This light & airy sweet potato souffle is an easy to make, popular side dish - or dessert! Maple syrup, pecans, and spices round it out - yum!
My husband is American, I am Canadian. He was raised by a single dad, I was raised by a single mom (and then my grandmother).
We grew up about a 7 hour drive from each other, and there is a huge difference in what we consider traditional/required dishes for Thanksgiving dinner.
The main difference?
His insistence that you can (and should!) put mini marshmallows on sweetened and spiced mashed sweet potatoes and call it a SIDE DISH.
That’s dessert.
Over the years, we’ve played around with coming up with a sweet potato casserole recipe that suits both our tastes, but I just can’t accept it as a side dish.
In his mind, it’s not only *A* side dish, it’s the PERFECT side dish on the Thanksgiving table.
So, almost every American Thanksgiving day, I’ll indulge his craving for what is essentially a crustless, marshmallow topped sweet potato pie... whatever he wants to call it.
This Year was a Bit Different
After too many arguments along the lines of:
Me: “If you have turkey, stuffing, gravy, and a pile of chocolate chip cookies on a plate, you would call the cookies a side?”
Him: “WHY WOULD YOU PUT COOKIES ON THE PLATE? That’s dessert! HAH! Circular logic for the win!”
... I decided to adapt the whole thing to be more along the lines of a southern style sweet potato casserole, swapping out the marshmallows for a crunchy pecan streusel topping.
You know. Kind of like apple crisp, which is also not a side dish 🙂
Oh, and because I did it for Canadian Thanksgiving, I used maple syrup, which goes well with both the sweet potato mixture AND the crunchy topping.
Truthfully, I would put maple syrup in pretty much anything - I AM a walking stereotype like that - but it felt deliciously (Hah!) petty to do so for this fluffy sweet potato souffle!
(I feel like the whipped cream we topped it with was pretty definitive, though!)
Either way, it disappeared quicker than either of us would be comfortable admitting, and will probably end up being a mainstay of our holiday table... both in October AND November!
Whichever country you're from - or living in - this recipe will definitely result in rave reviews!
Ingredients
This recipe uses super simple ingredients, that can be found in any grocery store. A few notes:
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes and yams can be sold under either name, though they’re not quite the same thing.
Complicating things? Some varieties of sweet potatoes aren’t orange!
You’re looking for the orange variety of sweet potatoes - they have thinnish skin, like a potato - NOT thick or hairy skin.
Maple Syrup
Use actual maple syrup - the boiled sap from maple trees - NOT “pancake syrup”. It’s not the same thing!
No maple syrup? Use the same amount of honey or brown sugar instead.
Sorghum Flour
I use Sorghum Flour instead of all purpose flour for 2 reasons:
1. It’s gluten free
2. It tastes better in the brown sugar topping, than wheat flour does.
Light Buckwheat Flour is another great option if you need it gluten free.
Oat flour is another great option, and you can get Gluten-Free Oat Flour if needed.
If you DON’T need it GF, you can use wheat flour - it just doesn’t really add any depth, in the way that the gluten free flours do!
Spices
I use Ground Cinnamon and Ground Nutmeg in this recipe.
If you’d prefer to use Pumpkin Pie Spice, feel free - 1 ¼ or ½ teaspoons of it.
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you’ll need:
Unsalted Butter
Light Brown Sugar
Large eggs
Pure Vanilla Extract
Chopped Pecans
Baking powder
Salt
... I just don’t really have anything to say about those ones!
How to Make Sweet Potato Souffle
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. This is a pictorial walk through of the techniques involved.
Prepare Your Sweet Potatoes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Wash sweet potatoes, use a fork to pierce each all over.
Arrange sweet potatoes on the baking sheet, with room between each.
Roast until quite tender. Baking time will depend on the size of the sweet potatoes, expect anywhere between 45-65 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow to cool enough to handle. Slice each sweet potato in half, scoop out the sweet potato flesh into a large bowl.
Mash sweet potatoes, then allow to cool to almost room temperature.
