Prepare to delight your taste buds and simplify your holiday cooking with this incredibly delicious Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole. This recipe is the epitome of comfort food, making it the perfect side dish for festive occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Say goodbye to oven wars and hello to a hassle-free, mouth-watering addition to your holiday spread.

The Ultimate Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole: Your Stress-Free Holiday Side Dish

This year, elevate your holiday meal preparation by embracing the magic of the slow cooker! Our goal is to streamline your kitchen process, allowing you more time to spend with loved ones and less time battling for oven space. The holidays, especially Thanksgiving, often come with a whirlwind of activity, from last-minute grocery runs to the inevitable struggle over who gets to use the oven next. This Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole recipe is designed to alleviate that pressure, providing a superb side dish that cooks itself while you focus on other culinary masterpieces.

Imagine the aroma of sweet potatoes and warm spices filling your home, without occupying precious oven real estate. This slow cooker recipe is a game-changer for anyone hosting a holiday feast. It’s not just about convenience; it’s about achieving perfectly cooked, consistently delicious results every single time. By utilizing your crockpot, you unlock a new level of efficiency, ensuring your sweet potato casserole is warm, tender, and ready when you are.

Why Choose the Slow Cooker for Sweet Potato Casserole?

Using a slow cooker for your sweet potato casserole is a brilliant decision for several compelling reasons. It transforms a potentially stressful dish into an effortlessly elegant one, making it a staple for your holiday menu. Here’s why this method stands out:

1. Frees Up Oven Space: This is perhaps the most significant advantage during busy holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. With turkeys, roasts, and numerous other casseroles vying for oven time, your crockpot becomes an invaluable ally.
2. Incredibly Easy to Make: The preparation is straightforward, involving simple steps that even novice cooks can master. Once prepped, the slow cooker takes over, doing all the heavy lifting.
3. Set It and Forget It: Truly, you can assemble the ingredients, set the crockpot, and walk away. The gentle, consistent heat of the slow cooker ensures your sweet potatoes cook to perfection without constant monitoring.
4. Unbelievably Delicious Results: The slow cooking process allows the flavors to meld beautifully, creating a creamy, rich, and utterly irresistible casserole. The sweet potatoes become incredibly tender, practically melting in your mouth. Topped with golden, toasted marshmallows, it’s a dish that guarantees rave reviews and might just steal the show!

Essential Ingredients for Your Heavenly Casserole

Crafting the perfect Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole begins with a selection of simple, wholesome ingredients that come together to create a symphony of flavors. This recipe relies on a balance of sweetness, warmth, and creaminess that is simply divine. Here’s a detailed look at what you’ll need to create this holiday masterpiece:

• Fresh Sweet Potatoes: We recommend using approximately 5 pounds (80 oz) of fresh sweet potatoes. These will need to be peeled and diced into uniform pieces to ensure even cooking in the slow cooker. Fresh sweet potatoes offer the best texture and natural sweetness.
• Brown Sugar: Adds a deep, caramelized sweetness that complements the natural flavor of the sweet potatoes beautifully. You’ll use this in both the potato mixture and the optional streusel topping.
• Butter: Essential for richness and flavor, both within the casserole and to create that delightful topping.
• Orange Juice: A splash of orange juice brightens the dish and enhances the sweet potato flavor with a subtle citrusy tang.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: A warming blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, this spice mix is crucial for that classic autumnal and holiday flavor profile.
• Salt: A pinch of salt is vital to balance the sweetness and bring out all the flavors.
• Heavy Cream or Milk: Adds creaminess and helps achieve that smooth, luscious texture. Heavy cream will yield a richer casserole, while milk offers a lighter alternative.
• Vanilla Extract: Provides a comforting, aromatic note that enhances the overall sweetness and depth of flavor.
• Eggs: Act as a binder, helping the casserole set and achieve a custardy texture.
• Mini Marshmallows: The quintessential topping! These melt into a gooey, golden-brown crust that’s both visually appealing and incredibly delicious.
• All-Purpose Flour: Used in the streusel topping for texture.

Optional Add-Ins to Elevate Your Casserole: Consider adding cinnamon streusel, an extra dash of nutmeg, chopped pecans (or other nuts like walnuts or almonds), or a drizzle of maple syrup for added complexity and texture. These additions can transform your casserole into an even more personalized delight.

