Recipe Background
It's sweet! It's savory! It's incredible! Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole is all the best stuff in one baking dish, hot and eager to get scooped up! The topping is crunchy — toasted pecans and succulent bacon bites in an aromatic crumble — while the filling is a creamy sweet potato mash enhanced with brown sugar and even a little bourbon for extra smoky flavor! Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole really brings home the bacon!
It's sweet! It's savory! It's incredible! Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole is all the best stuff in one baking dish, hot and eager to get scooped up! The topping is crunchy — toasted pecans and succulent bacon bites in an aromatic crumble — while the filling is a creamy sweet potato mash enhanced with brown sugar and even a little bourbon for extra smoky flavor! Bacon Sweet Potato Casserole really brings home the bacon!
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes scrubbed
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon chopped
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar divided
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups pecans roughly chopped
- 10 tablespoons salted butter melted, divided
- cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons sage freshly chopped, plus more, to taste, whole leaves, for garnish
- 2 teaspoons rosemary optional, freshly chopped
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons bourbon optional
- kosher salt to taste
- flaky sea salt optional, to taste, for garnish
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line a rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil.
- Using a fork, poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes.
- Place the sweet potaoes on the prepared baking pan and bake until they are tender, about 1 hour.
- Transfer the sweet potatoes to a cutting board and carefully slice them in half.
- Allow the sweet potatoes to cool.
- While the sweet potatoes cook, in a large skillet over medium heat, add the bacon pieces and cook, while stirring, until crisp, about 7-10 minutes.
- Transfer the bacon pieces to paper towels to drain.
- In a medium bowl, add 3/4 cup of the brown sugar, the flour, the pecans, 6 tablespoons of the melted butter, the cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons of the chopped sage, and the rosemary and stir to combine.
- Add the reserved bacon to the pecan mixture and stir to combine.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- Peel away the skins of the sweet potatoes.
- Add the flesh of the sweet potatoes to a mixing bowl and mash it well.
- Add the remaining brown sugar, the vanilla, the cinnamon, the milk, the remaining melted butter, the eggs, and the bourbon to the mashed sweet potatoes and fold to combine.
- Season the sweet potato mixture with the kosher salt.
- Spoon the sweet potato mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle the pecan mixture evenly over top of the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake until the pecans are toasted and the filling is heated through, about 35-40 minutes.
- Serve warm, garnished with the extra whole sage leaves and the flaky sea salt.
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