Cranberry Sweet Potato Casserole
Cranberry sweet potato casserole is our updated take on candied sweet potatoes with the sweet and tart flavors of orange, cranberry, and cinnamon sugar. It’s a delicious change from the traditional marshmallow casserole for holiday dinners.
This cranberry sweet potato casserole is somewhere between scalloped potatoes and candied sweet potatoes. We love sweet potatoes and while the traditional sweet potato casserole with marshmallows or plain old baked sweet potatoes are delicious we like stepping it up a little during the holidays.
For this dish we cut the sweet potatoes into thin slices like you would for scalloped potatoes and then baked them with fresh cranberries, orange, and cinnamon sugar that creates this amazing juice for them to cook in just like traditional candied sweet potatoes.
The key is spooning some of that extra liquid over them when you make your plate.
Seriously guys, you’re going to love our updated take on this casserole!
Prefer white potatoes? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered with our amazing Not Your Mom’s Mashed Potatoes (and an Instant Pot version) or loaded au gratin potatoes.
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Need some help with Thanksgiving Dinner? Make sure to check out our Thanksgiving Dinner for 4-6 people meal plan with recipe and tips on making items ahead of time and the best way to serve them.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need for this delicious recipe.
- Sweet potatoes – In this recipe, we use 32 ounces. The size of a sweet potato can vary greatly, so we’ve given you a weight measurement. You may need slightly more or less. You want to create approximately 3 layers of sliced sweet potatoes in your casserole dish, so we find it’s easiest to buy a few more than you think you’ll need and then see what it takes to fill your dish. If you have extras, save them to make sweet potato casserole with marshmallows or simple Instant Pot sweet potatoes for a weeknight dinner.
- Butter – You can use salted or unsalted.
- Brown Sugar – You could use keto brown sugar if you prefer, but regular light or dark brown sugar works for this recipe.
- Cinnamon – You can use whatever brand of ground cinnamon you prefer.
- Orange juice and zest – Start by zesting your orange/ This is easy to do using a microplane or fine grater on the peel of an orange. You’ll squeeze the juice of the zested orange into a small bowl.
- Fresh Cranberries – You should be able to find these during the holiday season in the fresh produce section.
- Pecans – You can use whole or halved nuts.
Hosting a small gathering for the holidays this year? Check out our post on The Best Way to Cook Turkey Breast for Thanksgiving Dinner for 3 ways to make a juicy turkey!
Instructions
To easily make this casserole, follow these steps:
Step 1 – Prep the oven and dish.
To start, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. As it heats, grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with a bit of non-stick spray or softened butter.
Step 2 – Prep the zest and potatoes. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and orange zest.
Squeeze the zested orange, saving the juices in a small bowl. Set aside.
Next, toss the sweet potato slices in the melted butter making sure they are coated.
Step 3 – Layer the potatoes in the dish. Lay a single layer of the sweet potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle with ⅓ of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Next, place a second layer of sweet potato slices over the first one, covering the gaps in the first layer. Sprinkle with ⅓ of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Finish with a third and final layer of sweet potato slices on top. Pour the orange juice over the potatoes and then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.
Step 4 – Cover and bake.
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 60 minutes. After 60 minutes remove the foil and sprinkle the pecans over the potatoes.
Continue baking for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
When they have finished baking, remove from the oven and then let them cool for 10 minutes. Serve with the liquid in the dish spooned over the potatoes.
Toast Your Pecans for Added Flavor
For a touch of added flavor, you can toast your pecans before adding them to the casserole.
To do this, toss the pecans in about a teaspoon of oil and about a ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in your oven set to 350 degrees for about 7 to 10 minutes.
How to Make it Ahead of Time
To save some time on the day of your gathering or dinner, you can make this casserole ahead of time.
For best results, cook, allow it to cool completely, and then store in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for up to 5 days.
To reheat in the oven, cover them in foil and allow them to bake at 350F for 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.
Looking for More Thanksgiving Side Dishes?
- Cheesy Broccoli Casserole Recipe
- Southern Cornbread Dressing
- Creamed Corn Casserole {Corn Pudding}
- Stovetop Creamed Corn
- Keto Green Bean Casserole
- Cheesy Baked Zucchini Casserole {Keto}
- Overnight Refrigerator Yeast Rolls
- Creamy Cranberry Salad {Cranberry Fluff}
- More Thanksgiving Sides…
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Cranberry Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 32 ounces Sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/4″ thick slices, see note #1
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 Orange , zested and juiced
- 3/4 cup Fresh Cranberries
- 1/3 cup Pecans, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with a little non-stick spray or softened butter.
