Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure.Enjoy this easy vegan sweet potato casserole during the holiday season or any time of year! It is perfectly sweet, filled with plump golden raisins, maple syrup, crunchy pecans, and fall spices. Complete your holiday dinner or add it as a side dish to any meal!
I will seriously eat this healthy vegan sweet potato casserole recipe year-round. It does not need to be Thanksgiving Day for me to enjoy a delicious side of this dairy-free sweet potato casserole! Yes, it’s wonderful for the cooler fall and winter months, but I love it even when it’s hot outside. Please tell me I am not alone! 🙂
While there is some added sugar to these sweet potatoes, they are so delicious and irresistible that I crave them all the time. Don’t worry, though — this casserole isn’t as sweet as traditional recipes, which makes this healthier twist on a classic much better for you. The first time I made this recipe for my family to include with our Thanksgiving dinner, they devoured it without complaint. It also happens to be a super simple recipe to make.
Typically, at Thanksgiving, this nutritious veggie is doused with tons of butter, and sugar, and then topped with marshmallows – but you don’t need all of that for it to taste amazing. My healthier version has all of the flavors but is lower in sugar and calories than the traditional version! You won’t even find any vegan butter or coconut oil to keep this plant based sweet potato recipe low fat and low calorie!
I like serving it up as a side dish during dinner, as a healthy dessert, or as part of my breakfast, too — it’s even the perfect complement to some scrambled eggs in the morning. These tasty mashed sweet potatoes will quickly become one of your favorite dishes for any time of the year!
👩🏽🍳 Why You’ll Love This Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
- A Must On Your Holiday Table: No Thanksgiving is complete without a casserole dish full of creamy sweet potato goodness.
- Perfect Side Dish: This easy casserole is so versatile — it goes with nearly any main course.
- Crunchy Pecan Topping: This is the key to this perfect non-dairy sweet potato casserole. The texture of the pecans pairs perfectly with the potatoes.
- Healthy And Nutritious: This is an upgrade on the traditional too-sweet version.
- Low In Sugar: The potato’s natural sweetness shines through in this version.
- Easy Recipe: It couldn’t be easier to whip up this quick casserole.
- Gluten-Free: No need to worry about dietary issues – this recipe is already gluten-free.
- Best Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole Ever: You’ll never go back to the old-school version of this!
Latest Recipe Video!
🥘 Ingredients
For complete measurements and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of the post to the recipe card.
- Sweet Potatoes: Peel and chop your sweet potatoes to prepare for boiling.
- Golden Raisins: These provide a pop of flavor in each bite!
- Brown Sugar or Coconut Sugar: These ingredients keep the sweet potato filling refined sugar-free. Coconut sugar is also lower on the glycemic index, which is an added plus!
- Spices: A little cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and sea salt.
- Topping Ingredients: Maple syrup and chopped pecans for the maple pecan topping gives this low sugar sweet potato casserole a nice crunchy texture and a little bit of natural sweetness.
🍲 Ingredient Substitutions
- Craisins: Substitute dried cranberries for some or all of the raisins.
- Sweet Potatoes: If you want to save time, you can use canned sweet potato puree instead of whole sweet potatoes. You will need about 6.5 cups of sweet potato puree for this recipe. If you don’t have sweet potatoes, you can also use yams for this recipe.
- Sugar: Instead of coconut sugar, you can add a splash of orange juice or vanilla extract for a little sweetness.
- Spices: Add any other spices that you channel fall flavors. Allspice and cloves are two great options
- Different Toppings: Try chopped walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or even crumbled granola! Or, use honey or coconut nectar to add sweetness.
🔪 How To Make Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
Here’s how to make this easy vegan sweet potato recipe. For more detailed instructions and nutrition facts, see the recipe card below.
Chop And Boil Sweet Potatoes: Chop potatoes into large chunks, place potatoes in water and cover, and boil in a large pot until soft when pierced with a fork. Drain, and return to the pot.
Mash The Potatoes: Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Mash the sweet potatoes in the pot once they are cooked.
Mix In Other Ingredients: Add the maple syrup, raisins, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the sweet potato mash in the pot. Whip with an electric mixer or an immersion blender until smooth (if you don’t have one, you can do this step by hand—it’ll just take a little muscle!).
Prepare The Topping: Mix the brown sugar, pecans, and remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a large bowl. Spread the sweet potato mixture in the prepared baking dish with a wooden spoon or spatula. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the potatoes.
Bake The Casserole: Bake this delicious sweet potato casserole without eggs until hot and golden brown around the edges, about 15-20 minutes.
