Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole is topped with a pecan and oat crumble for a lightened-up, gluten-free version of your favorite Thanksgiving Day casserole!
Every year, my husband and I see both sides of our family at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Oftentimes this requires a 2-hour drive to Houston and then a quick flight over to New Orleans.
In addition to getting to see all of our extended family, I absolutely LOVE all of the special recipes that make their appearance during the holidays.
One of my all-time favorite dishes on the Thanksgiving table is sweet potato casserole.
Traditionally, in my Louisiana-Texas family, we fill the sweet potato layer with butter and sugar and then load the pecan crumble with even MORE butter and sugar.
It generally tastes like an overtly sweet dessert.
In an effort to tone down the sweetness, I recently made a few tweaks to my family recipe and came up with this healthy sweet potato casserole with a pecan-oat topping.
Granted, I say “healthy” loosely… There is still added sugar in addition to the sweet potatoes… there is still added oil… but come on… this is Thanksgiving we’re talking about here!
In my opinion, anything that is on the Thanksgiving table that uses pure maple syrup instead of white sugar is deemed one of the healthiest dishes of Thanksgiving day… anyone else agree?!
What Changes Did I Make to this Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole:
In an effort to take away a bit of the guilt, I made a few changes to my family’s traditional sweet potato casserole recipe:
- I used fresh, organic sweet potatoes, instead of canned yams <– SOOO much tastier!
- Pure maple syrup was used as the sweetener instead of white and brown sugar.
- Gluten-free rolled oats were used to replace some of the refined flour in the pecan-oat crumble.
How Can You Evolve this Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole?
While I do call this “healthy sweet potato casserole, ” you can definitely make it an ULTRA-healthy sweet potato casserole by adopting a few of the following changes without much sacrifice on taste:
- Decrease the amount of maple syrup used in the base layer.
- Coconut oil can be used instead of butter and flax eggs can be used instead of regular eggs to make it vegan.
- Reduce the pecan-oat crumble in half for an even healthier version.
PIN THIS HEALTHY SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
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Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Oat Crumble
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Ingredients
Sweet Potato Layer
- 4 lbs. sweet potatoes
- 6 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil melted
- 2 eggs or flax eggs
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
Pecan Oat Crumble
- 6 Tbsp. gluten-free 1-to-1 flour blend
- ¾ cup gluten-free oats old-fashioned, rolled
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil melted
- ¾ cup pecans coarsely chopped
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Poke holes in each sweet potato with a fork and wrap them in aluminum foil. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked completely through.
- Once potatoes are cooked and cooled enough to touch, remove the skin.
- Whip the potatoes and remaining sweet potato layer ingredients together in a food processor, or until smooth.
- Pour sweet potato layer into a nonstick cooking-sprayed 9 x 9-inch baking dish or 2.5-quart casserole dish.
- Combine pecan oat crumble ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix by hand until just combined.
- Top sweet potato layer with pecan-oat crumble and bake in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and cooked thoroughly. Enjoy!
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sounds like a great recipe! Have you ever done most of the preparation a day ahead, then baked the casserole on Thanksgiving? To do so, how would you adjust recipe? I’m thinking I could bring the sweet potato mixture to room temperature from the fridge, then bake it until hot, adding the toppings just before going into the oven. Any other suggestions?
Absolutely, Maggie! We actually do this a lot for Thanksgiving. You can assemble the casserole completely, refrigerate it for up to 24 hours and then pull it out 1-2 hours before baking so it comes to room temp. Excited to hear what you think 🙂
Can’t wait to make this for Thanksgiving!
Yay!! Let us know what you think when you do, Naomi 🙂
Hi, I’m wondering about the nutrition facts and where the sodium comes from? Would unsalted butter reduce the sodium? I’m on a low sodium diet (although this may be different during the holidays…) thanks, the recipe looks good by the way!
There is a little salt in the sweet potato base layer… which adds up to 1200mg of Sodium! Also, the salted butter does have some in there, too. Feel free to leave out the salt and use unsalted butter to decrease the sodium, Sara!
I love how you’ve upped the health factor on this dish – so delicious!
Thank you so much, Melissa!! 🙂