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Down south we do love our sweet potatoes. Most restaurants (if they know whats good for them!) serve some form of sweet potatoes as a side dish. Steak houses offer them in place of a baked potato and bring them wrapped in foil, cracked open with steam rising out and a large pat of butter already melting into a generous spooning of brown sugar and cinnamon.
No, its not a dessert, its a side dish. Sure they usually have a nice brown sugar coating and yes they may taste like a dessert, but sweet potatoes are a side dish. They are, after all, a vegetable, are they not?
See how smart we are in the south?
We call it a side dish and then still get to eat dessert at the end!
I have several very well loved sweet potato recipes, so you haven’t seen the last of orange food on this site! Growing up, my mother made us sweet potato pie covered in toasted marshmallows. I still love that. I’ve also added my own recipes for sweet potato cake with a thick coconut frosting and one of my dazzler recipes, Sweet Potato Creme Brulee. Still, to be completely honest, NOTHING tastes as good as THIS sweet potato recipe!
Today I’m going to show you how to make my grandmother’s recipe for Sweet Potato Pie, often referred to as Sweet Potato Casserole. I think folks are confused as to whether it is a pie or a casserole since it doesn’t have a crust. However, I’ve lived here for thirty some odd years and I have never once seen a sweet potato pie which actually had a crust. I have to admit though, I don’t know what the heck to call this. Technically, it is made in a pie plate so I am going with pie on this one. I’ve even heard Grandmama go back and forth. The name is gonna be your call entirely then. Sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole, this dish by any other name would taste as sweet!
Two things I ask of you.
1. Please don’t call it a yam. I promise you, its not a yam. Its a sweet potato. The sweet potato is very distantly related to the yam, but it is most certainly not a yam. Why do folks call it a yam? Do they think it sounds better or something? Y-A-M. Nope, I think it sounds weird. Yam is a strange word anyway. Sweet Potato. Now, doesn’t that sound ….well, sweet? Sweet Potato. Always makes me think of Toy Story 2 when Mister Potato Head was being affectionate with Mrs. Potato Head and he said “You’re my little sweet potato!”
Another interesting point is that those sweet potatoes you buy were most likely grown right here in the US. North Carolina provided more than 38% of the United States sweet potatoes in 2007, California 23%, Louisiana 15.9%, and Mississippi 19%!
The Yam grows in tropical climates, primarily South America, Africa, and the Caribbean, and can reach as long as seven feet. As much fun as I’d have cooking with a seven foot long sweet potato, it would never happen, because that would be a yam.
UPDATE 2011- Call it a yam if ya want. I have no idea why I felt this was important in 2008. That was back when I still had time for opinions on silly things like whether or not sweet potatoes were called by their rightful names 🙂
2. Please, unless you really really have to, don’t use that canned mess. Alright, I’d break my own rule here if time were an issue. Well, maybe not. I’ve never used canned sweet potatoes. I hope I never do and the main reason is if you used canned sweet potatoes, you can’t have the fun of eating a slice raw while you cook them! YUMM! Keep in mind that the person who is telling you not to used canned sweet potatoes is the same person who runs through margarine and cake mixes like they were air. So if you want to use canned, if that will crank your tractor and get you to make this recipe, by all means do. Just don’t go bragging about it, we can pretend you used fresh and you can have a slice of raw sweet potato some other time…….~sigh~…but you’re really missing out. ~sniff~ ~sniff~.
UPDATE 2011 – I baked something with canned sweet potatoes last week. It was very different from using fresh but in the interest of full disclosure I just want you to know that I have completely gotten over myself here 🙂 ~rolls eyes at her 2008 self~
Now on to our recipe!!!
I also used a tsp of cinnamon, because I LOVE cinnamon in my sweet potatoes!
I can here her now, “Here, now get on out of here so I can finish!”
If you kept pestering her though, she’d give you another slice :).
Cover them with water and bring to a boil.Cook them until they fall apart when pierced with a fork.
It is important to mix while you add the eggs or else the hot sweet potatoes might cook them up and you’d have little bits of cooked egg in your pie and thats …ewww.
Add vanilla… Mix well.
While that is baking, prepare your topping.
Like this.
I was feeling lazy so I just broke them up with my fingers as I added them.
Grandmama did us right here, she gave us PLENTY of topping!!
Once all of the topping is over the potatoes, return to oven and continue baking at 350 until it is golden brown. This will be about thirty to forty minutes.
Grandmama’s Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes:
- 1 C sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Stick Margarine
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon optional
- 3.5 oz sweetened flaked coconut
- Topping:
- 1 C Brown Sugar
- 1 Stick Margarine
- 1 C Flour
- 1 C Pecans
Instructions
- Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Place in pot and cover with water until fork tender. Drain well and place in mixing bowl. Add margarine and beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, while the mixer is going. Add vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon, mix well. Toss in Coconut and blend. Place in pie plate and bake at 350 for twenty minutes.
- For topping, Stir together flour and brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Cut in margine. Stir in pecans. Spoon or sprinkle on top of sweet potato pie. Return to oven and continue baking at 350 until golden, about thirty to forty minutes.
