Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole

Steamed sweet potatoes are whipped together with honey, egg, cinnamon, and nutmeg in this healthy sweet potato casserole. This side dish is unbelievably light and addicting; you won’t be able to resist a second helping!

Are you hosting Thanksgiving this year? Have you started planning your menu? Or do you already have the menu all set? I’ll be hosting this year, but I will have lots of help from family who will be bringing appetizers, side dishes, and even dessert. While we like to try a new Thanksgiving dish now and then, my family pretty much has a set menu that we make from year to year.

One dish that I always make is the sweet potato casserole. I used to follow a recipe that had been a staple at our family’s Thanksgiving table for years. It was delicious, but loaded with butter and brown sugar. Then one year I came across this recipe in a magazine, tried it, and I’ve never looked back. Baked sweet potatoes pretty much taste like candy as is, so it’s not necessary to add a lot of butter or sugar to them to make them irresistible.

I originally posted this Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole four years ago, in the early days of the blog. It’s become a staple in our house, and I wanted to bring it to the forefront once again since many of you weren’t reading back then. Plus, the photo desperately needed updating, and I’ve made a few tweaks to the recipe over the years.

You won’t find a bit of butter in this lightened up sweet potato casserole. You won’t miss it at all, promise! The sweet potatoes are lightly sweetened with honey, and I’ve added plenty of cinnamon and some nutmeg. Instead of the traditional marshmallow topping, a cinnamon-brown sugar-pecan topping is the perfect finishing touch.

This Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole is so easy to make, and so delicious, that you’ll want to include it at all of your holiday meals. And maybe even on a regular weeknight now and then, too.

Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole

 

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Steamed sweet potatoes are whipped together with honey, egg, cinnamon, and nutmeg in this healthy casserole. This sweet potato casserole is unbelievably light and addicting; you won't be able to resist a second helping!

Recipe type: Side Dish

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

For the sweet potatoes:

• 3½ pounds sweet potatoes (about 5 medium), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• ⅓ cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt

For the topping:

• ⅓ cup chopped pecans
• 1 tbsp. packed dark brown sugar
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions

1. Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a pot fitted with a large steamer basket. Put the sweet potatoes in the basket, cover, and steam until tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixer bowl and let cool slightly.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
3. To the bowl with the potatoes, add the honey, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt; beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread the sweet potato mixture into the prepared baking dish.
4. Mix the brown sugar, pecans, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl; sprinkle over potatoes. Bake until hot and beginning to brown around the edges, 40-45 minutes. Check casserole after 30 minutes and cover with foil to prevent over-browning.

Recipe adapted from Ellie Krieger, Food Network Magazine, November 2010.

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For the photos above, I halved this recipe. If you make the full recipe, you’ll have 8 side dish-size servings.

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