This light and creamy Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole is savory and sweet! Topped with chopped pecans and using whole food plant-based ingredients, it’s the perfect side dish for your holiday meal!
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This vegan sweet potato casserole recipe has been a favorite for a long time! It’s subtly sweet, with a simple crunchy pecan topping.
This recipe is an excellent alternative if you don’t love the overly sweet marshmallow-topped sweet potato casseroles. It has a subtle citrus flavor with the addition of orange juice and the warm aromatics of cinnamon.
It’s a great recipe to bring to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner because it suits people of all diets.
💗 Why This Recipe Works
- Smooth and creamy texture
- Dairy-free and vegan
- Oil-Free
- Gluten-Free
- Sweet and savory
- Simple crunchy pecan topping
- A classic Thanksgiving and holiday recipe!
- Nobody will be able to tell it’s vegan!
🥣 Ingredients and Notes
- Sweet Potatoes- You’ll need 4 pounds, which is about six medium-sized potatoes.
- Coconut Milk-Use full-fat coconut milk. This non-dairy milk gives the casserole a rich and creamy texture without adding vegan butter.
- Orange Juice gives a nice citrus undertone and natural sweetness.
- Coconut sugar, brown sugar, or maple syrup also works. I prefer to use coconut sugar as it is an unrefined sweetener.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg add fall flavors.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Chopped pecans to cover across the top, which adds crunch and texture.
- Vanilla Extract (optional)-Helps elevate the dish’s flavors.
📖 Variations and Substitutions
Alternative Plant Milk: If you don’t like coconut milk, you can achieve a similar creamy texture with soy milk or oat milk.
No Nuts: If you have a nut allergy or prefer not to use nuts, top with vegan marshmallows instead! Or use pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
Different Nuts: If you don’t have pecans, consider using walnuts or a combination of pecans and walnuts.
Crumble Topping: Top with a pecan crumble topping made from oats for a decadent casserole.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork. Place them on a lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour or until fork tender.
- When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the filling and place the potatoes in a large bowl. Add coconut milk, orange juice, coconut sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mash the ingredients with a potato masher or use a hand mixer to combine the ingredients until smooth, creating a smooth sweet potato mixture.
- Transfer the filling to a 9×13 baking dish. Top with chopped pecans. Bake for 30 minutes at 375° F until golden brown. Allow the casserole to cool slightly before serving.
📝 Expert Tips
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to get a creamy texture.
- If you like a chunkier texture, use a potato masher.
- Make sure sweet potatoes are fully cooked before scooping out the flesh.
- If you prefer, peel potatoes, transfer them to a pot of boiling water, and cook until they are soft and cooked.
- I recommend a 9×13 casserole dish or a round 10-inch baking dish, but use your size and fit all of the ingredients well.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Serve on Thanksgiving Day with vegan cranberry sauce, meatless meatloaf, vegan stuffing, and vegan green bean casserole! This is best served warm.
🫙 Storage
Make In Advance: You can make this recipe a day or two in advance. Bake the potatoes, prepare the filling, transfer to a baking dish, cover, and keep refrigerated. On the day you’re ready to serve. Top with pecans, and bake for 30 minutes.
Refrigerate: Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
❓ Recipe FAQS
Yes, this recipe is made with all gluten-free ingredients. It is also soy-free and refined sugar-free if using muscovado sugar.
This recipe does not have a sugar crumble topping. However, if you prefer to make more of a crumble topping, these are the ingredients you’ll need.
Add a ¼ cup of sugar, a ¼ cup of pecans, and a ⅓ cup of oats to a food processor. Pulse until crumble forms. Sprinkle on top of the mashed sweet potatoes and bake for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you could use almond flour or all-purpose flour instead of oats.
No, you do not need to boil sweet potatoes before baking. Boiling is one to cook them quickly, especially if you peel them and cut them into 1-inch cubes, but baking them in the oven works too. Pierce them a few times with a fork to allow the steam from them to escape. Baking usually takes longer than boiling, so if you’re crunched for time, consider boiling them instead.
😋 More Vegan Thanksgiving Side Dishes recipes!
🎥 Video
⚖️ Serving Size
This recipe makes 12 servings. Perfect for a large holiday gathering!
Please comment below if you found this article helpful or have any additional questions. You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more family-friendly vegan recipes!
Recipe
Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 4 lbs sweet potatoes about 6 medium potatoes
- ¾ cup coconut milk full fat
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup muscavado sugar or brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Wash and scrub potatoes. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork.
- When sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the filling. Add coconut milk, orange juice, muscavado or brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Using a potato masher or hand mixer combine the ingredients until smooth.
- Transfer filling to a 9×13 baking dish. Top with chopped pecans. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Notes
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to get a creamy texture.
- If you like a chunkier texture use a potato masher.
- Make sure sweet potatoes are fully cooked before scooping out the flesh.
- If you prefer, peel potatoes, transfer to a pot of boiling water and cook until potatoes are soft and cooked through.
- I recommend a 9×13 baking dish, but you use any size that you like.
- Store in an air tight container for 3-4 days.
Heidy Linn
I have to hand it to you this vegan sweet potato casserole was outstanding! I really am so glad I decided to make it for our friends visiting. They loved it and asked for your recipe link. I will be saving this to make again during the holidays.
Alison Corey
Thank you so much Heidy! I’m glad your friends enjoyed this recipe!
Erika
Ooh, this look s so good. I love the texture the pecans add. Perfect for a Thanksgiving side dish!
Priya Lakshminarayan
Made this yesterday! It came out perfect…thanks for this delicious recipe
Dannii
I have never had sweet potato this way, but it looks delicious. Super comforting.
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
This looks really yummy and easy to do. Love that pecan topping too.