Note: You can use a food processor to puree them, if you prefer a very smooth texture.
Make the Souffle
Preheat oven to 350F, grease a 8 x 8" baking dish with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar, sorghum flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
Add melted butter, combine to form a crumbly topping.
Add butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, egg yolks - separating the whites into a separate bowl - vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to the bowl of sweet potatoes, set aside.
In a clean, medium bowl with clean mixers - whether a stand mixer or electric hand mixer - whip egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.
Use the electric mixer to beat the sweet potato mixture until smooth and well incorporated.
Gently fold whipped egg whites into the sweet potato mixture, until no visible white remains.
Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.
Sprinkle pecan topping mixture evenly over the sweet potato mixture.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until sweet potato batter is cooked through, and topping is golden.
Serve hot.
Leftovers
After cooling, leftovers can be covered with plastic wrap (or transferred to an airtight container) and stored in the fridge for several days - IF it lasts that long!
More Gluten-Free Holiday Recipes!
Looking for something festive - for the whole family? Here are some great gluten-free recipes perfect for your holiday table!
Cranberry Chicken
Cranberry Jello Salad
Gluten Free Candy Cane Cookies
Gluten-Free Fruitcake
Gluten Free Fruitcake Cookies
Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies
Gluten Free Gingerbread Scones
Gluten Free Maple Pumpkin Pie
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Mini Doughnuts
Gluten Free Paska [Easter Bread]
Gluten-Free Sauerkraut Buns [Pyrizhky]
Gluten Free Stuffing Recipe
Honey Roasted Carrots & Parsnips
Pumpkin Cheese Ball - Classier Version
Pumpkin Cheese Ball - Trashier Version
Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin with Fruit Sauce
Turkey Meatballs with Cranberry Glaze
Need holiday foods that are gluten free AND low carb? Here are a few more ideas, from my low carb blog:
Keto Turkey Gravy
Low Carb Stuffing
Keto Scalloped Potatoes
Hasselback Turnips
Low Carb Funeral Potatoes
Pumpkin Fat Bombs
Turkey Meatballs with Keto Cranberry Glaze
Share the Love!
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Fluffy Sweet Potato Souffle with Pecan Crumble
Equipment
Ingredients
Souffle:
- 3.5 lbs Sweet Potatoes
- ⅓ cup Butter
- ⅓ cup Brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cup Maple syrup
- 3 Large eggs
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Topping:
- 1 cup Chopped pecans
- 1 cup Brown sugar packed
- ½ cup Sorghum flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Pinch Nutmeg
- ¼ cup Unsalted butter melted
Instructions
Sweet Potatoes:
- Preheat oven to 400 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Wash sweet potatoes, use a fork to pierce each all over.
- Arrange sweet potatoes on the baking sheet, with room between each.
- Roast until quite tender. Baking time will depend on the size of the sweet potatoes, expect anywhere between 45-65 minutes.
- Remove from oven, allow to cool enough to handle. Slice each sweet potato in half, scoop out the flesh into a large mixing bowl.
- Mash sweet potatoes, then allow to cool to almost room temperature.
Souffle:
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease a 8 x 8" baking dish..
- Add butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, egg yolks - separating the whites into a separate bowl - vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to the bowl of sweet potatoes, set aside.
- In a clean bowl with clean mixers, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.
- Use the mixer to beat the sweet potato mixture until smooth and well incorporated.
- Gently fold egg whites into the sweet potato mixture, until no visible white remains.
- Spoon batter into prepared baking pan.
Topping:
- In a medium bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar, sorghum flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- Add melted butter, combine to form a crumbly topping.
- Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until sweet potato batter is cooked through, and topping is golden.
- Serve hot
Video
Nutrition
How would this turn out with regular flour instead of sorghum flour? Or would it be better with gluten free flour? Thanks!
Honestly, I find it tastes better with sorghum, but I wouldn't bother going out to get some if you don't need it to be gluten free. If gluten isn't an issue, the same amount of regular wheat flour should work fine!