My Holiday Hidden Gem: The Best Keto Sweet Potato Casserole

Jump to Recipe

A keto sweet potato casserole topped with a brown sugar almond flour cookie with crunchy pecans on top of a sweet potato alternative filling

Beside the turkey and cranberry sauce you see it. You’ve waited eleven months for a bite of that pecan topping. The showdown between you and your uncle who has already had too much to drink of who gets first dibs.

Sweet potato casserole is a must have at the table. Ruth Chris really cracked the code with their recipe, now you have your very own keto version.

I’ve prepared keto meals over 10 year now. There are tricks I’m going to share with you now. You’ll have your family thinking this keto diet and it’s recipes aren’t too bad. Keto sweet potato casserole can be made in shorter time than a sweet potato version. Let’s see how and don’t miss my tips to avoid any problems below.

How To Make Keto Sweet Potato Casserole

Check for these ingredients first

• Head of cauliflower
• Canned Pumpkin
• Butter
• Granulated Sweetener
• Vanilla Extract
• Salt
• Liquid Monk Fruit
• Eggs
• Besti Brown Sugar
• Blanched Almond Flour
• Pecans

Helpful Recipe Tips You Need To Know

• Cauliflower size, this is crucial because this determines how much water is left in the casserole. From experience I found water to be an issue. Along with the pumpkin which I will speak about below. Not only would my blog followers experience a casserole that didn’t set properly, so did I. I found the smallest cauliflower worked best to keep the water content down while baking.
• Pumpkin puree, a method that I learned was to press the excess water from the pumpkin with a paper towel. This did wonders for the recipe. To do this, place the pumpkin in a bowl. Then, grab some folder paper towels and press on top of the pumpkin allowing the paper towel to absorb the excess water. Do this a few times until you get the majority of it, you won’t get it all. This allows the texture for the casserole dish.
• Cover or not to cover? Honestly, this doesn’t matter. What you must know is the casserole cooks slower than the top. You either cook the casserole first then add the topping later. Or, add everything together and cover the baking dish for the first half of the cook.
• Watch the sweetness, I personally like to use liquid monk fruit to strengthen the sweetness in the bottom portion. For a sensitive pallet the top is more than enough sweet for the entire dish.
• Ice cream topping, a trick I learned at Ruth Chris was topping the casserole with vanilla ice cream. This recipe is modeled after that version and if you have had the pleasure of having it, it’s almost more of a dessert than a savory dish. Enjoy!

A simple process to follow…

1. First, chop and wash the head of cauliflower. Boil until fork tender. Floret should easily be pierced by the fork. Then, drain excess water and place in food processor to blend until smooth. Example in video.
2. Now, add in pureed pumpkin, butter, keto sweetener (not Besti), vanilla extract, salt and liquid sweetener. Everything will blend smoothly.
3. Place the mix to the side. Begin making the brown sugar pecan crusted topping.
4. Now, melt the butter and mix it with the Besti brown sugar and almond flour. When finished, add in the pecans.
5. Pour keto sweet potato casserole base into a baking dish. Then, sprinkle pecan topping across the top. Now cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, remove the foil. Now bake an additional 30 minutes to allow the topping to brown.
7. Allow to cool before serving.

A note about storage

When storing the keto sweet potato casserole you can treat as any other dish. However, cauliflower and pumpkin have a high water content. Meaning, you will see water in the bottom as it cools and some when reheating.

This will not effect taste!

The crust won’t get crispy after reheating as well. Placing the casserole in an airtight storage container you can freeze it for a few months. In the refrigerator, it’ll keep 3-5 days depending on how fresh the cauliflower was.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why you can’t have sweet potatoes on keto.

The reason for this substitute is sweet potatoes are loaded with carbs. Yes, they may be slow digesting and they are fibrous. Adding in the total net carbs, sweet potatoes are 23g net carbs for a cup of them cubed per source. That’s actually not a lot when looking at the full scope of things.

But, in the world of keto you are only allowed 20g net carbs daily!

So in order to stay under that number the amount you could eat safely simply wouldn’t be worth the time. This is where the pumpkin comes in to play to give that delicious flavor that’s very similar to it’s cousin the sweet potato. To note, I have no idea if they are cousins or not but they taste very similar.

Conclusion: Sweet potatoes are not keto friendly. Yes, you could do “if it fits your macros” but you wouldn’t have enough to really enjoy them as you would like.

Could I use sweet potatoes as a base instead of cauliflower?

Yes, you can and the recipe would stay the same minus 1 egg due to the fiber in the sweet potato. I actually did just that this past Thanksgiving and loved it. I will note that real sweet potato will rise a little so leave space at the top of the casserole pan. That will make the recipe a low carb sweet potato casserole because you’ll still use that almond flour topping over traditional flour.

Will Swerve work instead of Besti?

Yes you can use Swerve brown sugar. But note, Swerve uses erythritol which has a cooling after taste. This will give the topping a possible minty aftertaste that Besti doesn’t do because it uses allulose. This is why I stick with sweeteners that have no aftertaste.

Before you go…

• Wow your family with these Thanksgiving side dishes
• Classic Thanksgiving recipes perfect for keto

My Holiday Hidden Gem: The Best Keto Sweet Potato Casserole

I can’t believe it’s not a keto sweet potato cauliflower casserole? With the amazing flavor of sweet potatoes and a touch of sweetness, a great keto holiday dish! All from pumpkin puree and cauliflower.

4.63 from 8 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Course Appetizer, Dessert, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 9 serving

Calories 243.6 kcal

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

Keto sweet potato cauliflower casserole

• 1 head small head cauliflower (see notes below)
• 1 cup Canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (8 TB or full stick)
• 3/4 cup granulated sweetener
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon liquid monk fruit (optional, see notes below)
• 3 large Eggs

Brown sugar pecan crust

• 1/2 cup Besti Brown Sugar Sweeneter (can use Swerve as well 1:1)
• 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter (4 TB)

Instructions

 

sweet potato cauliflower bottom

• Chop and wash head of cauliflower then boil to fork tender. Should be so tender it its falling off the fork and easily pierced.
• Drain then add cauliflower into food processor and grind into a smooth puree
• Now combine mashed cauliflower, pumpkin puree, melted butter, granulated sweetener, vanilla extract, salt, liquid stevia and eggs together
• Prepare the topping by follow instructions below and preheat oven to 350ºF

brown sugar pecan crust

• Melt butter
• Combine with Besti brown sugar, blanched almond flour, and butter. Then add pecans to finish
• Add the topping to the cauliflower casserole. Place crumbles throughout as evenly as possible
• Option 1: Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil then bake and additional 20-30 minutes until crust browns. I like a darker crust so I normally go the entire 30 extra minutes but ovens vary.
• Option 2: Place casserole in preheated oven without the pecan topping for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove and add the topping then place back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

Video

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

My Holiday Hidden Gem: The Best Keto Sweet Potato Casserole

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 243.6 Calories from Fat 204

% Daily Value*

Fat 22.7g35%

Saturated Fat 10.6g66%

Trans Fat 0.6g

Cholesterol 102.8mg34%

Sodium 44.4mg2%

Carbohydrates 7.3g2%

Fiber 3.1g13%

Sugar 2.7g3%

Protein 5.4g11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword Keto Sweet Potato Casserole

Tried this recipe?Leave a rating and comment, thank you