Unique Thanksgiving Side Dish
Most Thanksgiving tables have sweet potato casseroles on them, but this isn’t your average sweet potato casserole. This casserole incorporates a fun twist on the classic that you’re going to love. The recipe is a spinoff of my Sweet Potato Casserole With Butter Pecan Topping, which has been a reader favorite for years. Rather than adding pecans, I added crushed Sea Salt Kettle chips. The potato chips add the perfect salty crunch to this otherwise sweeter side dish. I love salty-and-sweet recipes and this one is no exception. The underlying sweet potatoes are soft, creamy, and buttery while the topping is crunchy yet crumbly thanks to big buttery brown sugar crumbles and the Sea Salt Kettle chips.
The saltiness of the chips really balances out the sweet potatoes and brown sugar. There are only three ingredients in these classic chips: potatoes, oil, and sea salt — so you know the taste is going to be pure. They work beautifully in the sweet potato casserole. Or of course just eating out of the bag by the handful. Your family and friends are going to love this sweet potato casserole. Who needs a marshmallow topping when you’ve got potato chips instead! Be sure to check out the Kettle Brand Instagram for all their amazing flavors of chips. I was blown away.
What’s in the Savory Sweet Potato Casserole?
For the mashed sweet potato filling, you’ll need:
Sweet potatoes Eggs Unsalted butter Milk Light brown sugar Granulated sugar Vanilla extract Salt Cinnamon and nutmeg
And for the savory topping, you’ll need:
Unsalted butter Light brown sugar All-purpose flour Sea Salt Kettle Chips
How to Make Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
Not only is this recipe made with potato chips, but I also opted to make the sweet potato casserole with NO NUTS. I know it’s tough dealing with food allergies (whether yours or you guests) around the holidays, so it’s nice to have a nut-free side dish for those who need one. To make the potato base, boil the sweet potatoes until tender. Then, mash them up with the rest of the filling ingredients. Turn the sweet potato mash into a 9×13-inch baking dish before making the savory potato chip topping.
For the topping, in addition to butter, brown sugar, and flour, I used half of one 8.5-ounce bag of Sea Salt Kettle chips and briefly (less than 10 seconds) pulsed them in my high speed blender. You don’t want to pulverize them into dust. Rather, you want them to be in small recognizable pieces so that the topping has plenty of crunch and texture. Sprinkle the topping over the mashed sweet potato casserole, then bake the entire thing for about 40 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden browned and set.
Can Sweet Potato Casserole Be Made in Advance?
Yes! When cooking a holiday meal it’s so helpful to have as many things in the ‘ready to pop into the oven’ stage as possible and this nut-free sweet potato casserole is one of those dishes. It’s an easy recipe to pre-assemble before baking it off and if you’re cooking it for a holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve dinner, that’s one less thing to do the day of. You can prep the sweet potato filling portion the night before, put it in your baking dish, cover, and refrigerate. Before baking it off the next day, prepare the topping — which takes less than 5 minutes — and bake it off.
Can You Freeze Sweet Potato Casserole?
Yes, the mashed sweet potato base can be baked and then frozen for up to three months. Do not freeze the casserole with the potato chip topping, as it will lose its crispness and not freeze well. I also don’t recommend assembling and freezing the sweet potato base before baking it. The filling contains dairy and raw egg, which can change texture once frozen. When you’re ready to reheat the frozen, baked casserole, pop it straight into a pre-heated oven. Make sure to freeze the casserole in a metal baking dish and not a glass one, as transferring a freezing cold glass dish to a hot oven can cause it to crack.
What to Serve with Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
Serve this nut-free sweet potato casserole with your favorite Thanksgiving entrees and sides. Here are some long-time reader favorites I think your family will love:
Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts Classic Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing Red Wine Cranberry Sauce Sweet Dinner Rolls Honey Baked Ham Parker House Rolls Easy Foolproof Roasted Turkey Perfect Homemade Gravy
More Easy Thanksgiving Potato Recipes:
Sweet Potato Casserole with Butter Pecan Crumble Topping – The holiday classic just got even better because of the amazing topping! A buttery, brown sugary, crunch that’s irresistible! Easy and you can pre-assemble to save time!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey-Cinnamon Dip – The honey glaze and the creamy cinnamon dip make these potatoes irresistible!
