Sweet Potato Casserole unlike any you’ve seen before! Creamy savoury mashed sweet potato with pockets of browned butter, a crunchy parmesan-breadcrumb-sage topping sprinkled with crumbled bacon. Sinfully decadent and unapologetically rich, no marshmallows in sight!!!
Mashed potato bake is a side dish made for holiday gatherings like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, and Sunday Suppers with family and friends. Make ahead and feeds loads!
Sweet Potato Casserole
I am beyond excited to share with you this sweet potato casserole!! I mean, plain mashed sweet potatoes have a place in this world – for everyday midweek meals.
But imagine the possibilities when you mash up sweet potato with parmesan, sour cream and butter, swirl it into a baking dish with drizzles of browned butter, top it with a crunchy parmesan breadcrumb topping littered with crunchy bits of sage THEN finish it with crumbled bacon…….
The smell when it’s baking in the oven, that insane golden crunchy topping calling for you to crack through it and reveal that sinfully creamy, butter mashed sweet potato underneath…
Here she is. Calling your name!!
If you’re new to mashed potato bakes, welcome to your new obsession. It’s not just practical – reheats 100% perfectly, just as good made ahead as it is fresh on the day.
And it’s also outrageously delicious. I’m talking OMG-I-feel-sick-but-I-can’t-stop-eating-it good (and that’s a direct quote from a friend).
What you need for sweet potato casserole
Here’s what you need. Nothing nothing unusual here. Don’t have sage? Skip it, use another herb or dried herbs instead (options in the recipe).
How to make it
Roast it, mash it, swirl it, drizzle it, sprinkle it, bake it.
Psst. Scoring a mouthful of sweet potato with a fully sealed pocket of browned butter inside feels like winning the lottery. It’s a swoon worthy moment that you just need to hope for. You cannot game the system.
Crunchy on the top, creamy underneath, the contrasting textures is one of the things that makes this SO GOOD!!!
What to serve with mashed sweet potato bake
This is a dish that’s designed for making ahead and sharing with family and friends. I have special occasion meals in mind because it’s a little….ummm (she subtly coughs)….shall we say indulgent than your everyday potato sides? Just a wee bit more butter than your everyday mash? 😇
I see it alongside a grand roast turkey, a golden turkey breast dripping with herb & garlic butter. Alongside the most perfect Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib), a Pork Roast with the most incredible juicy flesh and impossibly crispy crackling. A fall apart slow roasted lamb shoulder, or a perfectly cooked lamb leg that’s blushing pink on the inside.
For more ideas for your Sunday Supper or holiday feasting, head to one of these recipe collections:
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Savoury Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
Sweet potato mash:
- 1.75kg / 3.5lb sweet potato (3 large or 6 smaller ones)
- 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
- 1/2 cup (50g) parmesan , freshly grated
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Browned butter & crispy sage:
- 250g / 8oz butter , salted, cut into 2cm/1" cubes
- 15 sage leaves (Note 1)
Topping:
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup (50g) parmesan , finely grated
- 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
- 150g / 5oz bacon , streaky, cooked until golden then finely chopped
Instructions
Bake & mash:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Place potatoes on a foil lined tray. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes (small) to 1 hour 40 minutes (large) until knife can be easily inserted into the centre.
- Cool potatoes until they can be handled (but still piping hot inside!) or use tea towel to handle.
Browned Butter & crispy sage:
- Meanwhile, place butter in a large silver saucepan over medium heat.
- Once melted and starts to foam, add sage leaves. Cook 1 minute or until golden brown, then fish through the foam to find the leaves and drain on paper towels (will crisp when cool).
- Continue to leave butter on stove until foam dies down and you see black bits on the bottom of the pan (it will smell nutty).
- Strain through paper towel lined sieve - should have 180ml or so.
Topping:
- Crumble sage leaves in your hand (chop if not fully crisp) and place in bowl.
- Add 1/4 cup Browned Butter, panko, parmesan, garlic, salt and pepper, mix.
Mash:
- Cut slits down the middle of the potatoes then scoop flesh out into a bowl.
- Add 1/4 cup Browned Butter (below), sour cream, parmesan, salt and pepper. Mash or use electric beater to mash until smooth (if using food processor, be careful not to overdo as it will make potato gluey).
Assemble & bake:
- Place half the potato in a baking dish (2 litre / 2 quarts). Make swirls across surface with spoon (as catchment for butter!), then drizzle over 1/4 cup Browned Butter. Cover the butter pools with remaining potato - the less you disturb the butter, the better!
- Sprinkle over Topping. Bake 25 minutes until top is golden brown and edges are bubbling.
