Whipped Sweet Potato Souffle

A whipped sweet potato souffle is at every Thanksgiving meal in my family. In fact, it's been around for 50 years. This whipped sweet potato dessert has a light and fluffy base with crunchy nut and shredded coconut topping, and it's the thing I look forward to every Thanksgiving.

What I Love About This Recipe

This is THE recipe I wait for when Thanksgiving rolls around. My plate is mostly half sweet potato souffle, and I'm warming up leftovers (if there are any) for days after. This recipe is so delicious and easy to reheat.

Ingredient Notes

• Sweet Potatoes: This recipe needs orange sweet potatoes as opposed to white sweet potatoes (those exist). I tried making this recipe with white sweet potatoes and it didn't turn out well.
• Sweetened Shredded Coconut: This is a typical baking item, that can be found at the grocery store. If you are outside the US, you might find it in an international grocery store. I've run into issues getting this ingredient in Abu Dhabi at the regular grocery stores.
• Butter: My favorite butter is Kerrygold, and I recommend you use salted butter.
• Walnuts: I use walnuts for this recipe because it's hard to find pecans in Abu Dhabi, but pecans can be used interchangeably.
• Brown Sugar: I highly recommend using brown sugar as opposed to regular sugar, because it gives more depth to the dish. The brown sugar mixed with the butter makes a really nice flavor.
• Milk: I recommend using whole milk, however, skim milk can be used as well to lighten it up.
• Eggs: This dish calls for eggs in order to hold things together, however it's not the end of the world if you want to omit the eggs. The texture of the dish will be affected without eggs, but it will still taste delicious.
• Vanilla: Vanilla is used to counteract the egg taste, so if not using eggs, you can omit this ingredient as well.

How To Make Sweet Potato Souffle

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into similar-sized pieces. Boil on the stovetop until very tender. Drain the sweet potatoes and set them aside to cool down.

Hint: Make sure the sweet potatoes are cooled down prior to adding in the eggs.

Add the brown sugar, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and eggs to the cooled sweet potatoes. Beat with a handheld mixer until fluffy.

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Set the oven to 350 ℉ (177 ℃). Next, prepare the nut and shredded coconut topping in a separate bowl. Melt the butter. Mix the chopped walnuts (or pecans), shredded coconut, and brown sugar with the melted butter. Mix well together.

Layer the whipped sweet potato in a 9" x 13" dish. This dish can get split into two smaller baking dishes if needed as well, but the ideal baking pan is the 9" x 13" dish. Add the nut topping on top of the whipped sweet potatoes and spread evenly.

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Bake the sweet potato souffle at 350 ℉ (177 ℃) for about 30 minutes. Cut the sweet potato souffle after it's done baking in the oven.

Tips and Tricks

• Make sure the sweet potatoes are fully cooked. If a fork can easily pierce the sweet potatoes, then they are done. I recommend chopping the sweet potatoes into smaller chunks so they can cook faster.
• Allow the sweet potatoes to cool off before mixing in the eggs. After the sweet potatoes are fully cooked, immediately drain and allow the sweet potatoes to cool off a bit prior to adding the eggs. If the sweet potatoes are too hot, they will cook the eggs and you will end up with lumpy egg bits in your sweet potato casserole- yuck!
• Whip the sweet potatoes mixture. There is no way around using a hand mixer for this recipe. The sweet potato souffle base is light and fluffy with the eggs, butter, and brown sugar all whipped together. I whip the sweet potatoes in the same stovetop pot used to cook the sweet potatoes in order to save me some time cleaning another bowl.

Variations and Substitutions

• If you are short on time, this whipped sweet potato casserole with walnuts can be made the night before. I recommend waiting to bake the sweet potato casserole with pecans until you are ready to eat it. However, this also heats up really well. It can be served warm or cold, but my preference is warm.
• If you would like to use yams instead of sweet potatoes, that can be substituted.
• You can add some nutmeg and cinnamon if you want to give it a little extra kick. Personally, I stick to the original recipe.
• Instead of boiling, bake sweet potato wedges with the skins on. Remove the skins and carry on with this recipe.

Storage

This easy sweet potato dessert needs to be stored in the fridge because it uses milk and eggs. It will last for about 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Equipment

• Hand mixer
• 9" x 13" baking dish (or 2 smaller baking dishes)
• Spatula
• Stovetop pot
• Mixing bowls

More Thanksgiving Recipes

Sweet Potato Recipes

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