💭 Expert Tips
- Prep Ingredients: Have all ingredients measured ahead of time for smooth preparation.
- Cut Potatoes Evenly: When cutting the sweet potatoes, try to cut them the same size. This will allow them to cook more evenly, and they will be done at the same time.
- Use a Mixer: A stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer will make quick work of mixing the ingredients together. A food processor, potato masher or high speed blender will work, too. For super smooth sweet potatoes, I recommend an immersion blender or electric mixer!
- Serve Immediately: For the best results, serve this sweet potato casserole with no eggs straight out of the oven (or soon thereafter).
- Thin Out As Needed: If the mixture needs a little more creaminess, you can thin it out with 1/4 cup of almond milk or coconut milk.
- For Meal Prep: To make ahead of time, make the sweet potato mixture and store it in the fridge in an airtight container. 1 hour before you’re ready to serve it, sprinkle the pecan/brown sugar topping over the casserole and bake in the oven. Serve immediately after baking.
- Use Cooking Spray: Remember to spray the dish to avoid having the potatoes stick.
📖 Variations
There are a few ways to switch up how you make this irresistible casserole.
- Vegan Sweet Potato Marshmallow Casserole: If you want a marshmallow topping – top with vegan marshmallows for a more dessert-like feel!
- Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Crumble: Turn the topping into a pecan crumble topping by adding oats, all-purpose flour, and sugar to the pecans.
- Savory Plant Based Sweet Potato Casserole: You can make this vegan yam casserole without maple syrup and brown sugar for savory version! You can also slice the sweet potatoes instead of mashing them and layer them with your favorite veggies and vegan cheese for more of a “gratin” feel.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
There are so many ways to serve these healthy sweet potatoes.
- Solo: This eggless sweet potato casserole can be a great meal all on its own.
- With Breakfast: Use the potatoes as a bed for your over-easy eggs or serve them alongside a low calorie omelette. To keep this recipe vegan, you can serve this with a vegan frittata or this silken tofu scramble. This also goes well with eggs in a basket or this healthy avocado toast with egg and tomato. You can even repurpose them by making sweet potato cakes in a skillet.
- With Protein: Of course, this vegan sweet potato dish is perfect with Thanksgiving turkey, but you can also have them as a side dish with vegan turkey, vegan meatloaf, (or if you don’t need this recipe to be vegan – roasted turkey, ham, beef, or fish).
- With Other Sides: Whether it’s for a party, or just a different twist on dinnertime, you can serve a spread of side dishes like this cornbread gluten free stuffing, my easy vegan green bean casserole, roasted pumpkin salad, and cranberry sauce from dried cranberries!
🙌 Dietary Adaptations
This is already a vegan gluten free sweet potato casserole, but you can modify it even further depending on your dietary needs! Here are some suggestions:
- Less Sugar Option: Use your favorite alternative sweetener to lower the sugar content.
- Nut-Free: Skip the nuts and use seeds, instead.
🫙 Storage Directions
- In The Fridge: Let this no egg sweet potato casserole cool, then transfer it to an airtight container and store it in the fridge. It will keep up to 4-5 days.
- In The Freezer: You can easily freeze this healthy vegan sweet potato recipe. Either separate it into individual serving containers or keep it all in one large airtight container. It will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. To thaw and reheat, put it in the refrigerator the night before you want to serve it, and on the day of, warm it in the oven.
❓Recipe FAQs
Typically traditional sweet potato casserole is loaded with butter and sugar, which makes it not healthy for you at all. But the good news is, my version is healthy for you, and still has all of the flavor of the traditional version! Here is why this truly is a healthy sweet potato casserole recipe:
Low Calorie: Each huge serving of this recipe comes in at just 100 calories and 2.5 grams of fat – less than half of the classic dish!
No Butter: I used spices to add flavor without fat, and I used cooking spray to coat the casserole dish.
Low Sugar: Since sweet potatoes are already really sweet, all you need is a tiny bit of maple syrup or brown sugar and vanilla to amp up the natural sweetness.
Typically no, this classic Thanksgiving side dish isn’t vegan because it includes butter and marshmallows! But this low calorie sweet potato recipe is a dairy free version that has no butter, and an optional vegan marshmallow topping!
Eggs are used in sweet potato casserole as a binder – they help to thicken the mixture without weighing it down. If you want to thicken your mixture, I recommend using a little non-dairy milk (like unsweetened soy milk) instead.
This holiday casserole should be thick and creamy. While it may not be “firm” it should definitely not be runny. Our vegetarian sweet potato casserole recipe has the perfect consistency – it’s smooth & creamy but not too runny and also not too firm!
🍠 More Sweet Potato Recipes!
