This Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole is a lightened up, naturally sweetened version of classic sweet potato casserole. Made gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, this recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole is sure to impress, while being just as delicious as the classic.
This Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole is a must make Thanksgiving Recipe! Serve alongside Roast Turkey, Homemade Stuffing, Homemade Cranberry Sauce, and Homemade Applesauce for an unforgettable Thanksgiving Dinner.
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
Ever since I was a little girl, my most favorite Thanksgiving recipe has been Sweet Potato Casserole.
I grew up eating a sweet potato casserole that was made with canned sweet potatoes in heavy syrup,combined with more sugar, eggs, and milk. AND then topped with butter, more sugar, nuts, and flour. I am not going to lie. It was incredible.
But as our family grew, many food issues arose. We have dairy allergies, egg allergies, and gluten sensitivities.
Our classic recipe needed to be revamped.
I took it upon myself to recreate my family’s Sweet Potato Casserole and make it healthy and allergy-free while still keeping the family happy. And if you have ever messed with a classic recipe passed down for generations, that can be quite the task.
After multiple tries, SUCCESS! I have created a Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole that is dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, but MOST importantly absolutely delicious. In fact, my entire extended family prefers this Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole to the traditional–hands down!
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole Swaps
- Sweet Potatoes: Instead of canned sweet potatoes in a thick syrup, this Sweet Potato Casserole starts with baked sweet potatoes. You can bake them in the oven or make Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes. Pro Tip: Roast the potatoes while you are baking something else, like dinner the night before you plan to make your sweet potato casserole.
- Maple Syrup: Rich and earthy, maple syrup pairs PERFECTLY with sweet potatoes and adds just the right amount of sweetness to this casserole.
- Apple Juice Concentrate: Not apple juice, but instead apple juice concentrate. It is a perfect ingredient to replicate the sweetness in traditional sweet potato casseroles without the refined sugars.
- Oats: Instead of using both oats and flour to create a sweet potato topping, process certified gluten free oats in the food processor for a crumble that resembles the classic, while being gluten free.
- Coconut Oil: Coconut oil makes a great dairy free option to replace butter and gives the crumble on this casserole a rich, nutty finish. Feel free to use vegan butter or canola oil in place of coconut oil if desired.
- Nuts: Walnuts or Pecans are a wonderful source of crunch and healthy fats, but feel free to omit the nuts and use additional oats to keep this Sweet Potato Casserole nut free.
How to Make Sweet Potato Casserole
Step One: Prepare Sweet Potato Casserole Filling
- Roast fresh sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for about 1 hour, or until fork tender. Alternatively, use my recipe for Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes.
- Remove the skins from the sweet potatoes and place the flesh of the potatoes into the food processor or blender.
- Add in apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract while pureeing to finish off the base of the casserole.
- Place sweet potato puree into a greased 2 quart baking dish.
Step Two: Prepare Gluten Free Sweet Potato Casserole Topping
- Wipe out the blender or food processor (no need to wash, just rinse or wipe out.
- Place the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut oil, nuts, and maple syrup into the food processor and pulse until the oats are broken down and the crumble comes together.
- Evenly sprinkle the crumble over the sweet potato puree.
Step Three: Bake Casserole
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until heated through and the topping is golden brown.
How to Prepare Sweet Potato Casserole in Advance
A huge time saving tip is to prepare this casserole ahead of time, making your Holiday dinner that much easier to pull together. You can choose to prep this casserole up to 2 days in advance and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake, or prepare further in advance and freeze for up to one month ahead of time.
To make up to 48 hours in advance:
- Prepare the base of the sweet potato casserole and spread into a greased 2 quart casserole dish. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
- Prepare the sweet potato casserole crumble and place into separate container or storage bags and place in the refrigerator.
- Before baking the sweet potato casserole, sprinkle the crumble evenly over the casserole and bake as directed.
To make up to 30 days in advance:
- Make the base of the sweet potato casserole and cool completely. Place into freezer safe bag or container and freeze for up to 30 days.
- Prepare the topping for the sweet potato casserole and place into a separate freezer safe bag or container.
- The night before you intend to serve, thaw the base and crumble in the refrigerator overnight.
- Assemble the casserole in a greased 2 quart baking dish and bake as directed.
Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
- Twice Baked Butternut Squash
- Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Brussel Sprouts Caesar Salad
- Perfect Mashed Potatoes
Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole (Gluten-Free and Vegan)
Ingredients
- For the Base:
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes scrubbed
- 1/3 cup apple juice concentrate
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- dash of salt
- Topping:
- 1/2 cup gluten free oats
- 1 cup chopped nuts walnuts or pecans
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Roast sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until fork tender. Cool slightly. And lower temperature to 350 degrees.
- Remove skin of sweet potatoes (simply by peeling off skin with fingers) and place the pulp into a large blender or food processor (or use a hand/stand mixer).
- Add the remaining ingredients for the base and puree/mix until smooth.
- Transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish.
- For the topping: combine all the ingredients and sprinkle over the casserole.
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown.
Hi Kristen,
Your recipe looks delicious, but I don’t really need to make it gluten free, I am just trying to cut out the sugar that is typically used. My questions are can I just boil the sweet potatoes and mash them and can oats be added without a food processor. I don’t have one, but do have a blender. Can you use just regular oats from oatmeal? Thanks!
Junia
Hi Junia! You can certainly make this work without a food processor. I would mash the potatoes well or use a hand held mixer to get really smooth (but a few lumps is okay in my opinion.) For the topping, use oats that you use for oatmeal, but I would zap in blender until broken down a bit–it makes the topping much more enjoyable. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks for your response Kristin, but I also needed to know if I can just boil them like regular potatoes vs putting them in the oven. Seems easier to just boil them vs heating up the kitchen.
Absolutely Junia. Boiling sweet potatoes works as well. Just drain them well so your casserole won’t be watery! Enjoy!
Hello – this looks delicious! I’m allergic to oats, should I use something else, such as breadcrumbs? Or just leave them out and increase the nuts by 1/2 cup?
Thanks!
Hi Jill! I would double the nuts! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving
I am WFPB so instead of the coconut oil I used apple juice to moisten the topping and left everything else the same. It is fabulous!
What a fabulous idea Debbie! I am so glad you enjoyed.
You didn’t put Measurements of contents for the recipe ???
Hi Cynthia! The measurements are in the recipe card. Before that, I was just explaining why I use what I use 🙂 I hope you enjoy!
My kiddos are allergic to nuts. Do you think it will negatively impact the crumble if I leave out the nuts? Do I need to replace the nuts with another ingredient?
Hi Betsy! I would use 1/4 cup more oats and leave out the nuts–it will be perfect!
This looks great! My husband is a picky eater too, and I look for recipes without certain ingredients, otherwise I have to make a separate casserole for him (no onions or mushrooms, for example). We both love sweet potatoes and will eat them baked, but sometimes you just have to change it up. Thank you for your recipe!
I am so glad to hear you both can enjoy this casserole Millican.
This is far and away the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever had! It is just sweet enough without being cloying. And you are right about the apple juice concentrate being essential; the flavor compliments the sweet potatoes perfectly.
And no one would be able to tell that this is gluten free and vegan unless I told them. This may become my new go-to potluck recipe :).
The only thing I’ll do differently next time is use a shallower casserole dish; I used a 2-quart dish as recommended, but it was too deep and not wide enough, quite, and so the outcome was a little watery. It didn’t hurt the flavor, though!
I am so so glad to hear you love this sweet potato casserole as much as we do! And I just served it to my family yesterday—and they had no clue it was vegan either.
Do you think it would be ok not To mash the potatoes?
Hi Clarrisa, I think you need to at least semi mash them so that they can absorb the spices, maple syrup, and apple cider concentrate. You can leave them chunky for sure, but I am not sure if they would turn out without mashing. I understand some recipes call for just sliced sweet potatoes, but in order to get the sweet potatoes tender you would need to cook so long the sugary syrup would burn as well. Sorry! If you like firmer sweet potatoes, try this recipe: https://amindfullmom.com/hasselback-sweet-potatoes/
Miss Kristin,
In your reply, here, you mentioned “apple ‘Cider’ concentrate”. Was that a typo? The ‘cider’ part sounds a bit more inviting, to me. But being diabetic, ‘concentrates’ are not friendly. If needed, can I omit the concentrate and increase the maple syrup. For some reason, maple syrup doesn’t seem to affect me, like juices do.
Hi Thomas! Yes, this recipe does call for concentrate. HOWEVER, by all means, omit the concentrate and increase the maple syrup. I have done this in the past with great success. I would suggest using 1/2 cup maple syrup. I hope you enjoy!