The perfect side dish to make for Thanksgiving dinner this holiday season. We’ve used Mom’s recipe for decades, and it will be a great addition to any holiday table. This is truly a personal favorite side dish that is looked forward to every year. It is an easy sweet potato casserole filled with delicious butter and brown sugar-filled sweet potatoes to create a sweet yet savory side dish.
And if you’re nervous because cooking is not your thing, this simple potato casserole with marshmallows is as easy as it gets. There is not much to this sweet potato mixture – within 15 minutes you will have an entire casserole recipe ready to bake with no hand mixer, deep skillet, or baking sheets required to create this Thanksgiving favorite.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make our sweet potatoes, you need the following ingredients:
- Potatoes: use the yellow sweet potatoes for this sweet potato dish
- Butter: use unsalted butter that is softened (coconut oil would be a great substitute if necessary)
- Syrup: use light karo syrup that is found in the baking aisle
- Sugar: be sure to have light brown sugar to sweeten this delicious side dish (white sugar won’t add the same flavor profile)
- Marshmallows: grab a bag of mini marshmallows for the topping of this sweet potato recipe
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to Make Sweet Potatoes
- Heat. Heat oven to 350℉.
- Boil. Place potatoes into a large pot and boil sweet potatoes for about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Let cool.
- Prepare. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Layer pan. After the sweet potatoes are cool, peel of skins and slice into 1 inch cubes. Lay half of them in the pan in a single layer.
- Add butter. Cut up 1 ½ tablespoons of butter into small pieces and spread all over the sliced sweet potatoes.
- Drizzle, Then drizzle ⅛ cup of karo syrup over all of the sweet potatoes. Then sprinkle ¼ cup of brown sugar over the top.
- Layer. Repeat layers – add more sweet potatoes, then top with the rest of the butter, karo syrup, and brown sugar.
- Cook. Cook in oven until heated through and butter is melted. About 30 minutes.
- Remove. Remove from oven and cover the top with marshmallows. Return to oven cook until marshmallows are golden brown.
Recipe Notes
If you’d prefer to enjoy this sweet potato pie casserole without the marshmallows you can. Give one of these options a try, such as pecans, extra brown sugar, ginger snaps, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, walnuts, or cinnamon oats.
Make Ahead and Storage Instructions
Make ahead: We usually make the sweet potatoes the night before, then the afternoon of Thanksgiving, we cook it right before we eat. Cook until heated through and then add marshmallows.
Fridge: Place any leftovers in either an airtight container or keep them in the casserole dish with aluminum foil over top, and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Candied yams are actually normally made with sweet potatoes regardless of the name yams. But normal yams tend to be starchier and dryer than a sweet potatoes.
Yes, you can use canned sweet potatoes for mom’s sweet potato bake. Just skip the boil of the potatoes and move on to the next steps since the canned potatoes will be softer than fresh sweet potatoes.
Boiling the potatoes is the better option because it will give you the texture you want for this favorite sweet potato casserole recipe, and it will take less time to get tender potatoes.
Enjoy More Delicious Side Dishes
Need the perfect compliment to your main dish? You’ll want to try these delicious side dishes. Browse our comprehensive collection of simple side dish recipes.
- Candied Yams
- Coconut Pecan Sweet Potatoes
- Cranberry Pecan Sweet Potato Bake
- Instant Pot Sweet Potato Casserole
- Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
- Mashed Sweet Potato
- Mom’s Sweet Potato Casserole
- Roasted Honey Cinnamon Butternut Squash
- Roasted Parmesan Sweet Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Candied Sweet Potatoes
- Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Mom’s Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 pounds sweet potatoes, (about 5 to 6)
- 3 Tablespoon butter, divided
- ¼ cup karo syrup, divided
- ½ cup brown sugar, divided
- 1 (10 ounce) bag mini marshmallows
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350℉.
- Boil sweet potatoes for about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Let cool.
- Spray a 9×13 inch pan with non stick cooking spray.
- After the sweet potatoes are cool, peel of skins and slice into 1 inch spears. Lay half of them in the pan.
- Cut up 1 ½ tablespoons of butter into small pieces and spread all over the sliced sweet potatoes.
- Then drizzle ⅛ cup of karo syrup over all of the sweet potatoes. Then sprinkle ¼ cup of brown sugar over the top.
- Repeat layers – add more sweet potatoes, then top with the rest of the butter, karo syrup, and brown sugar.
- Cook in oven until heated through and butter is melted. About 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cover the top with marshmallows. Return to oven cook until marshmallows are golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
thanks for sharing this recipe, I’d have every dish besides turkey a sweet potato dish if I could, this looks wonderful, thank you ladies!