- Vegan Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash
- Sweet Potato Chickpea Curry
- Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup
- Sweet Potato Cauliflower Curry
- Sweet Potato Tacos
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📋 Recipe Card
🎥 Watch How to Make It
Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 3½ lbs sweet potatoes about 5 medium, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon divided
- 1 tbsp packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans
Equipment
- Electric Hand Mixer
Instructions
- Chop potatoes into cubes, cover potatoes with water, and boil in a large pot until soft when pierced with a fork. Drain, and return to the pot.
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Mash the sweet potatoes, then add the maple syrup, raisins, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
- Whip with an electric mixer or an immersion blender until smooth (if you don't have one, you can do this step by hand—it'll just take a little muscle!).
- Mix the brown sugar, pecans, and remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl.
- Spread the sweet potato mixture in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the potatoes. Bake until hot and beginning to brown around the edges, about 15-20 minutes.
Notes
- When cutting the sweet potatoes, try to cut them the same size. This will allow them to cook more evenly, and they will be done at the same time.
- Don’t forget to add cooking spray to the baking dish. Otherwise, the sugar and maple syrup will cause the potatoes to really stick to the pan.
- For best results, use an immersion blender or your electric mixer. It will give you super smooth sweet potatoes, and it’s incredible.
- If you want to save time, you can use sweet potato puree instead of whole sweet potatoes. You will need about 6.5 cups of sweet potato puree for this recipe.
- Feel free to substitute another topping for the pecans: walnuts + rolled oats + cinnamon would also taste great.
- If you don’t have sweet potatoes, you can also use yams for this recipe.
Loving this healthier twist on a holiday dinner favorite! I am also loving the crunch from the pecans. 🙂
Thanks Carrie!!
I don’t like boiled sweet potatoes, so I weighed them, and then baked them at 425°. I didn’t use the raisins because I didn’t have any on hand, but I really liked this recipe without them. There was just enough additional flavor to not need anything else and I got compliments from my guest. I’m not vegan and will continue making this recipe. Thank you.
Thanks so much for letting me know Cas! I’m so happy that both you and your guest liked this recipe! 🙂
Sounds fabulous. Making for Thanksgiving! How different would it be to sub puréed pumpkin for sweet potatoes? And would it still be healthy and sweet enough?
Thanks so much Susan! While I’ve never tried this recipe with pumpkin, I think you probably could substitute it for the sweet potatoes since it has a similar texture and is actually sweeter than sweet potatoes so that shouldn’t be an issue! Pure pureed pumpkin is super healthy, so as long as you’re not using pumpkin pie filling this will still be a healthy recipe!
I’ve never had anything quite like this. It looks super simple and tasty.
You will love this recipe Jacqueline!
This was so good! My picky eaters devoured this casserole!
Yay!! Thanks for letting me know Jessica!
This really was delicious and will make again for Thanksgiving its perfect!
Thanks so much Claudia! Glad to hear it!
This will be an amazing addition to our up coming holiday meals. These sound so good.
Thanks Jessie! I can’t wait for you to try it!
I love the addition of raisins to this sweet potato casserole, plus maple syrup is perfect for a little extra sweetness.
Thanks so much Mairead! Enjoy!
This looks so good. I have actually never cared for the addition of marshmallows, etc. Way too much. Sweet potatoes don’t need all that! Your version looks so much better!
I totally agree!! Thanks so much Sue!
I love putting maple syrup in my sweet potatoes! I’m definitely going to make this recipe 🙂
Me too!! It just brings out that natural sweetness even more! Enjoy!
We love sweet potatoes here and this recipe is just so tasty. Really easy to make too.
Woohoo!! I’m so happy to hear that Beth!
Now this looks like my kind of comfort food. I can’t wait to try it.
Yessss! It’s so good!
A delicious recipe – it makes a fantastic side dish, and we love that it is so much healthier than other versions… but just as tasty!
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear that Alexandra!
I really love sweet potatoes and they are good for my Diabetes. This recipe is perfect! AND GOOD!
Oh awesome!! So glad to hear that Nancy!
What a lovely recipe. No white sugar, very little brown sugar and honey, no added fat, and it looks delicious! Great for a family get-together!
Thanks so much Sally! This is perfect for the whole family to enjoy! And you won’t believe how sweet it is, even though there isn’t any white sugar or fat! 🙂 Enjoy!
This is a great Paleo Diet recipe, my family has been eating Paleo for about two years, seems like a great treat or breakfast casserole dish!
Thanks Lawrence!! You’re right – this is a great Paleo dish 🙂 Can’t wait for you to try it for breakfast soon!