Three Cheese Scalloped Potatoes – These scalloped potatoes are EXTRA cheesy thanks to three cheeses used as well as super rich and CREAMY!! They’re a perfect HOLIDAY SIDE DISH as well as family friendly weeknight COMFORT FOOD!
The BEST Mashed Potatoes — Buttery, creamy, PERFECT mashed potatoes that rival your favorite restaurant’s version but EASY and ready in 45 minutes!!
Loaded Twice Baked Potato Casserole — Tender potatoes mixed with butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon, and green onions for the ultimate in LOADED baked potatoes!! AMAZING comfort food that’s irresistible!! Can be made with leftover mashed potatoes, too!
Crispy Parmesan Ranch Potatoes — The BEST roasted potatoes you’ll ever eat!! Tender potatoes seasoned with ranch mix and topped with a CRISPY Parmesan breadcrumb topping! So DELICIOUS you don’t even need a main course!!
Parmesan and Herb Roasted Potatoes – Easiest potatoes ever and packed with so much flavor! Olive oil, herbs, and everything is better with cheese! A family favorite that everyone loves!
Post is brought to you by Kettle Brand. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.
title: “Sweet And Savory Sweet Potato Casserole” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-04” author: “Randy Anderson”
Savory Sweet Potato Casserole with Bacon and Pecans
I’m a huge sweet potato fan and am game for just about any sweet potato recipe. My family loves bacon so I figured this sweet potato casserole with bacon would be a hit. And not just any bacon, this bacon is candied with maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and more! The sweet potato base of the casserole is creamy, sweet, and the perfect compliment to the saltier candied bacon and pecan topping. Texture fans will appreciate the texture contrast between the smooth sweet potatoes and the more chewy and crunchy topping. If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving, Christmas, or holiday party side dish, this sweet potato casserole will be a favorite for both friends and family alike. You can even make part of it ahead of time to save time and energy if you’re cooking it for the holidays or a party. More on that below!
Ingredients in Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
For this salty-sweet sweet potato casserole, you’ll need to following common fridge and pantry ingredients:
Sweet Potato Filling
Sweet Potatoes Brown Sugar Maple Syrup Cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice Heavy Cream or half-and-half Salted butter Eggs
Candied Bacon Topping
Thick cut bacon Pecan halves Brown sugar Maple syrup Cinnamon Smoked paprika or regular paprika Salt Lemon Zest
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
This sweet potato casserole recipe is by no means hard, difficult, nor does it use exotic or difficult-to-find ingredients. On the contrary, it’s very easy with commonly found ingredients. However, it’s a multi-step recipe so just make sure you’ve read over the recipe well before beginning. Step 1: The first step is to boil peeled and cubed sweet potatoes until they’re cooked through, about 20 minutes. Step 2: Then, to a large mixing bowl, add the boiled sweet potatoes, along with the brown sugar, maple, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, cream, butter, and eggs. Step 3: Beat everything together with a hand mixer. Step 4: Transfer it into a large baking or casserole dish. If you’re making this ahead of time, stop here, cover tightly, and refrigerate. More make-ahead details below as well. Step 5: Carry on by adding diced bacon and the pecans to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. That is key unless you love doing stubborn dishes with a baked-on sugary glaze. Step 6: Mix together the brown sugar, maple, cinnamon, paprika, salt, lemon zest, and drizzle it over the bacons and pecans. Step 7: Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Step 8: Then, top the sweet potatoes in your casserole dish with the toasted bacon and pecans. Step 9: Bake it again for about 35 to 40 minutes. If the top appears to be browning too quickly, cover it with foil after about 15 or 20 minutes. Step 10: Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes of baking. Step 11: Allow it to cool momentarily before serving it to your eager friends and family, who no doubt, will be raving about how amazing your house smells!
Make-Ahead Instructions
You can boil your sweet potatoes the day before and mash them together with the brown sugar, maple, cream, butter, eggs, and so forth, and get that plated in your baking or casserole dish. Cover it very tightly with plastic wrap or foil, and refrigerate overnight. On the day of — and I am thinking Thanksgiving or Christmas Day if this is for a holiday celebration — you can bake the bacon and pecans, then add it on top of the sweet potatoes in the casserole dish.
