Maple Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Crunch Topping

This maple sweet potato casserole recipe has a smooth sweet filling topped with crunchy pecan and oat goodness. It goes perfectly with turkey or ham, making it a fabulous addition to your holiday menus.

Fall and winter holidays call for sweet potatoes. They are definitely a Thanksgiving staple but also go well with a Christmas ham. 

Come to think of it, they’re delicious with an Easter ham. But sweet potatoes also go perfectly with a pork loin, roasted chicken and more.

Leading into Thanksgiving, our family always has the debate between whether to serve the sweet potatoes with marshmallows like my baby sister wants or the kind with the pecans like my grandpa wants.

So we normally do the sensible thing and have both!

Last year I was in charge of the sweet potato casserole for the big family Thanksgiving. MiMi made the kind with marshmallows. 

Of course I couldn’t just follow a recipe. I wanted it to be different.

So I added maple syrup instead of sugar to give those warm maple notes. Then I added oats to the topping.  The results were phenomenal!

There are usually two to three dozen people, so the recipe I made filled a lasagna pan. I couldn’t wait to make it again this year, but we had a much smaller gathering.

Plus only a couple of us normally eat the sweet potatoes. While I love eating the leftovers, a lasagna pan full seemed like overkill.

So I scaled back the recipe and adjusted the filling to topping ratio a bit, because more topping never hurt a thing! I must say the results were scrumptious.

How does your family eat sweet potatoes at holidays? Do you have a debate over how to fix them?

The Pecan and Oat Topping

In my opinion, the crunchy topping is what makes this dish shine. It’s almost like eating a sweet potato crumble with all of the oats and pecans.

It adds wonderful flavor and great texture. This recipe makes a really generous amount of topping and we love it that way.

You can easily cut the topping in half if it’s not your favorite part. These are your sweet potatoes and I want for you to love them so make them your way.

If you don’t like pecans, you can easily leave them out. Or sub in chopped almonds or walnuts if they are your preference.

Can I add bourbon to these sweet potatoes?

Yes. If you want to make a boozy version of these sweet potatoes omit the vanilla in the filling and add a Tablespoon or two of bourbon instead.

More Holiday Recipe Inspiration:

Side dishes make Thanksgiving, so alongside your sweet potatoes you may want to serve some orange cranberry relish. We also love having some homemade egg noodles either at the big meal or the day after.

Of course we will need dessert too. A condensed milk pumpkin pie is always on the list, but you may want to try a honey and maple syrup pecan pie as well.

Though, if you want to do a pumpkin cheesecake and pecan pie cheesecake instead, I would be totally supportive of that decision!

Alright, now it is time to get cooking.