Sweet Potato Soufflé

This Sweet Potato Soufflé is delicious with fresh or canned sweet potatoes and a favorite side dish at our Thanksgiving and holiday meals.

My husband describes his family recipe like this, “The butter, eggs and brown sugar enhance the sweet potato experience.”

Easy Sweet Potato Soufflé Recipe

We like how using simple ingredients in a basic dish allows the amazing flavor of the sweet potatoes to be the star of the show.  Pecans are optional and add even more flavor and crunch to the sweet topping if you like nuts. 

My father in law regularly makes this easy Sweet Potato Soufflé for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties.  He’s a busy person, so finding a good, quick sweet potato recipe is important.

Just like our Farmhouse Mashed Potatoes and Loaded Potato Casserole, we crave these potato recipes enough that we make them a few times throughout the year.

Our soufflé recipe is sweet and delicious, but not nearly as dessert like at this Crock Pot Candied Sweet Potato Casserole recipe that a co-worker gave me several years ago.  It is delicious and almost tastes like a dessert it’s so sweet!

Serve warm along side Turkey, Farmhouse Dressing or Cornbread Dressing and Scalloped Corn Casserole and enjoy!

Does It Matter If You Use Fresh Or Canned Sweet Potatoes?

We did a test comparing two versions of the same recipe. One souffle was made with canned yams and one with freshly mashed sweet potatoes. Multiple taste testers were unable to identify a taste or quality difference in the two versions.

Our conclusion is that canned or fresh sweet potatoes that you boil on your own both taste great! Use the type of potato that you prefer and have time to make.

Can This Soufflé Be Made Ahead Of Time

We have successfully tested making the potato mixture 2 to 3 days ahead of time and covering tightly while storing in the refrigerator.

We prefer to wait to mix up the crumble topping until ready to bake for best results.

Avoid putting a cold dish in a hot oven. Either set the dish out on the counter to warm up for 30 – 45 minutes. Or set the cold dish in a cold oven and don’t begin the official baking time until the oven is done preheating.

How To Make Sweet Potato Souffle

1. Mash cooked sweet potatoes OR open a can of yams and drain.
2. Mix all “potato ingredients” together well and pour into a lightly greased pan.
3. Mix all topping ingredients.  Crumble evenly over potato mixture and bake for 35 – 45 minutes in a 350°F oven until topping is golden brown and potatoes are cooked through.

Ingredients Needed:

• Sweet Potatoes – Canned yams can be drained and mashed or fresh potatoes can be peeled, boiled and mashed. The taste is very comparable.
• Sugar – Granulated sugar is mixed in with the mashed potatoes.
• Eggs – Help make the soufle fluffy and richer.
• Milk – Makes a smoother mixture. If cream or half and half is used less butter is needed.
• Salt
• Butter – Adds a rich, desirable depth of flavor. Use more butter if 2% milk is used and less butter if a richer dairy product is used.
• Vanilla Extract – Using pure vanilla helps enhance all of the other flavors in the dish.
• Brown Sugar – Creates a sweet golden brown topping that is a signature part of the soufflé.
• Flour – Adds a bit more structure to the topping.
• Pecans – An optional addition adds a wonderful nutty crunch and unique depth of flavor.

Step By Step Instructions

Drain canned potatoes or boil your own. 

Peel and cube the potatoes before boiling until tender.

Or boil whole, evenly shaped potatoes. The spuds pictured were too large and unevenly shaped, so it took over 30 minutes-to boil them whole. 

Once potatoes fall off a fork, the skin will slide off easily after cooling long enough to safely handle.

Place peeled and boiled potatoes in a mixing bowl and beat until potatoes are mashed and no lumps remain.

Add butter, sugar, milk, salt, eggs and vanilla.

Mix well again.

Pour into a lightly greased baking dish and crumble topping over potato mixture as evenly as possible. 

Brown Sugar & Pecan Topping

Four simple ingredients mix to together to make a heavenly topping.

Light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, chopped pecans and butter.

In a small mixing bowl stir together brown sugar, flour and partially melted or very soft butter.

Mix well until smooth and even.

Pour chopped pecans in and mix well.

I find using my fingers to flatten and sprinkle out the mixture helps make a thinner, more even layer.

Bake at 350° F for 35 – 50 minutes (depending on how deep mixture is in dish) until topping is golden brown and potatoes are bubbling up underneath.

Soufflé holds well in a warming drawer when covered with foil for up to 2 hours.

Tips for Making Sweet Potato Soufflé

• Souffle bakes more quickly using warm sweet potatoes.
• Potato mixture may be prepared up to a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Allow dish to warm up on the counter for 30 to 60 minutes and add topping just before baking for best results.
• Baked souffle reheats well and may be stored in the refrigerator for 2 – 4 days or frozen in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 months.
• Sometimes we use our basic Corningware 2 1/2 quart casserole dish, other times we use a square 8 x 8 baking dish and both options work fine.
• The brown sugar topping will be thicker on a smaller dish unless the recipe doubled.
• Small, evenly shaped sweet potatoes can be boiled whole and the skins quickly peeled off.  Large potatoes are easier to peel, cut into chunks and then boil and mash.

Other Easy & Delicious Potato Recipes:

• Farmhouse Loaded Baked Potatoes
• Crockpot Loaded Red Potatoes
• Cheesy Potatoes for a Crowd
• Make-Ahead Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes
• Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes

We hope you enjoy these potato recipes as much as we do!

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Originally shared on September 16, 2018 with updates made on September 12, 2023.