Yum 
Oh Christy i am getting in the Fall spirt with your Sweet Potato Casserole. Hold on! let me wipe off my sweat and not forget i am in the heat of a Texas Summer, oh well i can reminise cant I? That is my favorite dish at Thanksgiving. It’s Beautiful. I hope you are having a great time away. ttys
I’m so glad you say “sweet Potato” and not yam. :~)
We love sweet potatoes and this looks very good. I’ll have to try it soon.
Oh..my…Gawsh. I just popped a squash casserole in the oven and now I’m wishing I’d done sweet potatoes!! Darn you! Oh well, there’s always tomorrow, right? Geez, woman… I’m not going to be able to fit through the door of my own house at this rate! It looks yum!!
Tina (Mommy’s Kitchen): I know just what you mean. It seems every year at this time I start getting excited and looking forward to fall. Maybe its that I’m buying new school clothes for the kids, or that apple season is just around the corner. Either way, I can’t wait for it to cool off a bit!!! I want to post chicken stew, ALL my apple recipes, and fall soups and such! I LOVE FALL FOOD!!! We are having a great time, kids are having a ball. Wow, the size of the sharks in Tennessee! LOL I posted some pics on my twitter account. On the bottom left of my page you can find links. I just have a few minutes on the computer and a husband and son both waiting for me to get off so they can get to their blogs!! See you soon!!
Debbie: LOL!
I have read that post over and over and hope folks got that I was being humorous and would not REALLY begrudge anyone who called them yams! After all, not many people can butcher the English language like southerners!
Thank you again for reading my blog! You should be getting a little package this week, I hope!
Benji: I read your post on my phone while we were in the aquarium and grinned from ear to ear! My family members were in a butterfly exhibit and as soon as they came out I had to read it to them! You are so sweet!!
No, I didn’t go into the butterfly house. Butterflies give me the heebee jeebees. Eight foot sharks, no big deal. Butterflies, I’m out!
That looks so delicious! I have recently fallen in love with sweet potatoes, and love using them in recipes besides “dump can into dish, top with marshmallows and nuts, and bake.” I love buying fresh sweet potatoes in delicious anticipation of the wondrous dishes we will make with them! And this recipe is now on my list of things to try (as is eating a slice of raw sweet potato – can you believe I’ve never done that?)
Oooh, never had raw sweet potato?
To really appreciate it, I think you need to snatch a piece and run out of the kitchen as your husband yells at you to leave him alone so he can finish supper…..re-enacting the whole childhood experience. 😀
Have you ever had sweet potato cake? I’m going to make that for the site soon. Its just yummmmmmmmmmmmm.
Christy
A wonderful trick to keep from having “orange hands” and is much easier and quicker than cutting up the potatoes. Rinse sweet potatoes, do not peel and put in a pan of boiling water. Cook until tender (stick a fork in it), drain water and let potatoes cool …… Not too long and the potato peel will slide right off.
I was just going to add a comment and saw that someone else had already done it. I, too, boil my potatoes whole, after rinsing them well. Just before they get too well done, I remove them, cool slightly and then the peel slips right off! Big time saver, and I have found that the taste nor texture is compromised.
I bake my sweet potatoes in the skin. Sooo much better with natural sugar
Brilliant, Grammy! Thank you!!
The only drawback for me is how much I love eating those raw slices! LOL
This is a great idea!
Christy
Did I miss the amount of sweet potatoes the recipe calls for? I would like to try this out but I don’t know how many pounds/ounces worth of sweet potatoes to get at the market next time. If someone would let me know, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Hey Mary! I used three large ones. Its difficult to say a certain amount as they vary so much in size. If you have large ones, I’d use three. If you have smaller, I’d use five or six. Anything that won’t fit in the pan is a double bonus because you can eat it right then! 🙂
Thank you for reading Southern Plate!!
Christy
This is the only kind of sweet potato casserole my family has ever eaten! We call it “sweet potato crunch” and we don’t use coconut, but other than that, it is a mainstay in our family’s holiday meal. Having grown up with it, I have never liked sweet potatoes with marshmallows. It all just seems too…mushy. The crunch is perfect with the delicious sweet potatoes.
I agree with Grammy, boiling them in their skins is so much easier. Also,I have experimented with reducing the sugar and butter, and it has worked very well. This is a very forgiving dish. Everyone I make it for loves it! My in-laws tolerate my other contributions to holiday meals, but I am not allowed in the house without sweet potato crunch. My sis-in-law who doesn’t bake calls it “sweet potato brown betty!” Go figure!
By the way, my grandmother often used to make her “pumpkin pie” with sweet potatoes. She always seemed a bit embarrassed by the substitution, but I preferred it.
Dear Christi: I am trying to do this delicious sweet potato casserolle for 16 persons… could you please tell me for how many persons is your recipe so I can try to calculate the recipy for 16?? or if you have it, I would really appreciate.
