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Cinnamon. Streusel. Swirled. Maple. Sweet. Potato. Casserole. The BEST.
I don’t often share many side dish recipes with you guys. I don’t know why this is, because side dishes are delicious, but for whatever reason I almost never do…that is except in the month of November, when sides absolutely need to be discussed.
Everyone has their favorite Thanksgiving side, or maybe sides…
I came across this Huffington Post article that actually broke down what the most loved Thanksgiving side dishes are. To my surprise, stuffing came in first, followed by mashed potatoes. I for sure thought mashed potatoes would have beaten out all other sides, but then I don’t like stuffing all that much. However, I do love mashed potatoes, and of course, sweet potatoes.
Sweet potato casserole came in third, but you guys, I don’t know, I’m thinking it needs to be higher up on the list. It might just be my personal favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
Every Thanksgiving I love putting a slightly new spin on the classic sweet potato casserole. In years past I’ve done sweet potato casserole boats, bourbon sweet potato casserole with sweet ‘n’ savory bacon pecans, lighter sweet potato casserole, and roasted sweet potatoes with maple butter.
This year, I wanted something a little more classic, but with my own little twist…or two.
This sweet potato casserole is everything. Sweet, but not in an intense, can’t take more than a few bites way. It’s light, buttery, and swirled with the most delicious cinnamon streusel, that makes this casserole the best! If you love any form of sweet potato casserole, and you love cinnamon, you clearly need to make this recipe.
You do.
Here’s the deal.
The sweet potatoes themselves are a simple mix of roasted sweet potatoes, whipped up with a touch of maple, cinnamon, vanilla, browned butter, and a little heavy cream. I like to whip the sweet potatoes a bit to ensure they are light and airy before baking. Simple, but good.
What I’ve never been able to understand, is why no one adds cinnamon to their sweet potatoes. This is something my grandma always did and it’s something I will carry on. When creating this recipe, I thought of the streusel from this pumpkin coffee cake. I got to thinking, “why not make the casserole kind of like a coffee cake and layer the streusel throughout the dish?”. It seemed like a pretty smart idea, so I went with it, and you know, it turned out pretty good.
Just like a coffee cake, I did a layer of streusel in the center and then another layer on top. Meaning, buttery, cinnamon goodness swirled throughout the entire casserole.
SO. GOOD.
And then, as if all this streusel business was not enough, I finished off the top of this casserole with a drizzle of browned maple butter. I mean, I figured it’s Thanksgiving, go big or go home, right?
Yes. Right. Of course.
I can’t believe that today’s sweet potato casserole is one of the last few recipes I’ll be sharing as a part of my 2017 Thanksgiving Menu! So hard to believe Thanksgiving is almost here. I only have a few more recipes to add and then it’s go-time. How are everyone’s menus coming along!?
I’m spending this week preparing content for the next couple weeks on HBH. Heading to Cleveland in a week, so lots of running around, cooking, and plenty of holiday shoots happening this week!
Lastly, all you Colorado readers, I’m doing a book signing in Edwards at the Bookworm of Edwards tomorrow night. The signing starts at 6pm and there will be plenty of food from the cookbook. I’ll be there demonstrating how to make one of my favorite appetizers, pan-fried feta with marinated olives. It’s going to be a fun and delicious night.
Can’t wait to meet some of you!
Cinnamon Streusel Swirled Maple Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
Streusel
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup
- 1 cup raw walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- 1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish or a dish slighly smaller (no less than 2 quarts).2. Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes and bake for 1 hour or until soft and tender. When the sweet potatoes are cooked, slice them in half and allow to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.3. Peel the skins away from the sweet potatoes and mash well in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, heavy cream, butter, and eggs, mixing until combined.4. To make the streusel. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add 6 tablespoons butter and use your fingers to mix the butter into the flour until a crumble forms. Stir in 1/4 cup maple syrup and the walnuts.5. Pour half the sweet potatoes into the prepared dish. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the streusel. Spread the remaining sweet potatoes over top and sprinkle the remaining streusel evenly over the top of the sweet potatoes. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top is dark golden. 6. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, brown the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Stir in the remaining maple syrup. 7. Just before serving, drizzle the browned maple butter over the casserole. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Mmmmmm, do you see that streusel though? Streusel is always a good idea…always!
Absolutely delicious. I think I *might* even like it better than the bacon bourbon casserole. I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit.
