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Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

ByNicole Langdon Hours Updated on
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These twice baked sweet potato casseroles are the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or just a regular fall dinner when you’re feeling like a sweet treat.

Individual sweet potato casserole.

One of our favorite side dishes at Thanksgiving dinner has to be sweet potato casserole. It’s creamy, full of fall flavor, and topped with cinnamon sugar and marshmallows. What’s not to love? But unfortunately, it isn’t everyone’s favorite. So we wanted a way to make smaller, individual servings.

That’s why we created these cute little twice baked sweet potato casseroles! They’re served right in the potato skins, so it’s easy to make just the right amount – whether you’re cooking for a crowd or just dinner for two. Plus, they look adorable and festive on our holiday table.

What This Recipe Entails

  • Ready in: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Serves: 4 people, but easily scalable for however many people you need to feed.
  • Great for: Small Thanksgivings or Friendsgivings, or when not everyone likes sweet potato casserole.
  • Flavor profile: Sweet and spiced. The perfect fall flavors. 
  • Why we love it: These cute personal serving sweet potato casseroles are just straight up fun. And they present much better than a traditional casserole does.

Ingredients

  • Sweet potatoes – You’ll want to select sweet potatoes that are fairly symmetrical, not too thick, and roughly the same diameter (if using multiple). This will ensure they all cook at the same rate.
  • Vegetable oil, salt, and pepper – You’ll use these to season the potatoes before they bake the first time.
  • Butter – Let this sit on the counter while the potatoes bake so it’s soft enough that it melts easily when stirred into the sweet potato casserole filling.
  • Brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg – These ingredients give a delicious sugary spiced flavor to the casserole filling. You’ll also make a brown sugar and cinnamon topping to sprinkle on the sweet potatoes before the second round of baking.
  • Mini marshmallows – We believe sweet potato casseroles need marshmallows to be complete. So we top ours with mini marshmallows! They get perfectly toasty on the outside and gooey on the inside. 

How To Make Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

  1. Prep the sweet potatoes: Slice sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then gently poke a few holes in the skin with a fork (3 times is enough since you want to preserve the integrity of the skin). Rub the potatoes with vegetable oil and season lightly with salt and pepper, then place them face down on a foil-lined baking sheet.
  2. First bake: Bake the sweet potatoes at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes, until tender. Then, let them cool until you can handle them.
  3. Make the filling: Carefully scoop the flesh out of the sweet potato skins and into a bowl. Mash the potato in the bowl and then stir in softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  4. Assemble: Spoon the sweet potato casserole back into the potato skins, gently compressing it with the back of your spoon to re-shape the potato skins. Smooth the tops out.
  5. Top: In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle this evenly over the tops of the sweet potatoes. Finally, gently press mini marshmallows into the sweet potatoes. 
  6. Second bake: Bake the sweet potato casserole at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes, until the marshmallows are toasty.

Give our mini sweet potato casseroles a try and let us know what you think by commenting and sharing below! For easy holiday menu planning, browse all of our Thanksgiving recipes or subscribe to our newsletter.

FAQs

Well, sweet potatoes are certainly healthy! And our individual sweet potato casseroles are healthier than the traditional recipe because the skins don’t get left out. Did you know sweet potato skins are packed with fiber and nutrients! That’s why we hate getting rid of them.

I think that’s up to you honestly. We eat sweet potato casseroles as a side with dinner which is the more traditional. But, it is certainly sweet enough to be served as a healthier dessert option if you want.

Yes! This recipe can be made ahead of time. Simply follow the steps through assembly and then store the prepped casseroles in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to serve, top them with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and mini marshmallows, then bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Note: this bake needs to be longer than the recipe calls for because the potato will be cold from the fridge.

A plate of individual sweet potato casseroles.