Ross
Hey Chris! That is so funny because we’ve never had pumpkin pie, we’ve always had sweet potato casserole, too! Boiling them in their skins is a wonderful idea! It won’t work for me though because my Mama got me spoiled when I was younger and I have to have a slice of peeled raw sweet potato to munch on (or two) while they cook! I’m awful, I know! You sound like a GREAT cook!!!
Ross, Hey! I emailed you the answer to your question as soon as it came up to make sure you got it in time. Here is email:
Hey Ross! I would double it if for sixteen people. One would likely be enough (a lot of people don’t eat sweet potatoes) but two should be plenty 🙂 Gratefully, Christy
Thank y’all!
Christy
Can you freeze a sweet potato pie?
If so, how would you recommend to do it?
This is pure heaven! Made it for dinner last night and couldn’t get enough (although I bet my waistline could ;-). The only thing I did different was use butter instead of margarine.
Christy, I make basically this same recipe and all my crazy friends call it my Baptist Sweet Potato Casserole because I always add a “very healthy” splash of good Kentucky Burbon. Never have any left overs either. Try it, you just might like it. 🙂
Down in Atlanta, my Mother called this dish Sweet Potato Souffle, but she didn’t add coconut, only sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, butter, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg then topped it with marshmallows. Later on, a coworker brought the sweet potato souffle with a struesel topping and after I tasted that, I was hooked on that way of topping the dish. It’s hard to think of it as anything but pure heaven! Christi, you may not have ever heard of this song, but when I was a kid (and I’m in my 70’s), there was a song called “Take An Old Cold Tater and Wait”. No joke! That’s a real song. Boy Howdy, those leftover sweet potatoes were a real treat. Of course, they were much better hot out of the oven, dripping with butter. I bought several sweet potatoes yesterday and I can’t wait to bake them. YUM. Not only are they good for us, but they are a real treat. Of course, I am more careful about the butter these days. Have you ever heard of a purple sweet potato? I saw some in the Whole Foods Store yesterday and couldn’t believe my eyes. Walking through a Whole Foods store for the first time was a great experience. A “foodied” dream come true. ;~)
I make this dish in a very similar recipe minus the coconut. I microwave my sweet potatoes in their peels. Let them cool enough to handle and the skins come off fairly easily. I also like the fact that they are not soggy from water or steam. Just another way of doing things to come up with the yummy result.
Just as you love cinnamon with sweet potatoes, Christy, I’ve come to love a little touch of cardamom. Yes, it’s exotic, yes, it’s something our mothers and grandmothers would not have used, but oh my heavens, it is goo-o-o-ood.
This too won’t give you that raw slice you crave, but it works for me. On the night before you need the cooked sweet taters, do this:
Put a sheet of foil below the rack you’ll be cooking the sweet potatoes on (they drip).
Before you turn the oven off (having cooked supper in it), scrub, prick, and roast your whole taters for about an hour. Turn the oven off and leave them sit overnight.
After breakfast in the morning, take out your now cool-to-touch taters and peel them. This will be remarkably easy. (Be sure to compost your skins, or at least put them out for the critters to eat!) Then you can do what you like with the deliciously roasted, fully cooked taters – pie, casserole, whatever.
(Now some lawyer will tell us that you can’t recommend letting cooked food stay unrefrigerated overnight. But I’ve been doing this for at least twenty years and have not died or killed anyone yet, nor even made anyone sick. So fooey on the timid folk.)
Thanks for everything, Christy. I am grateful for Southern Plate. And happy holidays!
Yours,
Mrs. Welch
Lago Vista TX
(PS I’ve been reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels in my five minutes of free time a day – and it struck me that you could be Sookie once she’s married and settled down. Just a wild hair and I hope you find it flattering, not distressing! 🙂 )
I love sweet potatoes!!! They taste super and they’re very glycemic friendly for diabetics – what’s not to like? My fav lazy way is to nuke them (in a little water for a few minutes each side), then cut them in half long-ways and sprinkle with cinnamon and chili powder. Sounds weird, tastes yummy; the sweet potatoes are very moist done this way, and you don’t need to add any butter (but you certainly can, especially if you’re Southern). Happy Thanksgiving Christy. Among many other things, I’m thankful for your blog. Even if it’s a recipe I probably won’t make, I read all the way through because your great personality shows through.
Hi Christy,
I wish there was a way to just print out the recipes ,I love the way you do all the steps but to print it all out would use a lot of ink .
Thank You
greywolf1118@yahoo.com
JoAnn Wilson
hey yall, i bake my sweet potatoes in the oven, my yankee mama taught me this. to make it healthier, i use real butter, and agave syrup, maple syrup or honey instead. on top i use stevia with the peacans. major yum, and people who have sugar can eat it too yall. no big fat full feeling, no trans fats!
Hi Christy,
I made this for the first time yesterday for a Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house. I am posting this recipe to my Facebook page because EVERYONE loved it and is asking for the recipe so they can make it. Thank you so much for your recipes. I really love them and they have yet to fail us!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Tricia
Christy, I love the pix and the way you write! You sound like someone I would have as a friend 🙂