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This Sweet Potato Casserole tastes like my mom’s, and that is the highest praise I can give it. THM XO
The inspiration for this recipe
There are certain recipes that just go with certain holidays in my mind, and no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without my mom’s sweet potato casserole. She makes it from a recipe in an old church cookbook of ours and it’s like dessert: a creamy sweet potato filling topped with buttery, nutty crumbles of streusel. Oh, so fattening.
But sweet potato casserole doesn’t have to be fattening! And this healthy version is not. It’s a crossover for you Trim Healthy Mamas, which means that it combines carbs and fats and is therefore not as weight loss promoting as a recipe with either carbs OR fats, but it shouldn’t cause weight gain unless you go totally overboard and eat several servings in one sitting. Which I may or may not have done the first time I tested this recipe.
I excused myself by saying that I ate it as a side dish and dessert.
THM Crossovers and their proper place
If you’re trying to lose weight, crossovers are best reserved for special occasions – or those times when you REALLY want to go off plan and need something special to fill the cravings.
But don’t be afraid of crossovers! They have their place!
Crossovers are perfect for
- pregnant and nursing mamas,
- husbands and growing children with high metabolisms,
- and those who are ready to maintain their current weight.
Click here for a low carb (THM S) Pumpkin Casserole!
Great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes!
This sweet potato casserole would be a great way to use up those leftover baked sweet potatoes that end up stashed in your fridge once in awhile. No – just me?
Other favorite Thanksgiving recipes:
- Deviled Turkey & Stuffing
- “Brown Sugar” Glazed Ham
- Jiggly Cranberry Orange Salad
- Green Bean Casserole
- Amazing Yellow Squash Casserole
- Pumpkin Pie
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for helpful info and answers to frequently asked questions!
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Click here for a low carb (THM S) Pumpkin Casserole!
New and improved
This recipe is an update of the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe on page 125 of Necessary Food. This recipe makes a 9″ x 13″ pan instead of an 8″ x 8″ pan. There are some other small tweaks for balanced flavor and sweetness, and the streusel topping has a more authentic texture.
Sweet Potato Casserole
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 12-15
Description
This Sweet Potato Casserole tastes like my mom’s, and that is the highest praise I can give it. THM XO
CLICK HERE if you’d like to try a low carb (THM S) Pumpkin Casserole!
Ingredients
SWEET POTATO LAYER
- 4 ½ cups mashed sweet potato (see note in instructions for how to prepare)
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 6 tablespoons salted butter (melted)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons THM Super Sweet Blend
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
TOPPING
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans (I use my Tupperware Smooth Chopper!)
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup salted butter (melted)
- 1 tablespoon THM Super Sweet Blend
- 2 teaspoons molasses
Instructions
SWEET POTATOES: You’ll need 3-4 large sweet potatoes – about 1320g or nearly 3 pounds unpeeled. Cut the potatoes into chunks and boil them in water in a kettle on the stove until they’re completely tender. Drain, then use your hands to pull the peelings off. This is so much easier than peeling before cooking! Mash with a potato masher, then measure out 4 ½ cups (1100g) or somewhere thereabouts and continue with the recipe.
Add the rest of the Sweet Potato Layer ingredients to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix with a hand mixer (or an exuberant whisk) until homogenous. Spread evenly into a greased 9” x 13” glass baking pan.
Mix the topping ingredients together with a hand mixer or meat fork (it works). Spread evenly over the sweet potato layer.
Bake (uncovered) at 350° for 35 minutes (warm or room temperature sweet potatoes) or 45 minutes (cold sweet potatoes) or until the topping is starting to brown and the center of the casserole is jiggly but set. It should spring back a bit when pressed. Delicious warm or cold!
You can make the casserole ahead and reheat, but it’s best fresh.
Notes
Want a smaller batch? Try a half size batch in an 8” x 8” pan.
Sweetener: Feel free to use your favorite low glycemic sweetener to taste in place of the THM Super Sweet Blend.
Quick oats: I prefer quick oats to old fashioned oats in this recipe. Quick oats used to be considered off plan for Trim Healthy Mamas, but the stance on that changed in 2015 (as long as you have protein in your meal to help blunt a blood sugar spike).
Oat flour: I make my own oat flour by grinding oats to a flour consistency in a Vitamix blender. Measure after grinding.
