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
hello! This looks like a delicious dish and I plan to make it for Thanksgiving. Does this dish travel well? I know you said we can make it in advance and reheat. So should I bake the whole thing through and then just reheat when I get to my in-laws' house? Thanks!
I have never travelled with this but if you are traveling long distance keep it in a chilled container or ice box and then reheat when you get to the place. If you have time, you can make it at your MIL's place so it depends on how much time you have really.
Question regarding reheating. If I make it the day before do I bake it the full hour and then another 20 minutes the next day? Thank you …. Looks great!
Bake it covered for 30 minutes or just until the potatoes are heated through. Oven temps vary so please check after 20 minutes to see if it's already bubbly and hot.
This is great I think adding a little bourbon would be great bourbon goes great with sweet potatoes
Sounds like a delicious idea!
I'm so excited to make this! Have you ever tried making it the day before and then warming it the next day?
Yes, just make sure you cover it when reheating. I think it's more flavorful.
Hi Abby – I was volunteered to bring the sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving meal this year. I searched the web and looked at the search results using only images. Your dish was the most beautiful presentation I had ever seen! I used your recipe – loved the addition of honey (I used to be a beekeeper). Everyone loved them! Thanks so much, I love your photos and how each finished dish looks amazingly delicious!
Thank you so much for your very kind feedback Robin! You totally made my day!!! Always appreciate it when people come back and let us know how the cooking and eating went. 🙂
Simple and delish without all the added sugar and marshmallows. I did forget to add the cinnamon, but it was still yummy. I do want to try to replace the butter with coconut oil to make it a bit healthier. Easy.
So happy to know you liked it Tracy! Thanks for letting us know and I may have to try the coconut oil, too! Glad you stopped by!
Lovely combination of flavors here.Beautiful recipe – Perfect for the start of Spring. I look forward to making this.
Hope you enjoy it Lelo!
Do you think you could use Apple juice instead of orange? Looks beautiful!
Am sure you can though the taste would be slightly different but worth a try! Let us know how it goes if you get to try it Tracy. Thanks!
Good Morning! I’m looking forward to this dish tomorrow. Wondering if you’ve ever prepped and let ingredients sit over night? I could put it in the oven now, but would love to wait and cook only once.
I haven’t done so but I don’t see a reason why it cannot be prepped ahead. Perhaps that way the potatoes would soak up more of the juices overnight and take less time to cook. If you do, please let us know how it worked for you. Thanks!! Happy Thanksgiving!
This looks so amazing! Any chance this could be made in a casserole dish? I’m just wondering if the layering will throw off the flavor/texture of the top layers?
I use a square casserole dish and even a rectangular dish should be fine as stated in the recipe (suggested dish to use). If you mean casserole pot – I haven’t done it there but I don’t see why it won’t work – if your dutch oven is oven safe it should be good. After the baking as well, I baste the top with the juices which should be plenty and that would add more flavor to the top layer. 🙂 Thanks and enjoy!
Abby,
We had not one but two of your recipes this Christmas, this sweet yam dish with dinner and eggs in a nest for brunch! Thank you for these and all your wonderful recipes. Blessings to you and the family!
Thank you so much for trying this Terese and glad you liked the recipes!! Best regards to your family! We surely miss you!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, too!!
I have made this twice in the last couple of weeks. It’s a nice change from mashed sweet potatoes and can be made ahead. Delicious!
Thanks Susan! Glad you enjoyed this! It’s my favorite, too!
Looks amazing!
Will try this recipe, but with maple syrup du Québec!
That sounds delicious already!! Enjoy and hope you like it. 🙂
Do you use orange juice? Or the juice from the real orange?
You can use either.
The combination of flavors in this candied sweet potato casserole dish is great! Love it!
I love that you used fresh sweet potatoes and kept them in slices instead of mashing. This is a wonderful variation to the way I usually see sweet potato casserole.
Love this version! This candied sweet potato casserole will be great to bring to this year’s thanksgiving dinner!
I think this might be our new go to for Thanksgiving! It looks incredible and I can’t wait to try it!
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try this candied sweet potato casserole.
I really like how well you put this together. I love that you used sliced sweet potatoes instead of mashing them. Plus your flavors just take this to another level!
We love serving sweet potato casserole on Thanksgiving. I’ve never prepared it sliced before, but an excited to try! Your recipe looks delish!
I love that you can start with raw sweet potatoes in this recipe, it makes it so convenient. And that golden color is stunning, I think this will replace my regular sweet potato side this year 🙂
This is always my husband’s favorite dish at Thanksgiving! The flavor combo in this candied sweet potato casserole is so delicious.
What a lovely looking dish is this candied sweet potato casserole, perfect for sharing at a big family meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas!
This is a gorgeous dish. I’m putting it on the list for dishes this holiday season.