This recipe was passed onto me by my Aunt Barb and she told me she first remembers eating it at her aunt’s home for Thanksgiving when she was a little girl. So it’s been in our family for over 40 years! When something has been around for 40 years and people are still making it, you know it’s good! Not a single Thanksgiving goes by withtout this dish on our table.
If you haven’t tried it yet, you probably need to.
modifying a classic
I know this recipe has already become a favorite for a lot of you out there since I first shared it, but I decided it needed a little make-over and some new pictures. I altered the recipe a bit based partly on your comments! It was no secret these were very sweet, so I played around with it and found I could cut down the sugar by quite a bit. (From one cup to 6 tablespoons!)
less butter & Sugar, but still amazing
I also cut down the butter by a couple of tablespoons in the sweet potatoes and a couple of tablespoons in the topping. So all in all I removed almost 2/3 cup sugar and a half a stick of butter, but it still tastes sweet and rich and perfect. Now you can spend those calories on an extra slice of pie. I also used fresh sweet potatoes after shocking some of you foodies by admitting that my family has been making this with canned ones for years.
Honestly folks? there’s not all that much difference in the finished product, so I say go with whatever your little heart desires (pssst, I almost always use canned.)
You’ll mix up sweet potatoes, butter, a little sugar, vanilla, eggs (I know what you’re thinking: this is sounding like pie) and the secret ingredient, sweetened condensed milk.
FYI, if you only want to make a half-batch, like to put in n 8×8 pan or pie plate (which is actually what I’m doing in these photos) then those mini cans of sweetened condensed milk are the exact amount you need- just one mini can. I show a picture of the mini cans in this post. Also refer to that post if you make a full batch, and you’re wondering how to use the other half of that can of sweetened condensed milk. Spread that out into a casserole dish.
Now the topping. OH THE TOPPING. In my family, we always double the topping. Three simple ingredients that are oh so amazing when they get all caramelized in the oven.
Sprinkle that on top. Seriously guys this whole recipe takes less than 10 minutes to whip up.
Bake it for about 40 minutes and the potatoes puff up and the topping turns into heaven.
They’re kiiiiinda amazing.
Chances are if you try them once, they’ll become a tradition!
Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 cups mashed sweet potatoes about 4 medium sweet potatoes or two 29-ounce cans, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter no margarine, softened or melted
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/2 of a 14 ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk about 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Topping
- If you're feeling naughty you can double this part...
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add sweet potatoes, sugar, butter, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until creamy. Spread in a 9x13 pan.
- Mix topping ingredients together until everything is incorporated and sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until topping is golden brown.
Notes
- You can make these a day ahead of time and then bake when ready!
Questions & Reviews
I just got your new cookbook and planned on making this. I have to take a sweet potato dish to Thanksgiving dinner, but to a very large group. Have you ever doubled this recipe in the same dish or would it better to separate it?
I’d use a larger pan or separate it. You CAN put it in a single dish, and it would take longer to cook, but the topping to potato recipe is better if you separate it or use a larger pan.
I’m adding some marshmallows. I have to have marshmallows on my sweet potatoes! Maybe use the coconut milk then instead of sweetened condensed to lighten up on the sugar in the topping since I’m adding marshmallows?? Or I suppose I could just decrease the amount of sugar I use in the topping, but then do I risk less carmalization? Help!? OH, and mixed nut topping is a must too.
I would cook it just as instructed and toss some marshmallows on after it’s all done and brown them under the broiler. It’s gonna be sweeeet though, so be prepared! lol
I put mini marshmallows on mine and broiled it for a min. SO AWESOME! She’s not lying, these are the best sweet potatoes ever! 😉
I made these last night, and they were so yummy! I wasn’t sure whether to consider them a vegetable or a dessert. 🙂 I cannot imagine doubling the topping though! I was thinking I would double the sweet potatoes to make it a little less candy-like. 😉
These were a hit at Thanksgiving! Even the brothers-in-laws who “don’t like sweet things” thought these were the best sweet potatoes they ever had! This is a new staple with my family…I bought your cookbook…I am thinking that I need to buy your calender and everything thing else you have in print.
Thank you for making our Thanksgiving lovely & delish!
At the top above the pic of sweet potatoes you have 1 1/2 cups of coconut for the topping. Then below in the printable version of the recipe you have only 1 cup of coconut.
Made these for Thanksgiving and they of course were a hit! I added quick oatmeal for an extra crunch – loved them. Posted them on my page with a link back to you of course.
