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…
- 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.
- Now, add in pureed pumpkin, butter, keto sweetener (not Besti), vanilla extract, salt and liquid sweetener. Everything will blend smoothly.
- Place the mix to the side. Begin making the brown sugar pecan crusted topping.
- Now, melt the butter and mix it with the Besti brown sugar and almond flour. When finished, add in the pecans.
- 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.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, remove the foil. Now bake an additional 30 minutes to allow the topping to brown.
- 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…
My Holiday Hidden Gem: The Best Keto Sweet Potato Casserole
Equipment
- 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish
Ingredients
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.
Absolutely delicious!!!!
I thought it was awesome! I needed a sweet potatoe casserole for Thanksgiving. I didnt want to go Keto and not be able to enjoy the holidays. now I can with my favorite side. Sweet potatoe casserole AKA “I cant believe its not a sweet potatoe casserole, cauliflower casserole”. Thank you for sharing….
Sarah
During this Thanksgiving season I have made it twice so far. I love this recipe and each time I make it I try something slightly different to see if I can get it even better. So far I’ve failed, the original reigns supreme but when I do I will update this lol
Could you please provide the nutritional information for this recipe? Thank you!
Yes! I created on just for you. It’s up there now.
What an amazing creation! Tested it for the family as a diabetic friendly substitution for candied yams. Oh my gosh. Not only delicious, but easy to prepare. Keep up the great work!
Question: when recipe says drain cauli, is it drain in a strainer, or drain through cheesecloth like I’m making mashed cauli? Excited to make this!!
Drain the cauliflower in a strainer. Also be mindful about the sweetness, If you like a sweeter product then stick with it. If sensitive lower it to your liking.
Question – ingredients note pumpkin purée. Should that be sweet potato purée or is the pumpkin substituted?
It’s canned pumpkin thanks I will clarify
So pumped to make this! Is there another substitute for the liquid monk fruit?
liquid stevia, allulose but you can skip it. The recipe is sweet as it is. It will just be less sweet. I modeled it after Ruth Chris’ and theirs is ridiculously sweet
What temp do you bake it? Maybe I missed it somewhere.
350ºF sorry I am glad someone said something
Have you tried freezing this of so hot? And how do you reheat?
Any estimate on how much a serving is in grams? Also, can frozen cauliflower be used? If so, how much? For the 3/4 cup granulated sweetener in the bottom is that white or brown sugar substitute?
How much is a serving in grams? Can you use frozen cauliflower? If so, how much?
Can this be made a day or 2 ahead without the topping until ready to bake?
Yes, you could bake them separately. Bake the bottom then later on add the top in and bake it. That’s the whole point of covering it up is because they bake separately.
I’ve never tried frozen. In grams I wouldn’t know because there are too many variables. Any nutrition fact is going to be a ball park range so I did the best I could with what Cronometer gave me. That way it’s as close to accurate as possible for you guys.
In the bottom portion that would be white. I am late with seeing this but I answered your other questions in your newer comment. Thank you for your time by the way and I am sorry for the late response.
I’ve reheated in the microwave only. But, on a low setting like 300 degrees would be great to heat it through without overcooking the top crust if you wanted to try in the oven.
My family loved this casserole! I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the recipe, but followed everything else as listed. It’s hard to believe that cauliflower is in this. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I made this for Thanksgiving. I thought it was good. I used about 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin because that was what I had left from a large can. I had cooked my cauliflower ahead of thanksgiving and put it in the freezer. I thawed it out and used paper towels to try and get the water out. I put it all in food processor and blended it all. I added a small amount of whipping cream. Just a couple of tablespoons. I made the topping as it said. I thought the topping was too sweet but the bottom part was good. Together it was good and I could not tell it was cauliflower. Some people really liked it that could not tell what was in it.
Overall it was a good substitute for the sweet potato casserole. Next time I will use less brown sugar substitute in the topping. I had no problem with it being watery in the bottom part. I had some leftover for a couple of days that I ate and it was just like the first day.
Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely make it again.
Hello I want to used sweet potato as the base instead of. Cauliflower. How many sweet potatoes do I use? I want to make this for our New Years Day Dinner.
Sorry, I am just seeing this. I did that for Thanksgiving one year and I used about 3 sweet potatoes. Taste for everything and leave room at the top because it will rise a little.
Darius, your recipe was amazing. I served this with thick, seared pork chops and creamed spinach (your comment above about Ruth Chris put me in that steakhouse beat). Seriously great and did not miss the yams or sweet potatoes. I steam-microwaved my cauliflower without water and added maybe a teaspoon of coconut flour to the wet mix. There was no water at all after baking and the remaining portions individually frozen. This was a hit with me and my husband..thank you!!
Ok….did I miss it? If I did, I apologize…..what size pan/casserole dish, please?
8×8 or 9×9 square dish, I am going to check to see if it’s missing from the instructions, thank you!