Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes and marshmallows is like the 4th of July without sparklers: Sure, it’s still a holiday, but where is the pure unadulterated joy!? This side dish—not dessert—is a staple, served right alongside the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans on many Southern Thanksgiving dinner tables. If you haven’t tried this combo yet, it’s time to get on the candied-carbohydrate train. And if you want to call the dish candied yams (even though sweet potatoes and yams aren’t technically the same thing), go for it.
For this particular sweet potato casserole recipe, you’ll toss and bake diced sweet potatoes with plenty of butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and light brown sugar. (Prefer mashed sweet potato casserole? Here’s another favorite recipe topped with a graham cracker streusel topping.) Keep the potatoes covered so that the sugar doesn’t burn, then peel back the foil, scatter mini marshmallows and almonds all over and cook until the nuts are crunchy and the toasted marshmallow topping is appropriately gooey and delicious. If chopped pecans, walnuts, or pistachios are more your jam, feel free to sub those in.
Cooking the sweet potatoes in this way instead of a boil-and-drain method means that the natural sugars and earthy flavors that make this Thanksgiving side dish so delicious aren’t rinsed away. Instead, they’re concentrated in the casserole dish during the cook time. Joy, indeed.
Editor’s note: This recipe was originally published in the November 1994 issue of ‘Bon Appétit’ and first appeared online August 20, 2004.
