This Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows is easy to make, does not require a lot of ingredients, and utilizes the natural sugars (plus a little brown sugar) in the sweet potato to flavor the dish.
For many African Americans, and Caribbean families, sweet potatoes are typically eaten at thanksgiving dinner. If you’re into social media memes like I am, then you’ve probably seen the meme about “when Mac and Cheese and sweet potatoes touch”. It’s the perfect pairing of salty and sweet! I also prefer to make this recipe in the fall and winter months, as opposed to other seasons. Sweet potatoes and yams, are typically harvested around the fall and winter months, which means the flavor is so much better when cooked in season.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
- Orange Sweet potatoes, or garnet yams: Fun fact, sweet potatoes are grown in different varieties. White, red, orange, and even purple. What we typically call yam in the USA, is actually a sweet potato. Yams are actually brown on the outside, with scaly, rough skin, white on the inside. It’s also not sweet, and much more starchy and dry. See here for an indepth explaination.
- Brown Sugar: This adds a little more sweetness to the dish, but not too much since sweet potatoes have their own natural sugars.
- Cinnamon & Vanilla Extract: Cinnamon & vanilla extract will add to the aroma and flavor of the dish.
- Butter: Butter always adds a moist, fatty mouthfeel to starchy dishes. In this case, adding butter to the recipe will help to caramelize the potatoes that have been mixed with brown sugar.
- Marshmallows (there’s vegan friendly ones too!): In my opinion, marshmallows the best topping for sweet potatoes. But you can also try using candied pecans too.
Make This Ahead of Time
To make this dish, I roast the sweet potatoes whole. Once the sweet potatoes are fully roasted and cooled, I scoop out the flesh, and add in the brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and vanilla extract. I find this so much easier than peeling and cutting up the sweet potatoes. This method also allows the sweet potatoes to roast in the skin, which brings out its natural sugars. You can lose some of the sweetness by boiling it.
This recipe can also be prepared 24-28 hours ahead of time. When you are ready to prepare it, you can add the marshmallows on top & refrigerate it. Then when you are ready to prepare your meal, bake the casserole until the top is browned, and the sweet potatoes are cooked. If you decide to pre-bake it and then refrigerate it, don’t brown the marshmallows too much, to avoid burning them later on (in the reheating process).
Did you make this recipe?
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Sweet potatoes or garnet yams (or 4-5 large sweet potatoes)
- 3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar (adjust based on desired taste)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp plant based butter
- 2 cup marshmallows (vegan, or preferred) (or however much is needed to cover the casserole dish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Wash and dry the sweet potatoes, then pierce the skin with a fork or knife to allow for roasting/steaming.
- Place the pierced sweet potatoes on a baking sheet large enough to hold all of the potatoes. Roast on 425 F, for 30 minutes, or until very soft. Then remove them from oven, and reduce the heat to 375 F.
- Once the potatoes are cooled, slice it in half, and peel off the outer skin. Add the sweet potato flesh to a mixing bowl. You can also scoop out the flesh with a spoon instead of peeling the skin. Repeat with each sweet potato.
- Then add brown sugar, vanilla extract, butter, a pinch of salt, and cinnamon to the potatoes. Mash and mix until everything is fully incorporated. Then add to a baking dish.
- Spread marshmallows over the top, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until marshmallows have browned.
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