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
How many servings does this make?
It’s a 9×13 pan, so you can visualize that way- it just depends on how much people eat. In general I’d say it’s enough for 8-12, depending on if they are adults/kids etc.
Can you do this in one of the 9×13 crockpots? My oven is way overbooked tomorrow ????
I saved this recipe back in 2010 and it’s still going strong in our house!!! I make them every Thanksgiving (and other special occasions!) My husband LOVES these potatoes. We are extra naughty and add marshmallows on top once it’s baked. A few minutes under the broiler and they are toasty marshmallow goodness!!! Thank you for this recipe – it’s now a tradition!!
I have doubled the recipe in hopes that I can freeze one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Would you recommend I cook it first w/out the topping and then freeze them. Then I can put the topping on when I bake it. Also, do you think they can be cooked from frozen for a longer time or would you recommend defrosting them first?
Thank you. I make this every year. This year I want to be less stressed and thought I would try freezing.
You could honestly do it any of those ways. I’ve never tried it so I’m not positive, but I would probably freeze pre-baked, thaw in the fridge overnight, and then bake per normal instructions. Let me know how it turns out!
Holy Mackerel! This recipe is the Holy Grail of sweet potato casserole recipes! Our search for the perfect recipe has come to an end!
I just made these for a Christmas dinner in London, England where we are living for 18 months, and where sweet potato casseroles are pretty much unheard of. They were a big hit!
Our family loves the Goodwood restaurant sweet potatoes and we’ve been searching for a recipe that was a good copy but I LOVE this even better! We tripled the casserole portion of the recipe and it worked great. We did add extra topping because it was for Christmas after all!
I will now FIND reasons to make these scrumdilyicious sweet potatoes! Thank you!
I just wanted you to know that I’ve made these every year since you posted them. I’ve always loved sweet potatoes, and these are by far my favorite that I’ve ever had. I’ll never go back! Happy Thanksgiving!
I know this is an old post, but I just made these for T-day 2016 and they were delicious and a HUGE hit. Will definitely make again. Followed your lead & doubled the topping. Yummy!!
We made these this year for the first time and everyone loved them!
For those who are thinking of cutting back even more on the sugar -we left it and the sweetened condensed milk out of the whipped potatoes part completely. Oven roasted sweet potatoes with the called for butter, vanilla and eggs was plenty sweet enough. (ok, I added 1/2 t salt) For the topping I kept the sugar the same but upped the coconut to 2 cups.
Made these today and you weren’t joking. These are a new family tradition. Going to have them at Christmas too.
I’m tempted to add pumpkin pie spice and call it a dessert.
Also, how about using the leftover condensed milk with the coconut for the topping instead of the brown sugar and butter???