Tips for the Best Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole
Read through the recipe first: I always urge people to read through the entire recipe from start to finish, at least once, before beginning. It’s amazing how often people write to me and say, oh I goofed because I didn’t read ahead and I didn’t know I was going to have to do this or that. Specifically, this tends to happen around the holidays since people are often making a recipe they’ve never made before, or it’s a more involved recipe that yes, does require some advance skimming and reading. Because of the various stages of this recipe, make sure you know what you’re doing and where you’re going next so read up, beforehand! Use pure maple syrup: When you’re mixing together the boiled sweet potatoes with the rest of the ingredients, make sure to use 100% real maple syrup, the real deal. Don’t use pancake syrup. Same goes for when you’re mixing together the bacon and pecans, make sure to use 100% real maple syrup. Either type of brown sugar is fine: You can use either light or dark brown sugar. Dark gives a more robust and more caramelized flavor than light due to its higher molasses content, but if you tend to keep light on hand, that’s fine. Salted or unsalted butter works: As for the salted butter, if you don’t keep it on hand, use unsalted butter and then add about 1/2 teaspoon salt. You can substitute the smoked paprika: For the bacon portion, I always have smoked paprika on hand and think it works really well with the bacon and pecans to give a slightly more smoky flavor than using regular paprika, but regular paprika is fine if that’s what you have. Don’t skip the lemon zest: Lemon zest may seem like a bit of a non-sequitur here, however it serves the purpose of brightening up the flavor of the overall dish without imparting a discernible lemon flavor. It’s like adding coffee to chocolate cake batter, you’ll just have to trust me. If you’re making this for Thanksgiving, you probably have lemons on hand for turkey prep, so you can put the peel to one of them to use in this homemade sweet potato casserole with all that glorious candied bacon.
What Goes with Savory Sweet Potato Casserole?
Serve your favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas recipes with this casserole! Pair the savory sweet potato bake with one or more of the following:
Entrees: Orange Pineapple Glazed Ham, Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin, Honey Baked Ham, Roasted Turkey. Vegetable sides: Bacon Green Beans, Sweet and Spicy Roasted Acorn Squash Slices, Loaded Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Balsamic Brussels Sprouts. Rolls and breads: Parker House Rolls, Pumpkin Dinner Rolls, No-Knead Dinner Rolls. Desserts: Pumpkin Pecan Pie, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Roll, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie.
More Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Side Dishes:
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping — This is the BEST sweet potato casserole ever!! The sweet potatoes are tender and creamy, while the streusel topping adds a delightful buttery crunch thanks to the pecans! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows — Sweet, creamy, decadent, and reminiscent of sweet potato casserole but individually portioned! FAST and EASY enough for family dinners or make them for more formal holiday celebrations! Either way, these are always the PERFECT comfort food side dish that everyone devours! Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Casserole — A HEALTHIER and DELICIOUS twist on sweet potato casserole!! The potatoes and apples retain some texture with the perfect amount of crumble topping! Put it on your holiday menu!! Sweet and Savory Sweet Potato Casserole — A fun and EASY twist on classic sweet potato casserole that uses potato chips in the topping for a SALTY-SWEET flavor the whole family will love!! Great for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations!! Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey-Cinnamon Dip – The honey glaze and the creamy cinnamon dip make these potatoes irresistible!! Roasted Sweet Potato Salad — Goodbye mayo-loaded, mushy, boring potato salad. Hello to a Mexican-inspired potato salad full of flavor and texture with corn, black beans, peppers, and cilantro! Honey Butter Smashed Sweet Potatoes — Soft, tender potatoes with crispy skin and the most HEAVENLY melted honey butter on top!! EASY comfort food that’s a perfect side dish anytime!! Classic Marshmallow Sweet Potato Casserole — An EASY recipe for the BEST sweet potato casserole with pecans! Tender and creamy sweet potatoes, the subtle crunch of a buttery pecan crumble, and gooey marshmallows make this comfort food side dish an automatic family FAVORITE! Sweet Potato Bites with Marshmallows and Pecans — Sliced sweet potato rounds are brushed with a maple cinnamon-and-sugar mixture, baked, and then topped with marshmallows and pecans!
