Easy Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole - Karissa's Vegan Kitchen (2024)

ByKarissaDecember 2, 2019June 26, 2023

Delicious, easy vegan sweet potato casserole topped with pecans and marshmallows. Enjoy for any festive holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Is it a side dish? Or a dessert? People seem to be divided on what type of dish to consider sweet potato casserole. On one hand, its made with potatoes and called a casserole…but it’s also sweet and topped with marshmallows. According to one survey, the majority said sweet potato casserole is a dessert.

Personally, I don’t care either way. I’ll call it breakfast, just as long as I get to eat it. But it is pretty dang similar to a sweet potato pie…just topped with MORE sugar in the form of sticky sweet marshmallows. Where do you land? Dessert or side dish?

Regardless, today we are whipping up the most amazing vegan sweet potato casserole!

Ingredients

• Sweet potatoes: This recipe calls for 3 large ones.
• Brown sugar
• Vegan butter: My favorite brand is Earth Balance.
• Non-dairy milk: Use your favorite unsweetened, plain vegan milk.
• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Pecans: You can use walnuts instead, or skip the nuts altogether.
• Mini vegan marshmallows: See the section on marshmallows below for more info!

Instructions

The process of making vegan sweet potato casserole is fairly straightforward.

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Place the sweet potatoes in a pot and cover with water.
3. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender.
4. Drain the water from the sweet potatoes and place them in a large bowl.
5. Mash with a fork or a potato masher.
6. Mix in the brown sugar, butter, non-dairy milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
7. Spread the mashed sweet potatoes evenly into a 2-quart casserole dish.
8. Top with the pecans, then the vegan marshmallows, as evenly as possible.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the marshmallows are golden brown and gooey.

And, bam, that’s it.

Are Marshmallows Vegan?!

But wait…VEGAN marshmallows? Are you shocked because you thought marshmallows were vegan, or because you didn’t think vegan marshmallows even existed? Or, perhaps you already know all about vegan marshmallows and can skip right past this.

Here are the details: most store-bought marshmallows these days contain gelatin which is not vegan.

GREAT news – there are vegan marshmallows on the market! You can pick up some Dandies marshmallows at some stores like Whole Foods or order them on Amazon. Use this store-locater here to find where Dandie’s are near you! Or, you can pick up the marshmallows at Trader Joe’s!

Make Ahead

My suggestion for making this casserole ahead of time is to spread the seasoned mashed sweet potatoes into the casserole dish, then stick it in the fridge the day before you plan on serving it.

Two hours before you’re ready to serve it, set the dish out at room temperature. Then, top with pecans and marshmallows and bake as recommended in the recipe card below.

Alternatively, you can make the sweet potato casserole earlier in the day and serve at room temperature. I think the dish is better warm…but if you don’t care either way, go for it.

Doubling the Recipe

To double this recipe, aside from simply doubling all the ingredients, use a 4-quart dish or two 2-quart dishes.

Storage

Save any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

More Holiday Dishes to Try:

• Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Vegan Wellington
• Whole Roasted Cauliflower
• Orange Cake with Coconut Whip Frosting