This recipe was passed onto me by my Aunt Barb and she told me she first remembers eating it at her aunt’s home for Thanksgiving when she was a little girl. So it’s been in our family for over 60 years! When something has been around for that long and people are still making it, you know it’s good! Not a single Thanksgiving goes by without this dish on our table.
Ingredients Needed
Sweet Potatoes
- Mashed sweet potatoes – Canned or freshly steamed/baked.
- Granulated sugar
- Butter – Use real butter.
- Eggs
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Vanilla
Topping
- Brown sugar
- Sweetened coconut flakes
- Butter
How to Make Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes
- You’ll mix up sweet potatoes, butter, a little sugar, vanilla, eggs (I know what you’re thinking: this is sounding like pie) and the secret ingredient, sweetened condensed milk. Spread that out in a casserole dish.
- Now the topping. OH THE TOPPING. In my family, we always double the topping. Three simple ingredients that are oh so amazing when they get all caramelized in the oven: Coconut, brown sugar, and butter.
- Sprinkle that on top. Seriously guys this whole recipe takes less than 10 minutes to whip up.
- Bake it for about 40 minutes and the potatoes puff up and the topping turns into heaven. They’re kiiiiinda amazing. Chances are if you try them once, they’ll become a tradition!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover, cooled sweet potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- FYI, if you only want to make a half-batch, I like to put in an 8×8 pan or pie plate (which is actually what I’m doing in these photos) then those mini cans of sweetened condensed milk are the exact amount you need- just one mini can. I show a picture of the mini cans in this post. Also refer to that post if you make a full batch, and you’re wondering how to use the other half of that can of sweetened condensed milk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yep! You can prep all the way through baking up to the day before and store, tightly covered, in the fridge until ready to bake. I like to store the topping in a separate container just to avoid the brown sugar “melting” into the potatoes. Note that baking time will need to be increased if the pan is coming from the fridge. I like to let mine sit out for 30 minutes or so before popping in the oven to let everything come a little closer to room temperature. I’ve also tested placing the topping on and freezing immediately before baking. I put them straight from the freezer into the oven and while I think they’re a little better thawed first, it worked just fine!
While I have never done it personally, I know they make sweetened condensed coconut milk, dairy free butter and egg substitutes that would probably work. Feel free to give it a try! If you do, come back and leave a comment on this post with how it turned out.
Yes! We love adding 1/2 cup or so chopped pecans to these sweet potatoes.
Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes
- 2 29 oz cans sweet potatoes drained or 4 cups mashed fresh, cooked sweet potatoes
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter very soft, or melted
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- ½ of a 14 ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk about 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Topping (If you're feeling extra you can double or 1.5x this part…)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups sweetened coconut flakes
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13" pan with cooking spray or a little butter.
- Add drained sweet potatoes to mixing bowl and mash with a fork. It's okay if it's not completely smooth.
- Add sugar, butter, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla to bowl and mix with an electric mixer until creamy. It's okay for it to still have chunks of sweet potatoes. Add mixture to prepared pan and spread out evenly.
- Mix topping ingredients together until everything is incorporated and sprinkle over sweet potatoes.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until topping is golden brown. and potatoes are bubbly and hot.
Notes
- If you’d like, you can add 1/2 cup chopped pecans to the topping mix before baking.
- MAKE AHEAD: Place potato mixture in pan, cover well, and store in fridge for 1-2 days before baking. Place topping in a separate container, assemble right before cooking.
- FREEZE AHEAD: Place potato mixture in pan and freeze before baking. Mix topping and store in a separate container or zip top bag. Thaw everything in fridge 1-2 days before baking and add topping before you place it in the oven. I’ve also tested assembling completely and placing the pan frozen into the oven. You’ll want to cover for the first 30 minutes of cooking and then uncover and cook a little extra. I prefer thawing first, but this also worked!
- STORE: store leftover, cooled sweet potatoes in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- FYI, if you only want to make a half-batch, I like to put in an 8×8 pan or pie plate then those mini cans of sweetened condensed milk are the exact amount you need- just one mini can.
Questions & Reviews
I want to try these this year, but I’m a little hesitant because of the lack of seasoning (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc that seems to commonly show up in these kinds of recipes). However, I also know you guys have never failed me before, so I’m INCHING towards trying them. You promise they’re good and don’t need that other stuff????
PROMISE. Best ever!!
Can I make these the day ahead and then put in the oven on Thanksgiving?
Yes, absolutely!
My sister-in-law made a recipe similar to this at Thanksgiving this year, and it was great! I usually don’t care for the candied sweet potatoes, but that coconut in the topping makes all the difference! Also, hers had chopped pecans in the topping as well, which I really liked. I actually had another helping of the sweet potatoes instead of cake for dessert.
I doubt you will see this to answer my question before tomorrow (yes I am a late planner this year lol) but what would happen if I added green apples to this is small cubes and cubed the sweet potato instead of mashed?? I also thought of pecans…any thoughts?
So I decided to give it a go and whip these babies up for Thanksgiving dinner. Why not try a new recipe out on a crowd, right? I mean, go big or go home! So the verdict? They were amazing! I got so many complements and recipe requests. Thank you ladies for posting such tasty yet achievable recipes. You are by far my number one go to for recipes. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Oh man. I only made a half recipe, and it was TOTALLY worth opening a whole can of sweetened condensed milk (besides, I’m totally eyeballing that hot fudge. mmm). I was a bit scant with the sugar but made up for it by accidentally adding about a third of the can instead of a quarter – but I still didn’t think the actual sweet potatoes were too sweet. However, with that crispy chewy delicious topping, it really was a treat. Soooooooooo delicious. Thank you for this winner. And next time I’ll probably make it with canned potatoes! (Because there WILL be a next time…)
THESE ARE SO GOOD! I made them for the first time today for Thanksgiving, and everyone loved them, sweet potato haters included! My husband already requested these for Christmas dinner.
My turkey is brining right now in your amazing recipe!! And I am so making these for tomorrow! Thanks for the tip Kate in the comments about making them ahead of time and then storing in the refrigerator! I am so excited!!! Happy Thanksgiving Ladies! xo
I make sweet potatoes like this, but I cut them into chunks, then toss them with the coconuts, nuts, butter. I think I’m going I’m going to try it this way this year and see what the family thinks. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
I don’t buy coconut often but is sweetened coconut flakes what I would normally find in the baking isle of the store? I guess I’ve never notice if the bag says “sweetened” or not. Thanks!!! this sounds so good. I’d like to add pecans to the topping!!!