Thanks,
mickey
I made these for Thanksgiving, and threw a few marshmallows on top (totally unnecessary, but my kids always look forward to eating marshmallows with their dinner). Ah-mazing. My sister-in-law looked at me and said, “these should be illegal.”
THANK YOU! That’s what I heard from everyone at Thanksgiving this year for not putting marshmallows and marachino cherries on the sweet potatoes. So I pass that onto you my friend…THANK YOU! You have made my Thanksgiving sweeter…but not marshmallow sweet!
Just threw these together to pop in the oven for tomorrow. I can’t wait to try them! I added a pinch of salt and am going to drizzle the other 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk on top! What a complete, beautiful mockery of a vegetable!! 🙂
This is very similar to my family’s candies sweet potato casserole. We put pecans in the topping, and we cube and boil the potatoes.
Can someone please tell me if they’ve tried making this without eggs? We have egg allergies in the family. I’m guessing if we tried making this with canned “yams” and no egg, it would require less baking time too…maybe? TIA
I cannot wait to make these this year!
I am in charge of bringing sweet potatoes to Thanksgiving with the in-laws this year. I have never liked sweet potatoes because they make them with…wait…marshmallows and marachino cherries. Sorry, but that’s just too much sweet for me. Hopefully I won’t be shunned from family gatherings for bringing something different. But I’m willing to risk it if it means no more cherries on the sweet potatoes!
Thanks for a great recipe, I’ll let you know how it goes!
We received this recipe today in Carolina Country magazine and made it for dinner tonight. It is now our favorite recipe for sweet potatoes and in my opinion the only way they should be eaten. Delicious! I know I will enjoy this for years to come.
I made these tonight, but I substituted butternut squash for the sweet potatoes and it turned out FANTASTIC!!! Thank you for the recipes and your blog. You ladies inspire me! Love it!
I made these for Thanksgiving. They were amazing! Everyone loved them, even my kids and that says a lot!
You must try this with pecans! My kids peeled the sweet potatoes by accident so I ended up cubing and roasting them instead of baking, but this dish turned out amazing! I doubled the topping and added about a cup of pecan halves…added a fun texture to the mix. They ate them at dinner then again for breakfast today.
Oh My Goodness, these are amazing! I made these today and everyone loved them! I just love your blog!
Sara, did you ever try it with the coconut milk? If so, what did you think? How does it compare to the SCM?
I just learned all that about sweet potatoes v. yams about a month ago (where was I when you originally posted this?) and find it very interesting. I am calling my sister to tell her that I'm making the sweet potatoes instead of her so that I can use this recipe.
Sweet Relief- Yes we see all the comments, no matter how old they are!
I make apples and yams too and they're SO yummy. I can see your idea working out here, but you'll just have to experiment. I would give it a shot- the flavors would certainly be yummy together!
I don't know if you read comments from really old posts but I made this and loved them but I also love the yam and apple casserole my mom used to make with a pinapple glaze.mmmm. I'm wondering if I can combine the best of both worlds and puree green apples n(peeled of course) with my yams and sub some of the butter with pineapple juice (and cornstarch?). Any thoughts on how to make this work. I don't trust my cooking experiments because I don't fully understnad the properties of the ingredients.
My mom (also a Barb) has always made these for us. She also sprinkles in some pecans into the topping. These are one of our favorite traditions.
Gee this is a first for me. I've never seen coconut added to a sweet potato casserole. I look forward to trying this recipe out.
These look AMAZING! I always add coconut on my sweet potatoes. I think I will try these for Thanksgiving. Love the blog and love that you live in Boise!
Jana, I can never understand how people hate coconut! Hmmm…do they like nuts? You could do chopped pecans instead. I personally don't like something quite so crunchy on top of something so super light and soft, but a lot of people make this recipe and add pecans so I know it must taste good!
I am anxious to try these for Thansgiving, since I have loved every other OBB recipe I've tried. I'm wondering though…we have a few people who HATE coconut (crazy!). I was thinking about just using coconut on 1/2, but what could I do on the other side? Is this impossible?
YUM!!! I used this recipe last year on Thanksgiving (I got the recipe from Our Best Bites, of course) and let me just tell you…….it was the BOMB. 😉
These look really good! I think that pecans would be fantastic in the topping.
Yummmm! I have a recipe for sweet potato casserole but this one may just blow mine out of the water. I think I'm going to try this 🙂