Molasses: This is allowed on the Trim Healthy Mama plan in small amounts (1/4 teaspoon per serving) for flavor. I like Grandma’s brand molasses from Walmart or a local grocery store. Blackstrap molasses is recommended I believe, but the nutrition info isn’t that different from Grandma’s and I don’t like the taste nearly as well. Molasses IS technically a sweetener, but it’s not refined sugar and is only used in a small amount for flavor so I’m still calling this recipe sugar free. 😉
Allergy info: gluten free (use gluten free oats and oat flour)
This recipe is an update of the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe on page 125 of Necessary Food. This recipe makes a 9″ x 13″ pan instead of an 8″ x 8″ pan. There are some other small tweaks for balanced flavor and sweetness, and the streusel topping has a more authentic texture.
This recipe was first published to the blog on November 23, 2015. It was updated November 2021.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: THM XO, sugar free
Keywords: thm, trim healthy mama, thm sweet potato casserole, healthy sweet potato casserole, sugar free sweet potato casserole, thm thanksgiving recipes
This recipe was first published to the blog on November 23, 2015. It was updated November 2021.
Goodness, this was amazing! Thank you so much, everyone enjoyed it!
Can I add a tsp of baking soda or powder to rise this up some? I’m thinking it’s going to be soupy. Thank you, love your recipes!
Feel free to experiment with adding other ingredients, but it shouldn’t be soupy as written. 🙂
Have you tried doubling this recipe? Could it be frozen? This sounds delicious and I plan to try it!
No, I haven’t tried doubling it, but I’m sure that would work. I’m afraid I don’t know about freezing it! It may get watery? If you try it, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Tried this tonight for my sweet potato-hating family and everybody raved!! Thanks so much for a yummy recipe!
We had this with steaks and your cheesy veggie medley tonight for Christmas eve dinner. Best sweet potato casserole ever! Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! Sounds like a delicious meal!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! If I used one sweet potato and the rest pureed pumpkin, would that still be a crossover? I’d like to keep it an S but I’m not sure if my family would be thrilled with pumpkin.
Numbers-wise that would probably be OK as long as you don’t have too many other carbs with your meal. 🙂
Thank you!
Can you explain the “Grandma’s Molasses”? Is there a substitute available? Thanks!
Katie
It’s just my favorite molasses brand from our local grocery store. 🙂 You can use whatever molasses you prefer.
Can I make this tonight for tomorrow?
I’ve never done that, but it would probably be OK to assemble tonight, refrigerate, then bake tomorrow. 🙂
Would canned sweet potatoes work if they are the only ingredient listed?
I’ve never used canned sweet potatoes, but if they’re soft, I’m guessing that would work!
I want to make this for my family on Christmas Eve….I have the THM baking blend, would I need to adjust how much I use and if so, do you have a suggestion? Thanks so much.
Normally you’d need a little more THM Baking Blend than my mix because my mix is drier and soaks up more liquid. In this small of an amount, you probably won’t need to adjust a lot, but just use enough to make it crumbly enough to spread on top of the casserole. 🙂
Thanks for the reply. It was helpful 🙂
Briana, is it still a crossover if you leave off the topping?
Yes, the sweet potato filling is still a crossover because it contains both sweet potatoes (carb source) and butter (fat source). For a solid S, I recommend replacing the sweet potatoes with canned pumpkin – you’ll probably want to add a little extra sweetener. 🙂
1 word… AMAZING
★★★★★
I made this for thanksgiving this year. ( I’m canadian) This was delicious. I love your recipes. This tasted just like the bad one.?
★★★★★
You’re a rock star! Thanks so much. My only complaint with your site is that we don’t know anything (as far as I can tell) about that exquisite equine (Arabian?) in your profile pic. We are trying this recipe today, but I’m going to go ahead and give it five stars. I have that kind of faith in you. Merry Christmas!
★★★★★
Aw, you’re too kind. 😉 You can find a little bit of horse info and a list of my horse-related blog posts on my “Horses” page under the “Lifestyle Posts” tab: https://www.briana-thomas.com/horse-training/
I should have known you would have a recipe for sweet potatoes! It is always a staple at our home for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. This year it won’t be loaded with “sugars” as before. Thank you, and have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family.
Janie
★★★★★
Sweet potato casserole is my favorite and this version is perfection!