Must-Have Kitchen Tools for Success

Having the right equipment on hand can make preparing your Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole an absolute breeze. Here’s what you’ll need for an efficient and enjoyable cooking experience:

• Crockpot (Slow Cooker): The star of the show! We highly recommend a slow cooker with a programmable digital timer. This feature allows you to set the cooking time and automatically switches to a “warm” setting once done. This ensures your casserole cooks perfectly without overdoing it, providing peace of mind during busy holiday preparations. A 6-quart or larger slow cooker is ideal for this recipe.
• Measuring Spoons and Cups: For precise ingredient measurements, which are key to a balanced flavor.
• Vegetable Peeler: A good quality, comfortable vegetable peeler will make peeling the sweet potatoes much faster and safer. The OXO peeler is a popular choice known for its ergonomic design and efficiency.
• Large Mixing Bowls: You’ll need at least one large mixing bowl to combine the sweet potato mixture before transferring it to the slow cooker.
• Potato Masher or Hamburger Mix and Chop: Once the sweet potatoes are tender from slow cooking, you’ll need a tool to mash them. A traditional potato masher works well, but a Hamburger Mix and Chop tool is surprisingly effective for mashing cooked sweet potatoes directly in the crockpot. Its design helps break down the tender potatoes quickly and efficiently. A hand mixer can also be used for an even smoother consistency.
• Slow Cooker Liners: These are fantastic for an easy cleanup. Simply place a liner in your crockpot before adding ingredients, and once you’re done, discard the liner for minimal scrubbing.

Preparation, Storage, and Reheating Strategies

Thoughtful planning can make your holiday cooking even smoother. Here’s how to manage your Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole from prep to leftovers:

Make-Ahead Tips

To reduce stress on the big day, consider preparing some elements in advance. You can peel and dice your sweet potatoes the day before, storing them in an airtight container with a little water to prevent browning. The brown sugar and pecan streusel topping can also be mixed ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. This forward-thinking approach significantly cuts down on active prep time when you’re busy with other dishes.

Storage Solutions

Leftovers of this delightful casserole are just as good, if not better, the next day! Store any remaining portions in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it will maintain its deliciousness for up to 4 days.

Freezing Instructions

If you anticipate having a lot of leftovers or want to prepare a batch for future meals, this casserole freezes well. For best results when freezing, we recommend leaving off the marshmallows, as they don’t hold up as well during freezing and thawing. Once cooled, transfer the casserole into an airtight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty Ziploc bags. It can be safely stored in the freezer for up to three months. When ready to enjoy, thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Reheating Guidelines

Reheating your Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole is simple. For individual servings, the microwave works quickly and efficiently. For larger quantities or if you’re serving multiple people, transfer the casserole back into your Crockpot and set it to low heat, or reheat in an oven-safe dish at 300°F (150°C) until warmed through. If reheating a frozen portion, ensure it’s fully thawed in the refrigerator before warming for the best texture and flavor.

Exciting Recipe Variations to Explore

One of the joys of cooking is the ability to customize recipes to suit different tastes and dietary needs. Our Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole is incredibly versatile, allowing for numerous delicious variations:

Substitutions and Flavor Enhancements

For families with nut allergies or preferences, you can easily omit the pecans from the casserole itself. A thoughtful approach is to serve chopped pecans in a separate dish alongside the casserole, allowing guests to add them as they please. Regarding creaminess, both heavy cream and regular milk work wonderfully. Heavy cream will yield a richer, more decadent casserole, while milk offers a slightly lighter, yet still delicious, alternative. Experiment with a touch of maple syrup or a dash of cinnamon or ginger for additional depth.

Vegetarian Considerations

This Thanksgiving side dish is inherently vegetarian, provided you select vegetarian-friendly marshmallows. Many conventional grocery store marshmallow brands contain gelatin, which is an animal-derived ingredient. Look for brands that explicitly state “vegetarian” or “gelatin-free” to ensure your casserole aligns with vegetarian dietary guidelines.

Vegan Adaptation

To make this luscious casserole suitable for a vegan diet, a few simple swaps are needed. In addition to using vegetarian marshmallows, replace the butter with a plant-based butter alternative and the heavy cream or milk with a non-dairy milk such as almond milk, oat milk, or cashew milk. Ensure your brown sugar is vegan-friendly (some are processed with bone char, though many are not). The eggs can be substituted with flax eggs (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tablespoons water per egg) or a commercial egg replacer.

Gluten-Free Friendly

The core ingredients in this classic holiday side dish—sweet potatoes, sugar, butter, spices, milk, and eggs—are naturally gluten-free. For those with high sensitivities or celiac disease, always double-check the labels of packaged ingredients like pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and marshmallows to ensure they are certified gluten-free. If using the streusel topping, ensure the all-purpose flour is replaced with a gluten-free flour blend.

