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Pure, holiday goodness.
This is bar-none my FAVORITE food of the holiday season! Thanksgiving and Christmas are incomplete if I don’t get some sweet potato souffle. It’s sweet, velvety and full of nostalgic holiday flavors!
About this Recipe:
This side dish is a go-to favorite side dish amongst my entire extended family. It has been at every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner I can remember. Heck, we had it at most Easter dinners, too. So let’s just say… your holiday spread is woefully lacking if you don’t try out this recipe.
Now, I don’t know where it came from exactly. So I’m not saying that someone in my family created it, or that it’s a totally unique recipe that you won’t find anywhere else on the internet… But we’ve been using it for… gosh… probably the last 25+ years.
I remember being super-duper little (6-ish?) and excitedly calling it “cake!!” because it was my absolute favorite. (I guess my 6-year-old-brain associated it with dessert since it’s sweet, haha).
It’s so good. Like, really. You’ll be hoarding the leftovers for yourself and lying to your kids that it’s all gone… Trust me.
Now, some of you might see the word “souffle” and get scared. Don’t be. The word “souffle” is a bit misleading because it’s not that light and fluffy cake-type dish that deflates if made incorrectly. Honestly, I’m not sure why it’s called a souffle – probably something to do with the eggs and flour. (Again, I’m not sure where my family found this recipe decades ago). All I know is this recipe produces a dish that I can’t live without every year.
I’d describe this sweet potato dish as sweet, velvety, with a dash of cinnamon and a hint of almond extract (the “secret ingredient”). 😉 I say “velvety” because I think that word conveys the appropriate fluffy/creamy/whipped texture.
Tips about the Recipe:
Just like any recipe involving some form of “mashed potato”, it takes a little time to prep because you have to fully cooked the potatoes first. So the prep time includes about 40 minutes to boil the potatoes and 20 minutes to cool the potatoes and mix everything together. So you can be working on other things for the 40 minutes of boiling in between.
The best part of this dish is that you can make it ahead by days or weeks! Either keep it in the fridge (uncooked) a day or two before your holiday celebration, or FREEZE it (uncooked) for a few months!
Sidenote: Click here to check out my FAVORITE freezer-friendly quart containers on Amazon! I use these for everything (freezing soup, chili, homemade broth, pie filling, leftovers, etc.) My freezer has a few dozen of these in there at any given point in time.
Seriously, I make these sweet potatoes in double batches just to have some on hand in the freezer throughout the year. It’s SO worth the effort. Truly this recipe is worth it’s weight in gold.
If you do refrigerate or freeze it, just make sure it is close to room temperature before putting it in the oven – it helps it cook evenly. I usually set mine out on the counter about an hour before baking. If you don’t have time for that, you can put the COLD sweet potato souffle in a COLD oven and let the pre-heating process help take off the chill. You will probably also have to bake it an extra 10 minutes or so. The internal temperature should be 150+ degrees, if you feel like checking with a thermometer.
Almond Extract “Disclaimer”: I love almond extract, which will probably be a theme throughout some of my recipes. It must be used in moderation, though, or it can overpower everything. Always measure with a measuring spoon – don’t “eyeball it”. I only say this because I usually eyeball vanilla (it’s hard to over-do vanilla). But almond CAN be overdone. So measure.
Check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe card!
I hope you enjoy my family’s favorite holiday recipe, Sweet Potato Souffle! If you have questions, please comment below. As always, I would love feedback and your reviews of the recipe!
Sweet Potato Souffle
This is bar-none my FAVORITE food of the holiday season! Thanksgiving and Christmas are incomplete if I don’t get some sweet potato souffle. It’s sweet, velvety and full of nostalgic holiday flavors!
Ingredients
- 4 lb. Sweet Potatoes
- 1 Stick Butter, softened
- 1 c. Sugar
- 3 T. Flour
- 1 c. Milk
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 1 tsp. Almond Extract
- 4 Eggs
Topping:
- 3/4 c. Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon
Instructions
- Peel and cut sweet potatoes into small pieces. In a large pot, boil the potatoes until very soft. (Poke with fork, you know the drill.)
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sweet potatoes with a mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer, doesn't matter) until "mashed".
- Add butter, sugar, flour, milk, and extracts. Mix until combined.
- By now the mixture should be cool enough to add the eggs (1 at a time). Just make sure it's not so hot that the eggs will start to cook - you don't want scrambled eggs in your sweet potato souffle! Mix until combined.
- Pour mixture into a baking dish of your choice. Anything will work - a 9x14 pan, a large casserole dish, two small casserole dishes, a disposable aluminum pan, whatever.
- Mix together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top. (See notes for tip.)
- Bake in middle shelf of oven at 350 for 1 hour.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
Notes
- MAKE AHEAD: You can make this a day or two in advance and keep it in the fridge (uncooked). About an hour before baking, take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter so it can come up to room temperature. Then bake like normal. If you don’t have time for that, you can put the COLD sweet potato souffle in a COLD oven and let the pre-heating process help take off the chill. You will probably also have to bake it an extra 10 minutes or so. The internal temperature should be 150+ degrees, if you feel like checking with a thermometer.
- FREEZE: This freezes really well! Simply put the mixture (uncooked) in a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 6 months. I use disposable aluminum 9x13 pans, and also my FAVORITE plastic freezer-proof quart containers (that I then dump into a glass baking dish the day of baking). Defrost overnight in the fridge, then place on the counter an hour before baking so it can come to room temp. Bake like normal. (DO NOT BAKE FROM FROZEN.)
- Almond Extract Disclaimer: I love almond extract, which will probably be a theme throughout some of my recipes. It must be used in moderation, though, or it can overpower everything. Always measure with a measuring spoon – don’t “eyeball it”. I only say this because I usually eyeball vanilla (it’s hard to over-do vanilla). But almond CAN be overdone. So measure.
- Tip: I like to put half of the topping in the middle! Just put half the mixture in the pan, sprinkle half the topping, add remaining half of mixture, then finish with remaining topping. It's a sweet surprise in the middle!
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Nutrition Information
Yield 15 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 283Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 67mgSodium 122mgCarbohydrates 49gFiber 4gSugar 30gProtein 5g
This Nutritional information was calculated by Nutritionix.com based on the above ingredients list, and is provided as an estimation. Actual results may vary based on brands of ingredients and measurement accuracy.
