A traditional holiday recipe at our house, these sweet pecan yams are one of the best things that have ever happened to our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.
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Oh boy I love the holidays. And traditions around the holiday – especially food ones.
What are some of your holiday food traditions (good or bad)? Cause we all know there are those bad ones out there (icky fruit cake, I’m glaring at you).
Well today sharing with you an amazing traditional holiday recipe that our family loves for your next big feast. These sweet pecan yams are out of this world amazing.
This recipe comes from my sister-in-law Lisa M. who shared it with us in our family cookbook. We have to make them every year now for Thanksgiving. They are just the best. I never even liked sweet yam casseroles until this one. But now it just doesn’t seem like Thanksgiving without the sweet pecan yams.
So a little digression here…
Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes
Do you know what the difference is between a yam and a sweet potato?
Well I asked my bff google about it (i.e. the source of all knowledge).
And I was shocked to learn that what I thought were yams all my life are actually not yams at all. They’re actually sweet potatoes. All of them. That’s right. Yams and the sweet potatoes from the store whether they are orange or white fleshed are ALL sweet potatoes.
I’m feeling like a little piece of my innocence just left now that I know the truth. And guess what else? Yams are these really weird things that might have purple flesh and can grow to like five feet long. Can you believe it? Purple tubular monsters!
So really, this dish should be called, “sweet pecan sweet potatoes”. But I thought that was just a few too many “sweets” for one post title. So sweet pecan yams it is.
When you go to buy the yams (er…sweet potatoes), the grocery store will probably call them yams. Restrain yourself from angrily correcting them. Not everyone can handle the truth. You want to buy the orange fleshed sweet potatoes. I’ve actually made this dish with the white sweet potatoes and it still tastes just fine. But there’s something a little unsettling about eating sweet pecan yams that are not orange. Can you imagine the shock if they were purple?
I did make the mistake of buying one white fleshed sweet potato this time and two orange fleshed ones. Which I didn’t notice until I peeled them.
But I actually really liked how the color turned out with the sweet pecan yam casserole. It actually turned out a little brighter orange, which is nice. I think as long as you have one orange fleshed sweet potato you should still get the perty color.
A few reasons I love this recipe
It’s really easy to prep this dish ahead of time, cover it with foil and pop it in the refrigerator. Then you can bake it the day of. I’ve also frozen it up to a couple of weeks in advance and then baked it from frozen. I don’t remember the exact baking time from frozen so if you try it that way, leave a comment to let me know how long it took.
I’ve also baked this dish a couple of hours before the meal, covered it with foil, and kept it warm in an oven set at 170 degrees F until ready to serve. It really is the perfect side dish to make for your next big feast.
Okay my friends, one more question before I leave you to the recipe. Are you cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year?
If so, I really hope these sweet pecan yams make it on the menu. They are amazing.
Sweet Pecan Yams
A traditional holiday recipe at our house, these sweet pecan yams are one of the best things that have ever happened to our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.
Ingredients
For the yams:
- 2 ½ to 3 pounds yams or sweet potatoes about 3 large
- ½ cup butter melted
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs beaten
For the Topping:
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (2.5 ounces) flour see note
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- 1 cup (4.25 ounces) chopped pecans
Instructions
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Wash, peel and cook the yams until fork tender. I usually peel them then place them whole in an electric pressure cooker (i.e. Instant Pot) with 1 cup of water and cook them for 8 minutes on high pressure, using a natural pressure release. If you don’t have an electric pressure cooker, you can cut them up and steam or boil them until they are fork tender.
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with butter or cooking spray and set aside.
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Mash the cooked yams until smooth (I usually do this in a food processor, a blender, or the bowl of a stand mixer with the beater attachment). Then in a large bowl combined mashed yams, melted butter, milk, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and beaten eggs. Spread yam mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish.
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In a small bowl mix together the light brown sugar and flour. Cut in the softened butter until mixture is crumbly and then stir in the chopped pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the yams.
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Bake in the preheated 350 degrees F oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Recipe Notes
1. I’ve made this recipe with all-purpose flour, whole-grain flour and even gluten-free flour. They all worked great.
2. This recipe can easily be made ahead of time, and then refrigerated until ready to serve up to a day in advance. I usually put it all together, cover it in aluminum foil, and refrigerate before the baking step. Then when I’m ready to bake it, I remove the aluminum foil, stick it in the preheated oven until it is golden brown and bubbly, about 35 minutes.
3. I’ve also baked this dish a couple of hours before the meal, covered it with foil, and kept it warm in an oven set at 170 degrees F until ready to serve.
Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat, adapted from a recipe shared with me by my Sister-in-law Lisa.
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
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