Alcohol-Free (and Boozy) Options

Our traditional recipe is entirely alcohol-free, making it suitable for all. However, if you’re looking to add an adult twist, a splash of bourbon, whiskey, or even rum can infuse the casserole with a sophisticated, warm flavor. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of your chosen spirit to the sweet potato mixture before cooking.

Adjusting Serving Sizes

The provided recipe yields approximately six servings. It’s easily scalable to accommodate both smaller gatherings and larger feasts. If you need to increase the yield significantly, you might consider using two slow cookers or working in batches to ensure proper cooking.

Spicy Kick

For those who enjoy a hint of heat with their sweet, consider adding a touch of spice. Some sweet potato casserole recipes incorporate hot honey or a pinch of cayenne pepper to create an exciting sweet and spicy contrast.

Sugar-Free Adaptation

For a sugar-free version, replace the brown sugar and white sugar with sugar-free alternatives. Look for sugar-free mini marshmallows and ensure any orange juice used has no added sugar. This will significantly reduce the sugar content, making it suitable for those monitoring their sugar intake.

Expert Tips for the Best Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

Achieving a truly exceptional Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole is simple when you follow these helpful tips:

• Choose the Right Bowl: Ensure you have a large mixing bowl to comfortably combine all the diced sweet potatoes and other ingredients. Alternatively, you can add the sweet potato pieces directly to the slow cooker as you peel and dice them, mixing other ingredients in the pot itself once it’s filled.
• Cooking Time Flexibility: While we often cook this casserole on high heat for 3-4 hours to have it ready relatively quickly, especially for Thanksgiving morning, you have flexibility. If you prefer a longer, slower cook, you can set your crockpot to low heat for 7-8 hours. This is ideal if you’re starting the dish in the morning and want it ready by evening, or if your slow cooker tends to run hotter.
• Achieving the Perfect Marshmallow Topping: If you want perfectly golden, slightly charred marshmallows, you have a couple of options. You can add the marshmallows during the last 30-45 minutes of slow cooking, allowing them to melt and slightly toast. For a more traditional, deeply browned marshmallow crust, transfer the cooked casserole to an oven-safe dish and broil for 2-5 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning.
• Consistency Control: For a smoother casserole, mash the sweet potatoes thoroughly after cooking. For a slightly chunkier texture, mash them less. Adjust the amount of heavy cream or milk to reach your desired consistency.

What to Serve with Your Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

Our oven-free Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole, with its delightful balance of sweet and savory flavors and its irresistible marshmallow topping, is a versatile companion to a wide array of holiday dishes. Here are some menu planning suggestions to inspire your next Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any festive gathering:

Complementary Side Dishes

Round out your meal with these delicious accompaniments that perfectly pair with the sweetness of the casserole:

• Pineapple Stuffing
• Carrot Soufflé
• Creamed Corn Casserole
• Crock Pot Mashed Cauliflower
• Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes
• Jiffy Cornbread with Sour Cream

Hearty Main Dishes

This casserole is a fantastic sidekick to traditional holiday centerpieces and other comforting main courses:

• Crock Pot Turkey
• Crock Pot Bourbon Maple Pork Loin
• Crock Pot Guinness Corned Beef & Cabbage
• Crock Pot Chicken & Stuffing
• Crock Pot Orange Glazed Ham
• Crock Pot Coke Glazed Ham
• Bourbon Baked Ham

Delightful Desserts

After a savory and sweet main course, these desserts provide the perfect conclusion to your holiday meal:

• Eggnog Cookies
• 4 Ingredient Christmas Crack
• Easy Holiday Reindeer Chow
• Church Window Cookies
• No Bake Cherry Cheesecake Dip
• Easy Eggnog Cake with Eggnog Glaze
• Ambrosia Salad
• Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball
• Cranberry Fluff Salad

Refreshing Holiday Drinks

Pair your festive feast with these celebratory beverages:

• Eggnog White Russian
• Spiced Cranberry Cocktail
• Cranberry Moscow Mule
• RumChata Pudding Shots
• Pomegranate Breeze Martini
• Mulled Cherry Cider Cocktail

When to Serve This Crowd-Pleasing Casserole

This versatile Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole isn’t just for the major holidays; it’s a fantastic addition to various occasions throughout the year. Its comforting flavors and ease of preparation make it a go-to dish for:

• Family Dinners: A delicious and easy weeknight or weekend meal enhancer.
• Potlucks: Always a popular choice, as it travels well and stays warm in the slow cooker.
• Thanksgiving Dinner: The ultimate classic side that complements any turkey or ham.
• Christmas Feasts: Adds festive sweetness to your holiday table.
• Any Holiday Dinner: From Easter to New Year’s, it’s a dish that brings comfort and joy.
• Autumn Gatherings: Its warm, spiced flavors are perfect for fall celebrations.

