Sweet potato casserole with a brown sugar pecan topping is a staple at every holiday dinner! Get all warm and cozy and dive into this delicious dish.

Hallmark Movie Sweet Potato Casserole
Okay raise your hand if you love (outwardly or secretly) Hallmark movies? Greg and I both love putting on a good Hallmark movie and turning on the fireplace and feeling all Christmas-y. We also like to laugh at how many of the movies have similar themes in them. Trey Kennedy has a good spoof if you’re interested in laughing some more. Some of the themes we have noticed are an old flame appears, hot cocoa, unexpectedly running into the love interest (usually literally), a tree lighting ceremony, it’s snowing!, almost kissing many times but not until the final credits roll, small town, etc. There is also the familiar theme of making a family recipe together too! That’s where today’s casserole comes in.
This recipe is from Hallmark movie star, Nikki DeLoach. You can see her making the recipe here with her mom and sister. Sweet potato casserole is a staple at most every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and I insist that as you make it you put a Hallmark movie on in the background!
I am a sucker for a good sweet potato casserole. My grandma used to make one with apples in it. I’m probably the only person that would choose the sweet potato casserole over the mashed potatoes! But they are my favorite. I do love the leftovers too. I hope you love the brown sugar pecan topping as much as we did! You may even want to double the topping…it is really good!
Ingredients you’ll need to make sweet potato casserole…
- Sweet potatoes
- White sugar
- Kosher salt
- Egg
- Butter
- Sour cream–or plain yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Flour
- Brown sugar
- Pecans
Basic Steps
- Prepare sweet potatoes: Peel your sweet potatoes and place them into your Instant Pot that has water and a trivet in the bottom. You may need to cut some of the potatoes in half so that they will all fit in the pot.
- Pressure cook the sweet potatoes
- Mash the sweet potatoes and stir them together with white sugar, salt, egg, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.
- Make the topping by stirring the softened butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans together.
- Bake the casserole
- Eat and enjoy!

Notes/Tips
- Do I have to use my oven? If you’re out of oven space (think Thanksgiving day) you may want to make this from start to finish in the Instant Pot. If you have an air fryer lid* you can do that. Instead of spreading the mashed sweet potato mixture into a baking dish spread it into the bottom of your Instant Pot liner (discard the water first). Air fry at 300° F for 15 minutes. Then add the pecan topping. Use your air fryer lid at 300° F degrees for 5-10 minutes, or until topping is browned. Serve and enjoy!
- Serve as a side dish to your holiday dinner of turkey or ham.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in an 8 quart pot.
- To double this recipe, double the ingredients but not the cooking time or the water underneath the trivet. Bake in a 9×13 inch dish.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with pecans are Instant Pot Cranberry Apple Pecan Rice Pilaf and Instant Pot Neiman Marcus Chicken.

Try these other Holiday Recipes…
Instant Pot Bone-In Turkey Breast
This recipe has just 3 main ingredients and can be cooked from start to finish in less than an hour. Plus you can make gravy with the drippings.
Instant Pot Caramel Apple Pecan Cobbler
Tart apples, chopped pecans and gooey caramel, topped with a delicious cobbler topping and then drizzled with more caramel. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a perfect fall dessert.
Slow Cooker Holiday Mashed Potatoes
If you’re in charge of making the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving/Christmas you’ll want to save this recipe! For ultimate ease and as a stove-top space saver these potatoes are made in the slow cooker. They’re totally flavorful thanks to the Parmesan cheese, bacon and fresh thyme. These potatoes are an extra special touch to your holiday dinner.
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.


Sweet Potato Casserole
- Prep Time: 25
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Sweet potato casserole with a brown sugar pecan topping is a staple at every holiday dinner! Get all warm and cozy and dive into this delicious dish.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 egg
- 4 Tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
For the topping
- 2 Tbsp softened butter
- 2 heaping Tbsp of flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Pour 1 ½ cups of water into bottom of Instant Pot. Place a trivet into the Instant Pot. Place washed sweet potatoes into the pot. You make have to cut some in half to fit them all into the pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 20 minutes. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Place the sweet potatoes into a bowl. Mash them until they are smooth.
- Stir the white sugar, salt, egg, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon into the sweet potatoes. Spread the mixture into a 8×8 inch baking dish.
- Make the topping by stirring the softened butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potatoes.
- Bake the casserole for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Keep warm until ready to serve. Eat and enjoy!
- Category: Side
- Method: Instant Pot and Oven
Keywords: Thanksgiving

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
This was spectacular! We used it as a dessert 😃 It didn’t last long! 💕
★★★★★
was wondering if I should double the topping as it looks a little sparse in the pics. Would that be to much?
I love the topping and think it would be great doubled!
Great! I will be back when I cook this for Thanksgiving to rate it!
wonderful recipe! I did double the topping and I was told that this was the best sweet potato casserole she had ever had!
★★★★★
oh that is so great! Thanks for letting me know how it went 🙂
I’m with your thoughts Karen on Hallmark movies. They pretty much all have the same theme but for some reason they’re still fun to watch. Every movie one watches doesn’t have to have a dark theme and deep meaning. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy something light.
I agree! The world has so many problems sometimes it’s nice just to watch something light and that you know will end happy!