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a baked sweet potato casserole with an uneven brown pecan-and-oat streusel crust and a spooned opening revealing dense orange filling in an everyday baking dish
Melissa Hart

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel

Roast the sweet potatoes until their skins slump and the flesh gives easily under a spoon. That keeps excess water out of the filling. The pecan-and-oat topping needs to stay in rough clumps, with gaps where steam can escape. Orange zest gives the potatoes a little sharpness under the brown sugar. Let the baked casserole settle before you break through that nutty crust.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings: 10
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 3 lbs whole sweet potatoes scrubbed
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted, for filling
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar for filling
  • 1 tsp finely grated orange zest
  • 3/4 tsp fine salt divided
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar for topping
  • 3 tbsp cold unsalted butter cubed, for topping
  • 1 tsp unsalted butter for the dish

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Pierce the sweet potatoes, place on a lined baking sheet and roast for 50 to 60 minutes until fully soft. Let cool for 10 minutes, then split and scoop out the flesh.
  2. Lower the oven to 350°F and butter a 2-quart baking dish. Mash the potato flesh with melted filling butter, milk, filling sugar, orange zest and 1/2 teaspoon salt; let cool until warm rather than hot.
  3. Beat in the eggs until combined and spread the filling in the dish.
  4. Mix pecans, oats, flour, topping sugar and remaining salt. Rub in the cold topping butter until small clumps form, then scatter evenly over the filling.
  5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the center reaches 160°F and the topping is crisp and browned. Rest for 10 minutes before scooping.