I can’t get enough of this twice baked sweet potato casserole. It’s basically a sweet potato with pecan topping dish which pairs well with – well, just about everything! These individual sweet potato casseroles are a great side dish for a pot luck or any family dinner.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see the privacy policy for details.
So if you love the sweetness and crunch of sweet potatoes and pecans, you’re going to love these individual sweet potato casseroles. Make this twice baked sweet potato casserole to go alongside turkey, ham or any other festive meat.
It is special enough for a holiday side dish but you can also prepare this sweet potato side dish recipe to go with any meat you want. It’s so good it’s a pity to only make this over the holidays!
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Ingredients
You will need sweet potatoes for this twice baked sweet potato casserole of course. In addition, for the filling, you’ll want to get eggs, sugar, butter, and cream. Vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg add plenty of wonderful spice to your sweet potatoes.
As for the topping you can use either all-purpose flour or almond flour, along with butter, sugar and chopped pecans.
How to Make Sweet Potatoes and Pecans
These individual sweet potato casseroles couldn’t be easier. First you need to cook the sweet potatoes. They take about an hour in the oven but if you’re in a rush try the microwave instead. Just prick them all over first so they don’t explode in there!
The next step in the sweet potato with pecan topping recipe is to remove the flesh from the sweet potatoes. Now be careful not to cut all the way through when you do this. The aim is to remove the potato flesh from the middle without cutting all the way through.
Now mash the remaining ingredients with the potato flesh in a bowl, then return the mixture into the skins. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle this over the top of each one. Bake this sweet potato side dish recipe for half an hour or until golden. It’s best to let them rest for a few minutes before serving. As you can imagine, these twice baked sweet potatoes are going to be very hot inside.
Garnish them with your choice of fresh herb sprigs or powdered sugar before serving. This is such a wonderful side dish for the holidays.
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Variations
Feel free to adjust the spices used in the filling. Perhaps you prefer to use allspice instead of clove or add more ginger and less nutmeg or vice versa. You could also use white sugar instead of brown. Walnuts would work just as well as pecans in the topping.
Tips and Tricks
Although you might be very careful when scooping out the potato flesh, accidents happen! The potatoes are cooked by this point, remember, so the flesh will be more delicate. If you do happen to cut all the way through the sweet potatoes, don’t worry.
You can use toothpicks to hold them closed then remove them before serving. These will hold the potatoes together in the case of accidental tears! Removing too much of the flesh can also make the skins weak, so leave some in there.
This twice baked sweet potato casserole is so good you’ll want to eat all of it. And I mean the skin! Potato skins are more nutritious than potato flesh, regardless of the type of potato. So if you want to enjoy the skins too, they’re perfectly edible. Serve along with other vegetable side dishes and your favourite holiday main dish recipes.
What Kind of Sweet Potato to Choose
There are different types of sweet potatoes in the grocery store, so you might wonder which to buy.
For a sweet potato side dish recipe you should choose an orange-fleshed variety such as Jewel or Red Garnet. These are known as ‘moist’ varieties because they contain more ‘amylase’ – an enzyme that breaks starches down into sugar.
This makes them more creamy and moist than ‘dry’ varieties (purple or beige-skinned ones). The dry type, such as Purple, Japanese and Sweet Hannah come out starchy and dry, something like russet potatoes. So use a ‘moist’ variety for your individual sweet potato casseroles.
Something else worth knowing is the orange-fleshed type will often be labeled as ‘yams’. Actually yams are dry, starchy tubers with a very thick skin. They’re a rarity in Canadian and American grocery stores, and usually only found in Caribbean markets. They’re the driest of all, so don’t use those here! Not for sweet potato with pecan topping anyway!
How to Store Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
Got some sweet potatoes and pecans left over from your Thanksgiving or Christmas feast? Keep them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and reheat them in the oven. Pop the potato directly on the oven rack and give it 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. That ought to be enough to warm it through. You can also microwave them but this tends to make them a bit soggy.
Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping Recipe
Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
Ingredients
- 5 sweet potatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 Cup brown sugar
- 1/4 Cup butter softened
- 2 Tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 Teaspoon clove
- 1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
TOPPING INGREDIENTS
- 3 Tablespoon flour
- 1/4 Cup butter softened
- 3/4 Cup brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup pecans
Instructions
- Wash and dry the sweet potatoes gently, making sure to keep the potato skins intact.
- Place the potatoes on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
- Remove the potatoes from the oven and let cool until they are cool enough to handle.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes from the top, lengthwise, but only cut about ¾ the way to the bottom. You want to be sure not to cut all the way through to the bottom.
- Gently push the two ends of the potato towards the center, this will open the potato up a bit for you to scoop the insides out.
- Gently scoop all of the inside pulp out of the potato and put into a mixing bowl. It is OK to leave some of the pulp in the potato if it helps keep the structure together. You want to avoid any rips or tears, however if you do rip the skin you can easily use a toothpick to re-attach
- In the bowl with the potato pulp, add in the remaining potato ingredients. Mash everything together until combined.
- Carefully scoop the potato mixture back into the potato skins.
- In another bowl, mix together all of the topping ingredients.
- Top each potato with a generous amount of the topping.
- Put the stuffed potatoes back in the oven to bake for approx 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. (remove any toothpicks at this time if any were used)
- Garnish with parsley, mint, or powdered sugar.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
If you like sweet potatoes and pecans, you will LOVE this side dish. Twice baked sweet potatoes are always a big hit and great for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Let me know if you try the recipe out!
You Might Also Like
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti of xoxoBella is a storyteller, food lover, dog mom and adventure seeker living on the Pacific coast. She shares her passion for recipes, dogs, sustainability, adventures, travel and philanthropy, in hopes of encouraging followers to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places and stand for a cause. Bella lives with Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease.
Bella Bucchiotti is a freelance food, travel, and lifestyle writer for MSN and the Associated Press Wire.
Adding this to my Thanksgiving menu!
This is going on my grocery list so I can make this next week! This sounds amazing…and pretty easy to make!
I love this, they look so yummy and easy to make, adding them to my to try list
Love this recipe! Great idea with the toothpicks as well! So helpful!
This sounds delicious for the fall and so clever to do as a double bake.
This is amazing and it’s so good how sweet potatoes and pecans can be a side dish or dessert. I love this recipe so much. I almost had to use hazelnuts because I didn’t think I had enough pecans but I did (I still want to try it with hazelnuts though, maybe next time)