Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans is a very easy updated version of the mashed sweet potato casserole. Lots of nice bites with a much more healthy topping. A side dish that shines for the holidays and throughout the year.
I'm always looking for a new side dish to go with our dinner. Especially one with a vegetable that I don't use all the time. I found it with this recipe for an Easy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans even.
Sweet potatoes have become used more often over the last couple of years and they aren't just relegated to the holiday table. Sweet potato fries and roasted sweet potatoes come to mind.
I even have a Sweet Potato Chips from the Air Fryer recipe on the blog and spicy sweet potato fries are coming soon.
This recipe is keeping the holidays in mind but the sweet potatoes are bite-size chunks versus mashed.
It only takes 15 minutes to put this recipe together. The rest of the time is in the baking. And you can prepare it ahead a few days and bake the day of the meal.
I've actually included photos with this recipe made with a thicker topping using the same ingredients. It is delicious and perfect for the holidays but I was also wanted to aim for a healthy sweet potato casserole.
Believe me, both recipes are healthier than the old standard sweet potato casserole so go ahead and make whichever you like.
The thicker topping is photographed further at the bottom near the recipe card.
Also, nothing is out of the ordinary for this vegan casserole it's just that wonderful coconut sugar is used instead of refined sugar and dairy free butter is used which makes no difference in terms of taste.
The recipe is delicious!
How Do You Make Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans?
- The topping is made with coconut sugar, raisins, and pecans which helps keep the sweetness a bit more mellow. Those marshmallows can be pretty darn overpowering.
- You can even double or triple the topping if you're looking for that thick festive feel of overabundance. Sometimes that's good nut I also like the feel of comfort and abundance.
- The photo here shows the minimal ingredients to use when tossing with the sweet potato pieces.
- The picture right below that shows the raw mix in the casserole ready to go into the over. It is so easy!
So all you do is mix the few ingredients in a large bowl and then toss with the cubed sweet potatoes and then bake.
The natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes and the sweetened mixture is a perfect side dish that everyone can enjoy.
Are Yams Sweet Potatoes?
- Let me tell you the short answer - Yes! Now let me be more clear.
- I have never seen a real yam in person. It is rough, dark brown, a little hairy looking and white on the inside. I am sure they are in grocery stores somewhere but never in the ones I've visited.
- The vegetables that we see in the grocery store that are marked as yams are sweet potatoes. They come in different shades and the more orange they are the sweeter they are.
- Usually, the whiter ones are called yams - but they're sweet potatoes.
- Sweet potatoes may be pointy at the ends but not especially. The color of the sweet potato in this recipe is the sweet potato that we use in most recipes.
For this recipe - Go for orange.
Don't forget that you can go extravagant with the topping mixture. Just double it or triple it.
See the photo below and you'll see that you can lay it on top just as you would with a marshmallow topping.
It's still the larger chunks of sweet potatoes below the topping but you get an extra kick of lots of decadent sweetness.
So let the fun begin and have a new vegetable dish on the table. For any day or a holiday.
Everyone appreciates the nice bites os sweet potato as a change from the mashed casserole. Such a beautiful and delicious topping too.
Pretty simple, huh! So just remember when you're putting this casserole together that it's a hit in the making!
What Do You Think?
If you take a photo of your beautifully colorful side dish I would love to see it. Follow me over on Instagram and tag me on your photo @vegan_in_the_freezer.
Your opinion means a lot to me and if you'd like to leave a comment and possibly a star rating I'd love to hear your thoughts.
📋 Recipe
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes
- ½ cup coconut sugar - organic
- 2 tablespoons chickpea flour (you can use almond flour too)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons dairy free butter
- ¼ cup raisins
- ½ cup pecans - coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease an 8x10 casserole dish.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
- Place the chunks into the prepared casserole dish - in one layer.
- In a small food processor add coconut sugar, chickpea flour, cinnamon, and dairy free butter. Mix until well combined.
- Dump in a large bowl and mix in the raisins, pecans and sweet potatoes.
- Pour into the prepared casserole.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
Jane
Oh boy, that sounds just heavenly!
Becky Striepe
Ginny! This looks so lovely. I need to bookmark it for Thanksgiving. I'm always on the lookout for killer vegan dishes to bring to the party.
Christina
Yasss! I just found the perfect recipe to share at Friend's Giving this year! Awesome post!
Dawn
Can I use rice flour or coconut flour instead of chickpea?
Ginny McMeans
For the taste, I would use coconut flour Dawn.
emma
I made this for Christmas dinner a few days ago and everyone loved it! It's really delicious! It was simple to prepare, no ingredient overpowered any others, and turned out to be a "crowd-pleaser"! It is sometimes difficult to find ingredients for gluten free / vegan meals while traveling away from home, but this recipe is straightforward enough to make it possible! Thank you for sharing!
P.S. I only had almond flour so I used a couple spoons of that, and it worked out just fine.