Sweet Potato Casserole with Maple Granola

Healthy Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole with a maple pecan granola streusel topping? Yep, you heard it here first! We're giving the traditional, sugar-laden Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole a major upgrade.

There are no marshmallows involved, but a crispy, flavorful maple granola topping makes up for it (and more!). It's vegan, gluten free, better-for-you, and still downright delicious.

This post is sponsored by Le Creuset. All opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support us!

We're comin' at ya with our first true Thanksgiving recipe of the year. Too early? Nope! Thanksgiving is just over one month away, so it's time to start thinking about your menu.

If your family is anything like ours, you may be dealing with the challenging situation of multiple dietary preferences/food allergies. We have it all: gluten free, vegan, nut free, soy free, and to top it all off, plenty of picky eaters.

It's never easy to host a holiday with so many dietary issues, but every year we manage to make it work with a few key recipes.

We always try to include a little something for everyone; I'm not going to try to force Grandpa Sinclair to eat Tofurky over prime rib. It's just not going to happen.

And you know what? That's totally fine. I don't want to be judged for my dietary choices, so I'm certainly not going to judge someone else for theirs.

That being said, there are a few dishes (usually side dishes) that everyone can agree to enjoy despite their preferences. This healthy sweet potato casserole is one of them!

I'm not sure about you, but as a millennial born in the mid 1990's, I'm really just not that into marshmallows in my sweet potato casserole. How is that considered a side dish? Who are we kidding?

It's a glorified dessert, and it has no place at our contemporary Thanksgiving dinner. I'm certainly not judging about the sugar content (hello, raging sweet tooth!), but in my opinion, it just doesn't fit alongside savory Thanksgiving dishes.

This healthier version still has hints of the classic recipe - and yes, it's still slightly sweet - but it's a bit more elevated.

Seasoned roasted sweet potatoes are topped with a crunchy, nutty, slightly sweet maple pecan granola that's honestly just as good on its own. If you'd prefer to mash the sweet potatoes, that's fine too. Whatever floats your boat!

Just please, refrain from adding marshmallows. (Is this a controversial opinion? We never really ate sweet potato casserole growing up, so I'm not 100% sure and would love to hear your thoughts.)

Instructions

This healthier Thanksgiving side dish is really quite easy to assemble. First and foremost, you'll need a whole lot of diced sweet potatoes. Luckily, they're a pretty affordable ingredient!

To dice the sweet potatoes evenly (for even cooking), you'll need to slice off the pointy ends, then slice off each side of the potato to create a rectangle. From there, you can slice the potato into planks and then dice as usual.

Confused? Yeah, so am I. Explaining knife techniques in writing is not my strong suit. Lucky for you, there's a video at the bottom of this post that shows you exactly how to do it!

Don't get rid of the scraps - freeze and use in homemade vegetable broth! You'll be needing a lot of it come the holiday season, so why not save up scraps in the next month or so to make it from scratch?

(Note: we're really trying to be better about this. Please comment below with your vegetable broth success stories to inspire us!)

Once the sweet potatoes are all diced (which, by the way, will be much easier with a sharp, high-quality knife), you'll need to season them. We use a mostly sweet blend of cinnamon, pumpkin pie seasoning, coconut sugar and salt.

Melted vegan butter is our cooking fat of choice, but you could also sub with melted coconut oil or olive oil.

The seasoned, diced sweet potatoes get a head start in the oven before adding the granola topping. They need a bit longer to soften, so we bake them for 30 minutes before mixing up the granola. Prepping the granola couldn't be any easier - just mix everything together and you're good to go!

Note: to make this fully nut-free, sub the pecans with more pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. Alternatively, you could leave them out altogether.

Our favorite cookware

We're so thrilled to be partnering with Le Creuset to bring you this recipe and video. In case you missed it, we also shared this Coconut Curry Squash Soup in partnership with Le Creuset last month. It's a fall favorite in our house!

It probably comes as no surprise that we absolutely love Le Creuset cookware/bakeware. I mean, who doesn't?! All of their products are of the highest quality, and they're absolutely gorgeous.

We absolutely love this fall color palette. From top left to bottom right, the colors are Indigo (deep blue), Matte Sugar Blue, Matte White, Persimmon (orange) and Oyster (gray).

To make this healthy vegan sweet potato casserole, we used this Heritage Rectangular Casserole in Persimmon. Isn't it just the perfect color for Thanksgiving? We can't wait to use it on our holiday table! It has a secure lid (perfect for baking the sweet potatoes) and is heat and freezer-safe. You can even throw it in the dishwasher for a quick clean!

We firmly believe that the most important kitchen tools are a good knife, a good blender, and great cookware that lasts forever. Le Creuset cookware is timeless for good reason - we still have pieces from decades ago that work perfectly well!

With the holidays coming up so soon, now's the time to make your wishlist! Head over to Le Creuset and get shopping. Feel free to ask us any questions about sizes or colors!

More Vegan Holiday Recipes

We won't bombard you quite yet with a crazy amount of Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes. That being said, it really is time to start thinking about your menu if you want to get ahead of the game, so here are a few suggestions!

• Classic Gluten Free (and vegan) Stuffing
• Pumpkin Sage Hummus
• Harissa Roasted Carrots with Pomegranate and Toasted Hazelnuts
• Cranberry Orange Whiskey Cocktails
• Purple Sweet Potato Cheesecake Bars (Vegan)

If there are any specific recipes you'd like to see on Crowded Kitchen this holiday season, now's the time to comment below and let us know!

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