- Do you like marshmallows toasted with pecans, brown sugar,
in a delicious dish swimming with sweet potatoes?
You're in luck.
My sweet potato casserole has all that and more.
Hey, you're watching "Preppy Kitchen," where I,
John Kanell, teach you how
to make delicious homemade dishes to share
with your family and friends.
This sweet potato casserole will be ready
before you know it.
So let's get started.
First off, we're gonna bake our sweet potatoes.
If you boil them, you're gonna introduce a lot of water.
That's just like not delicious.
You wanna concentrate the flavor and cook them down.
So place them on a baking sheet and pierce the tops
with a fork to let the steam out.
After you've pierced your potatoes, pop them into the oven.
400 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 to 45 minutes,
depending on how big they are.
My sweet potatoes are out of the oven
and while they cool down just a bit more,
I'm gonna roughly chop about a cup of pecans.
I always like to toast mine,
but it's an optional step.
If you wanna toast them, just pop them into the oven
at 350, for like 10 minutes, mixing them up halfway through.
My nuts are chopped.
I can set them aside and now let's get all the flesh out
of those sweet potatoes.
Take the tips off of your sweet potatoes.
There's a lot of fiber in there
and then just cut down the middle and open them up.
They should peel really easily.
As we peel them, I'm just gonna give them
a very light cut.
Pop them right into the bowl you'll be working in.
You want a nice big bowl for this.
Sweet potato casserole's one of those dishes
that we just have to have for big family gatherings,
especially in the fall.
Although, I'll tell you, it's good all year round
and it makes the best leftovers.
So even if you're only having dinner for two,
this will last you for the week and you will be in heaven.
Look at that color. It's glorious.
These are ready to get mashed up and the deal is
that sweet potatoes do have a good amount of fiber in them.
So you really wanna break it up.
I'm gonna go the old-fashioned way today and use a ricer.
Just mush it up.
This is a really fun job for kids if you have
any idle little hands hanging around.
It'll keep them occupied and you can just keep mushing.
There's like no limit to how much you can do this.
So, you know, if you want someone to be busy
for a little bit doing something constructive.
After your potatoes are all nice and mashed,
it's time to add the rest of the ingredients.
You can whisk this by hand, but today I'm treating myself
to the electric hand mixer.
Be right back.
To my mushed mixture,
I'm gonna add two room temperature eggs.
They could be a little cold. It's not a big deal.
3/4 of a cup of packed brown sugar
and you can adjust the sugar to taste if you want.
So add a little bit less or keep it the same.
1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon, and it's kind of optional.
You do not have to spice this,
but while you're at it, why not?
The cinnamon adds a wonderful little extra kick to it.
One teaspoon-ish of vanilla and one teaspoon of salt.
Sprinkle that in.
To this delicious concoction I'm adding 1/4 cup,
or about 70 grams of melted butter.
In you go. Drizzle it right over.
We are ready to give this a good mix, but before we do,
I just wanna point out that if you were so inclined,
you could definitely add two tablespoons of dark rum
or bourbon to this
and it gives you a nice little extra kick, in my opinion.
The alcohol bakes off. So don't worry about that.
Okay. Mix it up.
Give it a good mix so you have a nice distribution
of ingredients and it's pretty smooth.
You could have some texture though.
Whoa. Living dangerously.
We are ready to pop this into our baking dish,
but first let's just add a tiny bit of butter
onto the bottom so it makes everything more delicious,
and less sticky.
This is completely optional and maybe superfluous,
but I'm giving my baking dish
just a very light brushing of butter.
A little butter never hurt anyone,
especially if we're talking about sweet potatoes
and brown sugar.
Don't think I forgot about those toasted chopped pecans.
They're back.
All right, I'm gonna take about 1/2 a cup of chopped pecans
and just fold that into our sweet potatoes.
They'll be nice and crunchy, and of course,
add a little bit of depth of flavor, play of textures.
It'll be wonderful.
Now we're ready to add all of this into our baking dish.
The smell is divine.
It's time to spread this out into an even layer.
And by the by, this is a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
Like my husband's favorite part.
It is not a sweet potato casserole unless it is topped
with marshmallows.
So we're taking about two cups or so of mini marshmallows
and just making a nice even layer on the top.
It is totally up to you.
You could use more, for greater coverage,
which I'm gonna do today,
or less if you wanna be a little bit more frugal
with your marshmallows, careful with your mini marshmallows.
Saving them for a rainy day.
I love how two cups is most of a package. (laughs)
Our last step is to sprinkle the remaining pecans on top.
Just give a nice even distribution.
These will crunch up and be really tasty.
This is ready to go into the oven
at 375 for about 25 minutes or so.
It's gonna cook up super fast.
You're just waiting for those marshmallows
to get lightly browned, ooey gooey, and delicious.
Okay, into the oven you go.
I am so excited to take a bite, but first,
if you liked this recipe, check out my casserole playlist,
all my favorite casseroles that are super easy
and ultra delicious.
Now it's time for a bite.
That is so good.
The brown sugar with the butter,
with a little bit of cinnamon and the pecans
and those sweet potatoes.
Ah, it is really delicious.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like my videos,
hit that like button and subscribe,
and I'll see you in the next casserole video.