Instant Pot Sweet Potato Crunch Casserole

This Sweet Potato Crunch Casserole features mashed sweet potatoes mixed with spices and topped with a delicious brown sugar and pecan topping. It’s the ultimate side dish for your holiday dinner.

Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes!

But unlike roasted sweet potatoes or slow cooker sweet potatoes, this recipe for sweet potato crunch casserole is buttery sweet and more of a dessert than side dish. *Wink*

This recipe works because it:

• Saves you from peeling and chopping. By using the Instant Pot to cook the potatoes, you’ll avoid using a knife.
• Limits the dishes you’ll need. The potatoes cook and get mixed in the same Instant Pot insert.
• Frees up the oven and stove for awhile. We all know how many recipes go into making Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe lets the Instant Pot do the hard work for awhile.
• Is absolutely scrumptious! The rich, sugary topping combined with the creamy potato filling makes you want to go back for seconds and thirds.

Step-by-Step Instructions

CLEAN and dry 3 medium sweet potatoes. Poke them several times with a fork.

PLACE them on a trivet in the Instant Pot and pour 1 cup of water over them.

LOCK the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to sealing. Use the pressure cook button on high and set the timer for 25 minutes.

WHILE the potatoes are cooking, mix together 3 tablespoons of softened butter, 3 tablespoons of flour, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, and 1½ tablespoons of cinnamon. Set aside.

ONCE the timer has gone off, allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes.

CAREFULLY remove the sweet potatoes from the pot and place on a plate to cool for 3-5 minutes.

DUMP the water out of the Instant Pot insert and remove the trivet.

PREHEAT your oven to 350 degrees.

ONCE the potatoes have cooled slightly, peel the skins off the sweet potatoes and place the potatoes back in the insert.

MASH the potatoes and then mix in 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 egg, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 2 tablespoons of half and half.

POUR the potato mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish and sprinkle the brown sugar topping over the potatoes.

BAKE for 30 minutes until topping is golden brown.

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

Since sweet potatoes aren’t all the same size, you may have to adjust the cooking time in the Instant Pot depending on how big or small the sweet potatoes are. You can use this awesome guide for cooking perfect Instant Pot sweet potatoes.

To ensure that the middle of your sweet potatoes cook through, you can cut each sweet potato in half, but only if you want to pull out a knife.

If after the recommended cooking time, your sweet potatoes aren’t cooked all the way through, you can put the lid back on the Instant Pot and add 5 more minutes of cook time, or you can start mashing the sweet potatoes and pull out the uncooked pieces. Add those pieces to a microwave safe dish with a little water, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes on high.

If you STILL have a few hard potato pieces and don’t want to spend any more time, the potatoes will soften up in the oven during the 30 minute cook time. I like some texture in my potatoes, sweet or savory, so having a few larger potato pieces doesn’t bother me. But if you want absolutely creamy potatoes, you can continue with the microwave or Instant Pot method mentioned above to cook any hard pieces.

The sweet potatoes will be pretty messy when they’re done in the Instant Pot so you’ll want to use some oven mitts or two sets of tongs to remove them.

For extra fine pieces, you can pulse whole or chopped pecans in a food processor a few times.

If your topping is browning too quickly in the oven, you can cover the dish with a foil tent to slow the browning.

This recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving, but it also goes well with pulled pork, steak, tri-tip, or brown sugar salmon.

Try these substitutions if you’re looking for a healthy/vegan option:

• Substitute for butter
• Substitute for eggs

More Like This

Looking for more delicious holiday side dishes? You’ll love these!

• Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes and Apples
• Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Pink Fluff
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples
• Cinnamon and Honey Carrots
• Honey Butter Skillet Corn

What To Eat with Sweet Potatoes

And if you’re looking for ideas on what to serve with this sweet potato casserole, we have several awesome recipes.

You can enjoy these pairings for a cozy Sunday dinner or holiday meal.

Try meats and mains like:

• Meatloaf
• Turkey
• Ham
• Roast beef

And try sides like:

• Mac and cheese
• Pumpkin rolls
• Wild rice
• Zucchini casserole

Check out the full list of 43 ideas for what to serve with sweet potatoes.

FAQs

I hope your family loves this sweet potato crunch casserole! If you make it, be sure to take a picture and tag me on Instagram with @ashcroftfamilytable and use the hashtag #ashcroftfamilytable!

And if you’d like to get a 4-week meal plan featuring my recipes, just enter your email in the form above and you’ll get it straight to your inbox!