Healthy sweet potato casserole with crispy nutting streusel topping – a grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free recipe that’s also paleo-friendly. This casserole is the perfect side dish for the holidays!
Side dishes are serious business this time of year, and it shouldn’t come as a shock that when it comes to side dishes, all-things sweet potato rank highest on my radar. My family has plenty of age-old traditional side dishes we default to each year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the sweet potato casserole is no exception. Let me tell you, my sister makes a mean sweet potato casserole, including gobs of butter, brown sugar, and cream, topped off with marshmallows.
Just. Yum.
Because I just haaaave to prove to my family any chance I get that traditional yummy comforting dishes can taste great while being not only not bad for you, but good for you, a couple years back for Thanksgiving, I healthified the sweet potato casserole. I know. Rude.
But e’er since that fateful Thanksgiving, we haven’t looked back.
Okay, okay…I make mine, sis makes hers, we all take a little (read: a lot) of both, and call it a feast.
Flavor and texture talk: this dish basically tastes like you’re eating a shortbread cookie on top of a pillow of autumn bliss. ‘Nuff said. It’s warmly-spiced and sweet without being too sweet. If you’re anything like me and go bonkers for sweet potatoes, this sweet potato casserole can be your dessert. Dollop of coconut milk whipped cream on top? Ohhhh momma, now we’re talking.
Preparing this dish is super easy! I simply boiled 3 very large sweet potatoes (you can also roast or stem them, but boiling them is the fastest option), allowed them to cool, then added them to a blender with some coconut milk, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. As an alternative, you can mash everything together with a potato masher to maintain some chunky texture if desired.
Transfer the mashed/pureed up potatoes to a small 8” x 8” casserole dish, and top with a grain-free mixture of almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut oil, pecans, and maple syrup. Bake until the topping is nice and crisp and the sweet potato mixture is a bit bubbly. BAM! you have yourself a paleo-friendly lightened up version of sweet potato casserole.
Slash dessert vegetables.
However you want to look at it.
Side dish it!
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Filling:
- 3 cups large sweet potatoes 4 mashed
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup to taste
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch ground nutmeg
- tablespoon Zest of 1 orange about 1
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 1-1/3 cup almond flour/meal
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch sea salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil softened
- 1 cup raw pecans chopped
Instructions
Prepare the Filling:
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Chop sweet potatoes into large chunks, place them in a large pot and cover with water. Cover the pot and heat until boiling. Boil the potatoes until they're soft when they're poked with a fork, about 20-30 minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes into a colander and allow them to cool to room temperature (this is so that the sweet potatoes don't cook the eggs when blended together - you can refrigerate the potatoes to speed up the process).
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When the potatoes are cool, remove the skins. Place potatoes in a blender or a mixing bowl with the remaining filling ingredients. Blend or mash until everything is well combined.
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Preheat the oven to 375° F.
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Transfer the sweet potato mixture to an 8” x 8” square casserole dish and spread it evenly.
Prepare the topping:
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Mix together all the ingredients for the topping in a mixing bowl. Spread the topping over the sweet potato mixture as evenly as possible. Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven until golden brown around the edges and the topping is crispy, about 20-30 minutes. Allow the casserole to cool and set up for 20 minutes before serving.
