Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
This Easy Candied Sweet Potato Casserole is naturally sweetened with honey and orange juice, then topped with crunchy cinnamon-spiced pecans for a cozy holiday flavor! Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any festive gathering, this wholesome and delicious sweet potato side dish is warm, comforting, and guaranteed to impress your guests.
My family and I are getting excited about Thanksgiving and it’s just around the corner. Since my parents and siblings are in the Philippines and hubby’s parents are in England, when Thanksgiving comes we really don’t have our family to celebrate with us – it’s just the four of us, hubby, me, and our two little Americans.
We do miss them, especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas as it’s not often that we get to see them because the fares are astronomically high to travel abroad during the holiday season.
Thankfully, despite missing our blood relatives during special occasions, we have never really felt alone as our family has always been adopted by some very kind families from our church during Thanksgiving.
The past 12 years we have been in the US, we have never had to celebrate Thanksgiving on our own, and by God’s grace, we have another new family to join this time. It just feels wonderful that way.
This is why I decided for this post to make a classic Thanksgiving side dish – sweet potato casserole and perhaps share it with our host family this year. I usually bring Lumpia (Filipino Spring Rolls) as appetizers as that is often requested but I thought why not add another dish to the list and so here it is.
This Candied Sweet Potato Casserole gets its flavor from a combination of honey, orange juice, and orange zest. It’s easy to prep, and I like that it’s practically naturally sweetened but not overly sweet.
Here’s a quick rundown of how I make this Candied Sweet Potato Casserole. For printing, please check the recipe card below.
Chopped pecans flavored with cinnamon and a little sugar is sprinkled over on top to add extra crunch and yum.
I simply peel the sweet potatoes and then slice them thinly (1/4 inch or less) and then arrange them on a baking dish with overlapping layers.
Then I pour over the potatoes a combination of honey, orange juice and zest, butter and a little salt and bake it covered first. So, at this point, it would only be cooked halfway.
Thereafter, I sprinkle the chopped pecans mixed with a little sugar and cinnamon on top, baste it quickly and then bake it until the potatoes have softened. The result is a tasty sweet potato casserole with bright flavors of honey and orange that looks nicely caramelized, too, thanks to the cinnamon and sugar on top.
It’s not super-sweet (like dessert), but the amount of honey (or other sweeteners you prefer) can be adjusted to your taste. It’s certainly a perfect complement to roast turkey (or chicken and pork) for Thanksgiving and beyond. Hope you like it.
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Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs sweet Potatoes (about 5 cups), peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 cup Orange juice
- ⅓ cup Honey (or Maple syrup)
- 6 tbsp unsalted Butter, melted
- 2 Oranges, zested
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup chopped Pecans
- ½ tsp ground Cinnamon
- 3 tbsp brown Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a baking dish (about 2 quartz capacity – 8 or 9 x 11″), arrange the sliced sweet potatoes in overlapping layers. In a bowl combine the orange juice, orange zest, honey, butter and salt. Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes ensuring that all slices are coated (to ensure better absorption of the sauce).
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. In the meantime, mix the pecans, cinnamon and sugar. After 30 minutes, adjust the oven temperature to 375 F, take the dish out and uncover and sprinkle all over with the chopped pecan mixture. Bake for another 25-30 minutes or until the sweet potatoes have softened.If desired, place under the broiler for a 1-2 minutes to caramelize the topping a bit. Enjoy!
Notes
Last updated on November 3rd, 2025 at 09:54 pm
orange juice and zest?? I am VERY excited to try this recipe – sounds SO good!
No once can turn down the sweet potato casserole! Love the orange juice and honey! So perfectly balanced!
What an amazing holiday dish. I've got some sweet potatoes just begging to be made into this!
Dear Abigail, I absolutely love this for the holidays! Such a perfect winter side dish and so beautiful too! xo, Catherine
You can put pecans and maple syrup on anything and I would be happy, but even more so when it is combined with sweet potatoes. Yum!
This sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving dish! I love sweet potatoes and this recipe sounds amazing!!!
I am an orange vegetable fanatic so I looooooooooove this.
What a glorious Thanksgiving side dish! This sounds the BEST way to make sweet potatoes! So glad you have an "extended" family with whom to celebrate the holidays, Abby!
Now this is a dish I'd love on my holiday table. Looks delicious
What a beautiful dish – all the right flavors and all that sweet deliciousness!
I love sweet potato casseroles, your version with the sweet potato slices and orange juice sounds wonderful, I will have to try it soon!
this looks amazing!
I love the simplicity of putting this together. I can only imagine how heavenly it tastes!
Dear Abby, what a gorgeous dish…mmmm. Love those layered sweet potatoes. I'm so glad you have a special family to spend Thanksgiving with. (And they have a special family too!) I know you'll have a wonderful time. (And I would really love to taste those spring rolls.) We are especially thankful this year as my brother had a terrible fall from a ladder several months ago. He broke many bones, had many surgeries and will be in a wheelchair at least through the New Year. It could have been so much worse and we're so thankful he'll BE at the Thanksgiving table this year. Have a blessed time with your family. xo
Oh, I am so terribly sorry to hear about your brother Allie! Praying for a speedy recovery. Glad he could join you for Thanksgiving and wishing you and your family a blessed and enjoyable gathering. Thanks, Allie!
My mouth was full on watering by the time I got to the end of the recipe. Looks fantastic!
This si SO going to be on my table this year for Thanksgiving! Much easier way to enjoy sweet potatoes 😀
Hope you enjoy it Chrisy and thanks for stopping by! 🙂
It is hard not to be able to meet with your family during holidays but it is so nice to be surrounded by people who feel kind enough to spend these days with you. I studied in the US and I still remember with great love the family that adopted me. Those potatoes are perfect and I am sure everyone will be happy!
I love your presentation with this dish! It looks beautiful!
I love that this casserole is sliced (as opposed to mashed)—looks just stunning!
This looks so good! And, I'll be honest, I'm really excited that it doesn't have marshmallows on it. Looks great like this!
Thanks, Debi! Love it the way it is, too. 🙂
Yummy recipe! I love the flavors and low sugar. I make a sweet potato casserole that we all love that is similar to this one. So good and not too sweet! Sweet potatoes don't need sticky, gluey marshmallows to be good!
So true Diane! I love that this is not overly sweet, too and mostly naturally sweetened. Thanks!
All of those pecans and honey make this dish look so tempting. Can't wait to try it.
Hope you like it Sandi!
This seems to be so easy to put together and looks so delicious. Perfect for Thanksgiving dinner.
Quick and easy to prep for sure Divya, thanks!
Just one quick question about the basting… are we to use a small spoon and jam it down in the dish to retrieve the liquid or tip up the hot pan?? I'm sure this is super simple, I'm just missing it. Is there more liquid in the pan than I am imagining?
Celena
I just used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the juice especially after it's been in the oven and then drizzle the juice all over. I push the potatoes a little to get the juice – it's quite easy to do that and then just push it back. You want a little liquid to drizzle over the potatoes when serving too. 🙂
Thank you! I figured as much but I wasnt sure if I was supposed to move the potatoes around. I am trying it next weekend!!
This looks declicious! Sweet potatoes are my favorite Thanksgiving dish! I love how you added honey and pecans!