Here's another holiday 2012 recipe revamp! The recipe didn't change much but the pictures had to be replaced ASAP. In fact, I'd removed this recipe from the website when we relaunched in April because I was so embarrassed by the pictures!
Not long afterwards a reader messaged me on Facebook because they were looking for it. They'd loved it and wanted to share it with a friend. It's funny how these things happen!
That's when I realized I'd have to repost this recipe during the holiday season. I hadn't made it since I'd originally posted it 2 years ago, so I really couldn't remember what it was like anymore.
Well, let me tell you! This recipe is sweet, vanilla-y and perfect. I used to love love love my Mom's sweet potato and toasted marshmallow casserole as a kid. Unfortunately marshmallows have that one awful ingredient: Gelatin. Bleh.
Luckily this satisfies all of my sweet toasted marshmallow cravings (well on sweet potatoes at least.) The vanilla is the key to getting the marshmallow-y flavour, so don't skip it! Not only is this free of gelatin, it's also free of refined sugar and other questionable ingredients. It's naturally sweetened with dates and just a touch of maple syrup. Delicious!
This recipe only makes about 4 small/medium servings so feel free to double it if you're serving more people. I'm the only one who likes sweet potatoes in this house so I just made this little one. If you really like your sweet potato casserole sweet, I suggest increasing the topping by half.
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Date Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Side dish, Thanksgiving, Christmas
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
Soft, tender sweet potatoes topped with a sweet, cinnamon and vanilla date caramel and crunchy pecans. A lovely naturally sweetened twist on sweet potato and toasted marshmallow casserole! Increase the topping my half if you'd prefer to be sweeter.
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (or 4-5 mini)
- ¼ cup soft pitted dates, packed
- ⅓ cup water, plus an additional 3 tablespoon of water for pan
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch cinnamon
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- ½ tsp maple syrup or brown sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
Instructions
Pre-Cook Sweet Potatoes
- Bake, microwave or boil potatoes until just tender. I peel the skins off because it's so much easier to serve the casserole without them.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Slice cooked sweet potatoes into thick slices and arrange them in a pie plate.
- Blend together the dates, water, cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut oil until smooth.
- Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat and add the date mixture. Bring mixture to a boil and add the chopped pecans. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the date mixture over the sweet potatoes and top with more chopped pecans. Pour 3 tablespoon of water into the bottom of your pie plate.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, until potatoes are tender and fragrant.
Notes
This recipe only makes about 4 medium servings so feel free to double it if you're serving more people. I'm the only one who likes sweet potatoes in this house so I just made this little one.
Michelle
Can this be made the night before it's served? If so, how would you go about reheating it? I'm the only vegan in my family, and I'm looking for thanksgiving dishes that will impress the carnivores. This looks really good!
Brittany
Definitely! I'd just reheat it in the oven for about 15-30 min at 350F. Hope that helps! 😀
Maelle
I'm sorry it might be a silly question but this confuses me, is it a side dish? What would you serve this with? I don't really know much about holiday season recipes as I am from New Caledonia. The cooking style here is very much french and polynesian but I love to try new things and this recipe sounds amazing!
Brittany
Hi Maelle! This would be considered a side dish. Candied sweet potatoes are often served at Christmas and Thanksgiving (Fall/Winter) here in Canada/US as part of a large feast. Here are 2 holiday recipe roundups to give you an idea of what this side dish would be served with - Christmas Round Up & Thanksgiving Round Up.
Francois
It’s kind of a North American Autumn Feast Entree. It’s sweet by nature from the potatoes and with the added sweet buttery nutty baked in topping makes it savory sweet. Normally served with roasted Turkey and green vegetables and sweet cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving is a food festival in America 🇺🇸!🥂🍷☕️🍮🥮🍲🫕🥘🍜🍝🥗🫔🍛🍤🦪🥧🍨🍧🥬🥦🫛🍊🍐🍎🍏🍓🍇🍍🫐
Steffi
Soooooo goooood!!!! It's easy and simple to do. I did make a little extra dates "sauce" cause I felt like it wasn't enough. But maybe my potatoes weren't "medium" I also used real vanilla and my house just smelled lovely. It made a lot of vegans and non-vegans very happy.
★★★★★
Brittany
Yay! I'm so glad you tried the recipe and enjoyed it 😀 I'm glad you made extra date mixture, it's so good when there's just the right amount of sweetness to potato. Thanks for trying it. Merry Christmas!!