- Sprinkle with crumbled bacon, then bake a further 5 minutes. If you've got any leftover butter, drizzle it on then serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Flashback to Melbourne Cup Lunch – he got to was forced to try on everyone’s fascinator!!! 😂
Have just made this for a Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I just have to do the ladt 25 minutes bake to do. It smells amazing so far & can’t wait to taste it.
I looked high & low for a potato dish that wasn’t sickly sweet. This is it for sure. Thanks Nagi, your recipes never disappoint.
This was amazing! A lovely combination of sweet and savoury, and crunchy and soft. The little pockets of burnt butter were just delicious. A great side dish for any occasion. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Thanks for another great recipe.
Made this last night for my husband and I, absolutely delicious! What an amazing recipe. I’ve not made anything like this before. The sage and browned butter flavour is subtle yet divine. We are going to keep this one in mind for Christmas this year as it’s too decadent for every day eating. I raved about it to my entire family! Thanks Nagi.
It is a great dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas! In fact it was inspired by Thanksgiving as I wanted to make a really savoury version of sweet potatoes! N x
I made this for Christmas dinner with friends. Even the people who don’t like sweet potatoes loved this. It was a Nagi Christmas with your Maple Glazed ham, German cucumber salad, and strawberry cake (I also made blackberry cake with the same recipe) for dessert. One of my guests said it was the best Christmas dinner he’d ever had and called it gourmet!
This looks delicious!! I am going to make this next week for my book club!! What do you think about adding some chopped pecans to the topping??
Oh yes I bet that would be delicious! N x
Made this for thanksgiving dinner this year and it was a hit!! Between this and your “best stuffing ever” recipe, it was certainly though to decide which one was my fave!
Can’t thank you enough for making cooking so much more enjoyable. So much of the process involved trusting your fail proof recipes!
I’d never had a savory sweet potato casserole! I still love our usual pecans and brown sugar version, but this was fantastic foo!
That’s what the American on my team said! Thanksgiving special!! N x
I love your recipes, I’m a new follower and can tell I’m going to be coming back on a regular basis! Thanks for sharing the yum!
Absolutely love your recipes.
Can you sub butternut squash for the sweet potatoes?
My daughter has crohns and cannot not have them.
Hi Heather…roasted butternut will have more water content than sweet potatoes so it will have a different texture but I think the flavours will be good! N x
The video and instructions say two different things in how to use the garlic. Video shows it used in potato mash while instructions show it used in topping
So bummed, I wanted to make this tonight and I budget more than enough time for the 20 min of prep and 40 min of cook time at the top of the recipe; but I didn’t budget the extra 90 min that is required for step 2, but is not at all accounted for in your 20 and 40 min totals.
Made this for Thanksgiving the first time. Have made it 4 times since as well as my college age kids taking it to potlucks. They have demanded it be a regular for every special occasions as well as on demand. This is an amazing dish and I appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you
Enjoyed this! Nice to have a savoury as opposed to a sweet yam/sweet potatoes side dish. I didn’t have sage leaves and skipped the browned butter step, but added a bit of butter to the sweet potatoes mash as well as to the panko crumbs.
Quick question, do I cover this casserole when in the oven?
thanks
Hi Nagi! I just noticed I forgot to get the sour cream for the recipe. Will it work without? Any substitutes that you recommend? -thank you!
We had a whole Thanksgiving spread with 80% based on your recipes. The whole meal was fantastic. This was a favorite of everyone! Thank you so much.
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Rebecca!! N x
I use a rice for my regular mashed potatoes, how would that work for this recipe?
It would wrk perfectly Tammy!! N x
ricer*
I made this the other night for a belated Thanksgiving dinner. The sage just didn’t brown no matter hot long I kept it in the bubbling butter. When little black dots started to form on the leaves, I quickly removed them to drain on a paper towel. Despite this, the recipe came out delicious (even without the bacon). It was an excellent alternative to a sweet yam dish. It had the sweetness of the yams but wasn’t overly sugary or syrupy.
Any advice about the sage leaves?
Hi Sharon, that’s really strange with the sage leaves! Sounds like the butter was burning before the sage got a chance to get crispy, you may need to reduce the heat and keep them in for longer. I’m so glad you still enjoyed it though!
Hey, Nagi Nation!
You’ve got to make this dish for you next gathering! I made it for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit with the whole family. I served it with Nagi’s garlic herb roasted turkey breast, and the two paired perfectly. 🙂
Perfect Ron, I’m so glad it was a hit!!
This was the best sweet potato casserole I have ever had! I cannot stand the marshmallow casseroles but I love sweet potato fries so I was really excited about this recipe. I accidentally forgot the bacon so we made bacon for the leftovers haha!! Excellent either way. Thanks again, it is already on my menu for next year’s Thanksgiving!
Perfect Alexis!!!