About This Recipe
Honey goes into the mashed sweet potatoes and the pecan topping in this holiday casserole. The filling is soft and spoonable; the top has chopped nuts and buttery crumbs. Start with peeled, weighed sweet potatoes so the batch is easy to repeat.
Recipe
Honey Sweet Potato Casserole with a Pecan Topping
Bake honey-sweetened mashed sweet potatoes under a buttery pecan topping. Includes weighed ingredients, make-ahead notes and a clear center-temperature check.
10Ingredients
Yield: 8 servings
- 1000 g sweet potatoes, peeled and trimmed
- 4 tablespoons honey, divided
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 122 g whole milk
- 100 g whole eggs without shells
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 g table salt
- 100 g pecans, chopped
- 40 g all-purpose flour
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Cook the sweet potatoesPeel and trim the sweet potatoes, then weigh 1000 g edible pieces. Cut into roughly 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes and place in a saucepan. Add enough water to cover the pieces by about 2 cm (3/4 inch), bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until a fork goes through easily. The cooking water is drained away and is not part of the ingredient-based nutrition estimate.
- 2Drain and mashDrain thoroughly, return the potatoes to the warm empty saucepan and let excess steam escape for 3 to 5 minutes. Mash until mostly smooth. Heat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and line a 23 cm (9 inch) square baking dish with baking paper.
- 3Add the filling ingredientsMix 28.4 g of the butter into the warm mash. Stir in 63 g of the honey, the milk, 1.3 g of the cinnamon, the vanilla and the salt. Let the mixture cool until warm rather than hot, then whisk in the beaten eggs until evenly mixed. Spread in the prepared dish.
- 4Make the pecan toppingMelt the remaining 28.4 g butter. In a bowl mix the chopped pecans, flour and remaining 0.65 g cinnamon, then stir in the melted butter and remaining 21 g honey. Scatter the mixture across the sweet potato filling in small clumps rather than pressing it into a solid layer.
- 5Bake until the center is hotBake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, until the topping is browned and a thermometer in the center of the casserole reads 165 F (74 C). If the nuts darken before the center reaches that temperature, cover loosely with foil for the remaining time.
- 6Rest and portionRest for 5 minutes, then spoon into eight side portions. Serve the topping and filling together. Total time includes draining, cooling the mash enough to add the eggs and resting the finished casserole.
Estimated nutrition per serving
324.19 calories · 16.56 g fat · 40.42 g carbohydrate · 5.78 g protein · 239.93 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 8 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 168482, 169640, 173430, 171265, 171287, 171320, 173471, 173468, 170182, 168894. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Choose a Honey You Like with Sweet Potatoes
Clover honey keeps the filling mild. Wildflower brings a more floral note, especially in the topping. Taste the jar before you measure it; a strongly flavored honey will still be noticeable beside the cinnamon and pecans.
The four tablespoons are divided between two mixtures. Three tablespoons go into the filling and one tablespoon binds the topping. Measure those portions before you start so all the honey does not end up in the mash.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources: Honey flavor and cooking; USDA: raw sweet potato composition; FoodSafety.gov: casserole cooking temperatures.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Mashed sweet potato
- Wildflower
- Cinnamon and pecans
- Buckwheat
- A bolder nut topping
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Drain Before You Mash
Water left around the cooked sweet potatoes makes the filling looser. Drain them well and give the hot pieces a few minutes to release steam before mashing. The potatoes should already be tender at this stage; the oven bake sets the filling and warms it through.
A hand masher leaves a little texture, which suits a spooned casserole. For a smoother filling, pass the cooked potatoes through a ricer before adding the milk. Do not add extra milk simply to make the mash easier to stir; the eggs and honey still have to go in.
Keep the Pecan Topping in Small Clumps
Chop the pecans into uneven small pieces, leaving a few larger bits for texture. The flour, butter and honey coat them in a soft crumble. Scatter it over the filling so some of the orange mash is visible between the clumps.
A compact, pressed layer takes longer to dry and is harder to scoop. Check the nuts during the last part of the bake, and use a loose foil cover if they color before the middle is ready. The casserole center should reach 165 F (74 C), following the FoodSafety.gov casserole guidance linked here.
A Holiday Serving Plan
This makes eight side portions in a 23 cm square dish. Serve it with a roast dinner or with honey cornbread. If you want separate browned pieces instead of a mashed filling, use the honey roasted sweet potatoes.
You can cook and mash the sweet potatoes earlier, then refrigerate them in a shallow covered container. Assemble the topping separately and keep it chilled. A casserole started cold may need longer in the oven, so use the center-temperature check rather than the printed time alone.
What the Nutrition Estimate Covers
The estimate divides the listed ingredients by eight, including the full honey-butter topping. The sweet potato weight is 1000 g after peeling and trimming. The discarded cooking water is excluded, and the calculation does not adjust the raw ingredient values for cooking losses.
Scoop some topping with each portion. A serving with mostly nuts and crumbs will differ from one with mostly mashed sweet potato, even if both spoonfuls weigh the same.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover Honey or Wildflower Honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