Hi Tara,
Amazing! Love to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it and your comment! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! xx
I ended up needing to double the recipe to fill a 9×13 pan. There definitely wasn’t enough streusel for 2 layers even with it being doubled. The original recipe only made enough to cover half of one layer. I also ended up needing 9 medium sweet potatoes and even that didn’t make a ton. But the recipe was absolutely delicious. I don’t even usually like sweet potato casserole, I made it for my husband, but I loved it!
Hi, Abby! I doubled the recipe as well. Did you add cook time since you doubled it, or did these instructions still work well? Thanks!
Hey Abby,
Amazing! Love to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it and your comment! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! xx
How many pounds are 4 medium sweet potatoes, or how many cooked cups of sweet potatoes are required for this recipe. I’m sorry, I’ve no clue how much a medium sweet potato would weigh. Making this tomorrow. Thanks!
Hi Denise,
Typically 1 medium sweet potato is close to 1 pound. I hope this helps! Happy Thanksgiving! xx
I made this dish last year, the first time ever making sweet potato casserole, and it quickly became one of my husband and I’d favorite thanksgiving side dish!
Hi Sami,
Love to hear this! Thank you so much for making this recipe and sharing with your family! Happy Thanksgiving! xT
Heya!
I made the casserole a night before a friends-giving feast. I’m wondering if you could recommend a time and temperature I can use to re-heat the casserole so it’s nice and hot for serving.
Thanks! 🙂
Hi there,
Thanks for making this recipe!! I would cover with foil and reheat at like 300F for 15ish minutes. I hope this helps! xx
Can you use canned yams in replace of regular sweet potatoes?
Hi Jae,
Sure, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work for you! I hope you love this recipe! xx
I’ve never made sweet potato casserole with eggs, would it be okay to omit them?
Hi Kevin,
I haven’t tested this recipe without the eggs so I am not sure of the exact results, but you could certainly give it a try! Please let me know if you have any other questions! Happy Thanksgiving! xT
I have a nut allergy relative in my fam so I have to omit the walnuts – what would you use in their place as a substitution? Thanks!!
Hi Amanda,
I would probably just skip the nuts altogether:) Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xT
This recipe sounds amazing!! However, I just stumbled across it. I plan on making it this year but wanted to know can you prepare this ahead of time?
Thank you
Hi Cindy,
Totally, just make up until the baking point in step 5, cover and pop in the fridge, and then finish the recipe as directed. I hope you love it! xT
I have a nut allergy relative in my fam so I have to omit the walnuts – what would you use in their place as a substitution? Thanks!!
Hi Amanda,
I think your best option in this recipe would be to just omit the nuts:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! Happy Thanksgiving! xT
This was so good! I cooked my sweet potatoes in the instant pot in advance so was super quick to put together. Nearly skipped brown butter maple syrup topping but glad I didn’t. This will become a holiday staple. Thank you!
Hey Kerri,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Thanks for your comment! xx
I made this for Christmas this year & admittedly I fudged the streusel a bit. It was still declared a favorite and my family said we should add it to the holiday meal every year. Oh, and I made it ahead of time on Christmas Eve up until the streusel step and put it in the fridge. So easy and worked out awesome.
Hey Emily,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Thanks for your comment! xx
I can’t seem to get the crumble right. The first time I made it, after some thought, I realized I over mixed it.
Second time, it was perfect and crumbly, then I added the maple syrup and I just had a feeling it was going to be messed up again. And it WAS! 🙁 I feel like the maple syrup mixed in the crumble is weighing it down? What am I doing wrong???
Hi Abby,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, sorry to hear you had some issues. You really hardly need to mix it, just a quick toss with your fingers and that’s all. I hope this helps for next time! xT
We made this to go with our Christmas dinner and it was glorious! Wonderful textures and flavors.
Hey Rachel,
Happy Holidays!!☃️ I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
It was a big hit with the family. They said it was dessert-like.
I’m not sure if I made the strusel part correctly, but it became a goopy mess after adding the maple syrup to the dry mix. I had to broil the top to harden it. I think the amout of struesel was also lacking to fully cover the top.
Couple changes:
I’d probably reduce the cinnamon amount added to the sweet potato.
The sweet potatoes needed more than an hour to fully cook.
Hey Josh,
Happy Holidays!!☃️ I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
The prep and cook time is way off. The cook time doesn’t include the 1 hr cook of the potatoes before you actually put it all together. Should be 1 hr 40 minute cook, and I’d say prep was more like 20-25.
Thanks for sharing your feedback Shannon, sorry for any trouble! xT