottom of my china cabinet and fall out on the floor if I open the door! One day…I will organize them! This recipe will satisfy both the "crunchy" and "marshmellow" factions of my family! Pls. enter me in the silver leaf giveaway!

  25. I also use the binder. Mine is a bit unorganized now because I need to get more of those covers and reorganize the entire thing. I love it.

  26. Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says

    Hi Blossom…
    I numbered them because somewhere in the recipe it says to mix the next 5 ingredients…just numbered them to make it easy. 🙂

  27. Thanksgiving dinner isn't complete without serving Hubby sweet potatoes. I will have to surprise him this year with your "Tried & True" sweet potatoe casserole.

    Thanks so much for sharing
    Carol "B"
    *Just look'in & not Blogg'in

  28. oh yeahhhh, now that's what I'M talkin about! Gonna try it next week. Wish me luck!

  29. Drawn to The Sea says

    sweet patatah sweet patatah
    patatah
    patatah
    patatah
    (sorry, I couldn't resist)
    looks yummy!

    smiles,
    ~Julia

  30. Hello sweet Susan – I love your idea of putting fave recipes into a binder with protective sleeves! And your sweet potato casserole looks so yummy. We have our own rendition, but yours looks a heckuvah lot yummier! I'm going to try it out on the fam next week. Thank you for sharing!

    Blessings,
    Marie
    http://emmacallsmemama.com

  31. Linda Higgins says

    easier than that I just right clicked the pic on your post, copied, saved as and pasted onto a new doc, then just printed it! Now I have the exact colored copy of yours with all the fun notes on the top and all! I will give this a go and let you know what the critics think! Happy Thanksgiving!

  32. Susan please stop over and check out the deal on Lenox dishes.
    thank you
    blossom

  33. The Quintessential Magpie says

    Girl, that looks delicious! It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it! YUM!

    Don't know if you got my email, but the lantern got here!!! YEA! And I have a question… are you going to do a Tablescape Thursday on Thanksgiving???

    XO,

    Sheila 🙂

  34. Thank you so much for this recipe. we have been having that same debate for a few years now and I am the only one that sort of dislikes marshmallows, so I lose. YEAH! This year, we all win!

  35. Sue (Someone's Mom) says

    I have this same recipe torn out from the same magazine. I love it and I didn't even add anything. It is rare to find a Southern Living recipe that isn't good.

    Sue

  36. Glenda/MidSouth says

    Sounds and looks so good. Thanks for sharing.

  37. Good grief, so much to see and do!!!1 I will enter the give away, but have to say THANK YOU for this recipe, this is my daughter's FAVORITE and since she is now engaged I want to make this JUST FOR HER!!! It looks SO good, Susan! XO, Pinky

  38. PS, this year my resolution is going to be to ORGANIZE MY RECIPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):)

  39. You always have the most wonderful things in your blogs. Thanks for sharing your recipe….I think I will give it a try.

  40. I love the idea of combining the crunchy with the marshmallow topping. Ingenious!

    Blessings!
    Gail

  41. 2PreppyGirls.com says

    Your casserole is GORGE! It looks so yummy and I might attempt to do it for our thankgiving this year! Thanks!!!

    XOXOXO
    Margaret

  42. Ummm, this recipe sounds really good. Thanks so much, Susan.
    Please enter my name in the hat for these precious leaves…
    xo bj

  43. I am always looking for ways to be more organized and truthfully, I hate to cook. But I am sentimental and I want the memories of family around the table enjoying their holiday meals. Because the cooking part is such an effort for me I have a few recipes that I have made every year I guess because I know I can do it and I my family seems to like them. They have become our traditional holiday foods. Every year I grab my recipe cards and old magazines with tried and successful recipes and pull together my shopping list. Your way seems so much easier.
    Thanks for the idea.

  44. So I did not have a good sweet potatoe recipe for Thanksgiving, then happened on your blog post yesterday! Awesomeness. This casserole will be so perfect. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  45. menu planning says

    This is fantastic. I just wanted to say that something that has been changing my life is menu planning . It has been making such a big difference.

    Thanks you

  46. Mum and mother in law always made the sweet potatoes from the can plopped into a casserole dish with marshmallows on top….no one in our family ate them but her!
    We went to an amish restaurant one time and ate this casserole not knowing it was sweet potatoes…. we loved it! Asked for the recipe and now its a big hit with our children and mums!
    I always make extra for left overs!

    Hugz, Dolly

    Stop by sometime!

  47. mmm the recipe is making me feel domestic! i will try it out, it looks delish!

  48. This looks really delicious. Can’t wait to try this.

  49. Nancy L McSweeney says

    I copied that sw potato recipe from Southern living also, I do everything the same as you, but I don’t use cornflakes. The presentation is beautiful!!! My 15 yr old grand daughter asked if I would teach her to do it this Yr, I’m looking forward to it, the more my family get’s involved, the less I have to do! Ha Ha!!!

  50. Susan, I’m going to make this as a variation on my usual sweet potato pie and yam casserole recipes…and I am not sure if the crushed cornflakes are measured before or after crushing them? I looked up the original recipe on Southern Living, and it does not specify either. Thank you!

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