Expert Tips

  • Picking the right sweet potatoes – Smaller, symmetrical, similarly-sized sweet potatoes are the best choice for this recipe because we want them to cook evenly and at the same rate. Funky shaped sweet potatoes (while we still love them for other recipes!) can make scooping out the filling or keeping the skins neat and intact harder, so we try to avoid them here. 
  • For large batches – If you’re making a large batch of these mini sweet potato casseroles, roughly mash the sweet potato with a masher first – then take a hand mixer to it! This will help speed things up and ensure a smooth texture.
  • Storing leftovers – Twice baked sweet potato casseroles keep in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 5 days. They are best stored in a single layer and not stacked on top of one another. This will keep them the neatest. 
  • Reheating leftovers – Leftovers can be reheated in the oven (or toaster oven) at 350 for 15 minutes, but we tend to microwave them for about a minute per serving since we’re normally just heating up one or two.

Love this recipe? You may enjoy these Thanksgiving side recipes, too:

Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

Individual sweet potato casserole.

Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole

Nicole & Alex Langdon
These twice baked sweet potato casseroles are the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or just a regular fall dinner when you’re feeling like a sweet treat.
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Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Dessert, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings
Calories 244 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes relatively thin and symmetrical
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 pinch black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter softened
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar tightly packed
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

Sweet Potato Casserole Topping

  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar tightly packed
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup mini marshmallows

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with foil.
  • Wash and dry the potatoes, then cut them in half lengthwise. Place them face down on the baking sheet and gently poke a few holes in the back of each one with a fork. Next, rub the potatoes with vegetable oil and sprinkle the cut sides with salt and pepper.
  • Place the potatoes face down on the baking sheet and roast in the oven until tender, about 30 minutes. Carefully flip the potatoes using tongs and let them cool at room temperature until they can be handled, about 20 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In the meantime, carefully scoop out the sweet potato flesh into a medium bowl. Leave a thin layer of flesh along the inside of the potato skins to help maintain their shape.
  • Mash the sweet potato with a fork or potato masher. If you're making a large batch, you can use a hand mixer to help mash them more easily. Once the consistency is smooth, stir in softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until fully incorporated. Next, spoon the mixture back into the potato skins, gently compressing it with the back of the spoon to re-shape the skins.
  • Smooth out the tops of the refilled sweet potatoes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon to make the cinnamon sugar topping. Sprinkle evenly over the potatoes. Finally, gently press mini marshmallows into the tops of each potato.
  • Bake the sweet potatoes at 350 until warmed through and the marshmallows are toasted, about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!

Notes

Picking the right sweet potatoes – Smaller, symmetrical, similarly-sized sweet potatoes are the best choice for this recipe because we want them to cook evenly and at the same rate. Funky shaped sweet potatoes (while we still love them for other recipes!) can make scooping out the filling or keeping the skins neat and intact harder, so we try to avoid them here. 
For large batches – If you’re making a large batch of these mini sweet potato casseroles, roughly mash the sweet potato with a masher first – then take a hand mixer to it! This will help speed things up and ensure a smooth texture.
Storing leftovers – Twice baked sweet potato casseroles keep in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 5 days. They are best stored in a single layer and not stacked on top of one another. This will keep them the neatest. 
Reheating leftovers – Leftovers can be reheated in the oven (or toaster oven) at 350 for 15 minutes, but we tend to microwave them for about a minute per serving since we’re normally just heating up one or two.

Nutrition

Serving: 1half potatoCalories: 244kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 130mgPotassium: 401mgFiber: 4gSugar: 24gVitamin A: 16208IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 1mg
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If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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90% of Nicole’s thoughts are about food. She’s had a passion for cooking (and eating) for as long as she can remember! Growing up, she started cooking with her mom at a young age, learned family recipes from her Italian grandmother, took every opportunity to make cookies (so many bake sales), and always loved going out to restaurants to try new foods.

Nicole currently works part-time as a marketing professional for OmieLife while also working nonstop on The Candid Cooks. As a former mechanical engineer, Nicole has consistently found herself at the intersection of creativity and logical reasoning. She credits not only her passion for photography, design, and writing, but also her problem-solving nature and desire to learn, as the foundation on which The Candid Cooks was built.

Nicole’s hobbies include anything that gets her moving - mainly hiking, skiing, ice skating, and dancing - as well as reading fantasy novels and scrapbooking. Her favorite food is a big plate of nachos, as long as they’re cheesy enough!

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