Paleo Easy Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

 Paleo Easy Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping is the best side dish for Thanksgiving! Whole30/vegan friendly and gluten/grain/dairy/egg/sugar free! 

PIN Paleo Easy Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

Not even going to bother lying to you.

This is the best sweet potato casserole that I’ve ever made.

I mean, there’s only been one other version – paleo sweet potato casserole is the slow cooker – but this one? IMMA EAT IT FOREVER. Move over easy gluten free stuffing ‘cause there’s a new favorite side dish in town.

Even if it’s not Thanksgiving, just call me that weird girl in the corner doing a little fork –> face action with a creamy-dreamy bowl of NATURALLY sweetened mashed sweet potato goodness.

Once you taste the swirly-twirly yumminess that happens when apples and soft, boiled sweet potatoes combine in your mouth, I think you just might be comin’ at me with a fork and try’na push me OUTTA MY CORNER.

I’ll fight you, fork IN HAND. Just FYI – gotta make sure you come prepared for the paleo SP BATTLE.

Also, I learned that “SP” is how all the cool kids on Instagram shorten sweet potato. Don’t you just feel super trendy and modern reading this now?

Anyway.

How to make sweet potato casserole 101.

1. Boil sweet potatoes. Like, duh. It’s kind of hard to make casserole magic out of raw potato ROCKS.
2. Mash-mash-mash with warm, cozy, fall-perfect spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Bind it alllll together in the most perfect of casserole ways – usually using eggs, but not 2 DAY – more on that LATAH.
4. TOPPING IT UP. Sometimes marshmallows. WHICH is OBVIOUSLY not the case here. Also, more on that later. Is the suspense killing you?
5. BAKE AND DONE.

Pretty simple. Pretty easy. Pretty tasty. But, usually? NOT PRETTY HEALTHY.

Deets on T-H-I-S (whole30 compliant!) recipe for sweet potato casserole:

• You are ALSO going to add a little apple-action to the hot tub of boiling sweet potato shenanigans that is required to make a mean and clean casserole happen.

In my mind, SPs (#trendy) and apples are MADE for each other in the sense that their natural flavors and sweet yumminess complement each other in the most delicious of food marriages and general BLISS. You remember how DELISH the harvest paleo vegan stuffed sweet potatoes were.

• You are going to do the usual mash-mash-mash action. MAKE SURE you leave the apples just a LITTLE chunky. No one wants to eat baby food on Thanksgiving, YOU KNOW?

Except maybe, uhhh, babies. But, that is NOT YOU my adult-fancy-trendy-person-who-calls-sweet-potatos-SP-internet-BFF.

• Swirl in creamy and RICH ghee – or vegan butter to make a vegan sweet potato casserole – because it’s buttery and super fabulous and will make your taste buds fall off your HEAD with deliciousness. No exaggeration.
• THE BINDER. Spoiler alert: MORE APPLE (sauce) GOODNESS.
• Coconut flour. To achieve that perfect casserole texture that we discussed, and to SUCK UP alllll that moisture into a hug of delicious, cozy, comfort-food yums for your tummy.

The topping on this paleo easy healthy sweet potato casserole with pecan topping, you guys. I AM OBSESSED WITH IT.

Trivia time: did you know that if you baked dates long enough the sugars would caramelize into this crispy-crunchy delicious texture that will still EXPLODE your mouth with deliciousness sweetness?

Well, now you do.

As you munch through layers of cinnamon, nutmeg and lightly sweet apple, your mouth might be looking for the marshmallow situation that it expects.

Then – WHAM – the crispy, sweet dates SWOOP in, combine with roasty-toasty pecans and that RICH, buttery ghee and ALL your searching is GONE, no weirdo ingredients REQUIRED.

Real talk internet friends: the sides are the best part of Thanksgiving/Christmas/ EVERY HOLIDAY EVER.

Should we make a #SidesSisters club? Maybe have T-shirts? Are we going too far?

Club joining IS optional, but adding T-H-I-S little SP dish to your menu?

VRY VRY NOT.

Recipe

Paleo Easy Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

5 from 2 votes

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Serves: 8 People, as a side

Prep: 1 hour hour

Cook: 1 hour hour

Total: 2 hours hours

Ingredients

For the casserole

• 1 Lb Sweet potatoes
• 1 Lb Apples, of choice (I used Fuji)
• 1/4 Cup Unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 Tbsp Ghee, at room temperature (the consistency of softened butter - or use Vegan butter)
• 2 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract (or powder for whole30)
• 1 tsp Sea salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
• Pinch of pepper
• 1/4 Cup Coconut flour

For the topping:

• 1 Cup Raw pecans
• 1/2 Cup Halved Deglet Noor dates, tightly packed (100g)
• 1 Tbsp Ghee, at room temperature (or vegan butter)

Instructions

• Peel the sweet potatoes and apples, and remove the cores from the apples. Chop them all into large chunks and place into a large pot. Cover with about 1 inch of water, adding a pinch of salt.
• Bring to a boil on medium/high heat and cook until very soft and tender, about 30-35 minutes. Once cooked, drain well and place into a large bowl. Additionally, heat your oven to 350 degrees and rub a casserole dish with ghee (I used an 11x8.5 inch oval)
• Add all the ingredients, except for the coconut flour, into the bowl and mash until well combined but leaving a little bit of the apple chunky for texture. Finally, stir in the coconut flour. Spread into the prepared casserole dish.
• In a small food processor (mine is 3 cups) combine the pecans and dates, pulsing until broken down and crumbly.  Pour the mixture into a small bowl and mix together with the remaining ghee.
• Sprinkle the date/pecan mixture evenly over top of the casserole. Bake until the casserole feels set, about 45 mins-1 hour, depending on the size of your casserole dish. 
• Turn your oven to HIGH broil and broil for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the dates are crispy. * READ NOTES
• Let stand for 5-10 minutes and DEVOUR!

Tips & Notes:

* I have had readers make this and say the broiler burned the topping at 3 minutes, which was not nearly the case with my oven. Broilers can be VERY different temps, so watch yours like a hawk once you broil  - it could only need 2-3 mins!

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 277kcal (14%) Carbohydrates: 33g (11%) Protein: 3g (6%) Fat: 16.2g (25%) Saturated Fat: 4.7g (29%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.1g Monounsaturated Fat: 5.7g Cholesterol: 11.3mg (4%) Sodium: 328mg (14%) Potassium: 381mg (11%) Fiber: 6.4g (27%) Sugar: 18.5g (21%) Vitamin A: 260IU (5%) Vitamin C: 9.7mg (12%) Calcium: 20mg (2%) Iron: 0.9mg (5%)

Nutrition Disclaimer

Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.

Author: FoodFaithFitness

Course:Side Dish

Cuisine:American

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FOR THIS RECIPE, I RECOMMEND:

• Sharp ceramic knives
• Mixing bowl
• 3 Cup Food Processor
• Ghee

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PER SERVING: SMART POINTS: 9 POINTS+: 8. OLD POINTS: 6

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