More Essential Crockpot Thanksgiving Dishes

Maximize your slow cooker potential this holiday season! Beyond sweet potato casserole, your crockpot can handle many other Thanksgiving favorites, helping you manage your meal with ease:

• Crock Pot Ham
• Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese
• Crock Pot Garlic Potatoes
• Crock Pot Glazed Carrots
• Crock Pot Mashed Cauliflower
• Crock Pot Turkey
• Crockpot Green Bean Casserole

Keep an eye out for more fantastic Thanksgiving dishes that start with a Crockpot! We are constantly sharing a variety of Crockpot vegetarian recipes and other slow cooker marvels to ensure everyone at your holiday table has something delicious to enjoy.

This Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole is a true gift during the busy holiday season, offering both incredible flavor and invaluable convenience. It’s a wonderful way to save oven time and reduce the usual craziness that can accompany preparing a large festive meal. We hope you and your loved ones enjoy every creamy, sweet, and marshmallow-topped bite!

And if by chance you find yourself running short on Crockpots, don’t worry! You can always make an epic Campbell’s Green Bean Casserole in the oven or classic Cracker Barrel Carrots on the stovetop. There’s always a way to get delicious food on the table!

Do you love exploring new recipes? Be sure to check out our extensive collection of copycat recipes, irresistible dessert recipes, and, of course, more amazing Crockpot Recipes.

Follow Tammilee Tips on MSN, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for our latest recipe posts and culinary inspiration.

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

This Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole is a simple and delicious recipe, perfect for family meals or holiday gatherings. It’s incredibly easy to make and delivers amazing flavor every time!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3-4 hours (on High) or 7-8 hours (on Low)

Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes to 8 hours 20 minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 694 kcal per serving

Author: Tammilee Tips

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• Approximately 5 lbs (80 oz) fresh sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• ⅓ cup Butter, melted
• 2 Tablespoons White Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Orange Juice
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• ½ cup Milk (or Heavy Cream for richer flavor)
• 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (optional, but highly recommended)
• ½ teaspoon Salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (optional)

Pecan Streusel Topping (Optional)

• ⅔ cup Brown Sugar
• ⅔ cup chopped pecans (omit for nut allergies)
• 4 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
• 4 Teaspoons Butter, melted
• 1 cup Mini Marshmallows (for topping, added during last 30-45 mins or broiled)

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the diced sweet potatoes, ⅓ cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the beaten eggs, orange juice, and milk (or heavy cream). Pour this liquid mixture over the sweet potato mixture and stir until everything is thoroughly combined.
3. Transfer the sweet potato mixture into your slow cooker.
4. (Optional) To make the pecan streusel topping: In a medium bowl, combine ⅔ cup brown sugar, ⅔ cup chopped pecans (if using), 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, and 4 teaspoons melted butter. Mix with a fork until crumbly.
5. Spread the streusel topping evenly over the sweet potatoes in the crockpot. (If you prefer marshmallows, save them for later).
6. Cover the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or on LOW for 7-8 hours, until the sweet potatoes are very tender.
7. Once cooked, use a potato masher or a hamburger mix and chop tool to gently mash the sweet potatoes directly in the slow cooker to your desired consistency.
8. If using mini marshmallows: Add the marshmallows during the last 30-45 minutes of cooking, allowing them to melt and become gooey. For a golden-brown topping, you can carefully transfer the casserole to an oven-safe dish and broil for 2-5 minutes (watch closely!).
9. Serve warm and enjoy your delicious Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole!

Kitchen Tools

• Slow cooker (6-quart or larger recommended)
• Vegetable peeler
• Large mixing bowls
• Potato masher or hamburger mix and chop
• Measuring cups and spoons

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition Facts

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

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Amount Per Serving

Calories 694 | Calories from Fat 207

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% Daily Value*

Fat 23g 35%

Saturated Fat 9g 56%

Cholesterol 89mg 30%

Sodium 359mg 16%

Potassium 1408mg 40%

Carbohydrates 115g 38%

Fiber 13g 54%

Sugar 49g 54%

Protein 10g 20%

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Vitamin A 54145IU 1083%

Vitamin C 10mg 12%

Calcium 182mg 18%

Iron 3mg 17%

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* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Recipe originally shared on October 30, 2013. Updated in September 2020. This content has been further revised and expanded in [Current Year].