This Southern Sweet Potato Casserole with Canned Yams is an easy side dish for Sunday dinner and holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It uses canned yams, saving you the time you’d use to prep fresh yams or sweet potatoes. Make this ahead of time and tick one item off the holiday meal to-do list.
Why Make Sweet Potato Casserole using Canned Yams
There are so many reasons to make this delicious casserole. Here are my top few:
- Easy side dish with simple ingredients: This casserole is easy to make and uses simple ingredients, yet it makes all the difference on the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table.
- Uses canned yams to save time: It saves time and energy by using canned yams (or canned sweet potatoes), so you don’t have to go through the trouble of boiling, draining, and peeling pounds of sweet potatoes.
Ingredients Needed
Adding this delicious side dish to your Thanksgiving table doesn’t require much. Here’s what you’ll need to gather for this easy recipe:
Sweet potato casserole filling
- Canned sweet potatoes: I picked these up from the grocery store. Mine came with water as the first ingredient; they did not include corn syrup. I drained and rinsed these. I found a large can, but you can also use a couple of cans of sweet potatoes (or yams) so that you have the same total ounces as I use in the recipe card.
- Sweetener: I used a granulated sweetener that is a one-to-one substitute for regular granulated sugar.
- Organic heavy whipping cream (heavy cream)
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs: Room temperature
Brown sugar streusel topping
- All-purpose Flour
- Rolled oats
- Chopped pecans
- Ground cinnamon
- Brown sugar
- Melted butter: Salted
How To Make Sweet Potato Casserole With Canned Yams
Here are the 4 simple steps for this sweet potato casserole recipe with canned yams:
- Add the drained sweet potatoes and other casserole filling ingredients to a food processor or blender. Mix until incorporated.
- Pour the sweet potato casserole filling into a square baking dish (I used an 8×8, but you can use another smaller rectangular dish).
- Add the first 5 streusel topping ingredients (everything except the butter) to a small bowl (use a fork to mix).
- Pour the melted butter into the streusel topping ingredients and mix with a fork to create a crumbly texture. Add the streusel to the top of the casserole, and bake uncovered at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until you can poke with a toothpick into the center and it comes out clean.
Recipe Tips & FAQs
Below are valuable tips for an easy sweet potato casserole recipe:
- Though I use a food processor, you can also use a stand mixer or other electric mixer like an electric hand mixer with a large bowl
- Whipping cream alternative: You can also use sweetened condensed milk, but ensure you adjust the sweetener (granulated sugar) to taste by adding the eggs to the mixed filling last.
- To sweeten a dessert to taste: Add the ingredients (except for the eggs) for the sweet potato casserole mixture to a food processor bowl and blend. Taste and see if you’d like to add more sweetener. Mix in the eggs after it’s sweetened to your preference.
- Nut-free option: Omit the chopped pecans from the topping for a nut-free option, or use seeds like salted sunflower seeds.
- To stop the topping from being too toasty: You can cover the casserole with aluminum foil during the last 5-10 minutes to prevent the crunchy topping from burning or becoming too brown.
Toppings:
I prefer a crunchy pecan topping, but, you don’t have to use a streusel topping at all. Some other options are:
- Mini marshmallows or regular marshmallows: add these before baking instead of streusel
- A scoop of ice cream: Add this before serving
- A dollop of whipped cream: Add this before serving
Storage and Leftovers
Store leftover sweet potato casserole in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze it.
FAQs
Yes. This sweet potato casserole with canned yams recipe uses either canned yams or canned sweet potatoes. Even though they are technically different, both work in this recipe.
Yams and sweet potatoes are two different things, but most people in the US use yams and sweet potatoes interchangeably. This means that both canned yams and canned sweet potatoes work in this sweet potato casserole with canned yams recipe.
As they are, canned yams make a perfect side dish. You can also use them for casseroles, soups, or desserts. Another canned yam recipe on this site is sweet potato pie with canned yams!
More Canned Yams Thanksgiving Recipes
Below are more canned yam recipes to add to your Thanksgiving menu. Some use canned yams, while in others you can substitute canned yams for fresh sweet potatoes or fresh yams:
Other Casseroles For The Holiday Season
In addition to this delicious sweet potato casserole, you’ll also want to add some of these side dishes to your holiday menu:
- Thanksgiving casserole recipes
- Southern green bean casserole
- Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows
- Broccoli cheese casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole with Canned Yams
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Casserole Filling
- 40 oz Canned sweet potatoes drained
- 1 cup Sweetener granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
Streusel Topping
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter salted and melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Add the sweet potatoes and other casserole filling ingredients to a food processor or blender.
- Mix until incorporated.
- Pour the sweet potato casserole filling into a square baking dish. I used an 8×8 pan or another smaller rectangle dish.
- Add the first 5 streusel topping ingredients (everything except the butter) to a small mixing bowl. Use a whisk to incorporate.
- Pour the melted butter into the streusel topping ingredients and mix with a fork to create the crumbly texture.
- Top the sweet potato casserole with the streusel topping.
- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until you can poke a toothpick into the center and it comes out clean. If the topping is getting too toasty, you can cover the casserole during the last 5-10 minutes to stop it from burning.
- Allow to cool completely.