- In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and orange zest.
- Toss the sweet potato slices in the melted butter. Lay a single layer of the sweet potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the layer with ⅓ of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Place a second layer of sweet potato slices covering the gaps in the first layer. Sprinkle the layer with ⅓ of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Finish with a third layer of sweet potato slices on top.
- Pour the orange juice over the potatoes and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture on top.
- Scatter the cranberries on top of the sweet potatoes
- Cover the dish with foil and place in the oven to bake for 60 minutes.
- After 60 minutes remove the foil and sprinkle the pecans over the top of the potatoes. Continue baking for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
- When they have finished baking, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- The size of a sweet potato can vary greatly so we’ve given you a weight measurement. You may need more or less. You want to create approximately 3 layers of sliced sweet potatoes in your casserole dish so we find it’s easiest to buy a few more than you think you’ll need and then see what it takes to fill your dish. If you have extras save them to make sweet potato casserole with marshmallows or simple Instant Pot sweet potatoes for a weeknight dinner.
Nutrition
The marshmallows look like they just disappear – is that right? I don’t see any after it’s done.. do they just make it looked glazed? It looks beautiful but looks a little soupy, too?
The marshmallows do just bake into the potatoes. They still add a nice sweetness. If you’d like to have some toasted marshmallows you can just add them in the last 5 minutes. The sauce just glazes the potatoes and there will be some soup sauce in the bottom. We just ladled it right over the potatoes. It is delicious!
Thanks for replying, Kat! I have a dress rehearsal Thanksgiving meal this Friday and I think this will be my recipe to rehearse.
Let me know how they turn out!
Would this do well to make the day before and reheat?
Kat, my casserole turned out beautiful! It was so pretty w/the cranberries and pomegranates. My marshmallows roasted instead of glazing the sweet potatoes – probably because I was running late and put the oven on 425 instead of 400. It cooked in 30 minutes. I used half butter and 1/2 coconut oil to coat the sweet potatoes just because I’m cooking w/ coconut oil more these days. I only used 1/2 the orange for juice and added about 1 teaspoon of orange marmalade to the juice because I was concerned it would be too soupy. I used a little bit less brown sugar. It was good and everyone loved it. I think it’s a keeper. I’m going to definitely make it for Thanksgiving. I got 2 requests for the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful recipe! Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m SOOOO happy to hear it turned out well and everyone liked it. Thank you so much for checking back in. It always makes my day when someone enjoys a recipe as much as we did.
I’m wondering w/Rani if it could be cooked the day before and reheated in the microwave for Thanksgiving. I have an hour & a half drive. I will say I didn’t get to taste my casserole until it was cooled down – I was the last in line and it was still very tasty. So….
This is my new way to make sweet potatoes!!! They are super fragrant and not too sweet!
Yay! So glad you liked them.
These sweet potatoes are one of my families favorite during the holiday season.
What kind of cranberries did you use? Fresh, dry or from a can?
Fresh cranberries!
Do you soak the cranberries or use just dry cranberries. Maybe you mean dried like a raisin type cranberry??
Hi Paula, we used whole, fresh cranberries. They cook down and mix with the sugar, it’s delicious!
DO YOU BOIL THE CRANBERRIES
No you add the fresh cranberries to the potatoes before placing the dish in the oven. They cook along with the sweet potatoes
Do the potatoes get soft/tender enough?
Yes they are nice and soft. Make sure to cut them 1/4 inch.
Would this hold up making it the day before and just reheating in the oven?
Hi Amanda, I think that would be fine! I find that potatoes (sweet or regular) are the easiest thing to reheat.
Can this be frozen after it’s baked and then reheated on the dinner day?
I’m sorry I haven’t tried freezing this recipe so I’m not certain.
How beautiful! I’d love to try this – I suppose I could use walnuts instead of pecans?
Definitely!
Wondering can I make this ahead of time and just refrigerate for a day or 2 before baking?
I’ve never tried that so I’m really not sure if it would work BUT sweet potatoes are usually pretty good reheated so it night work.
This was a big hit for Thanksgiving. It makes a beautiful dish. Followed receipe exactly with no issues. It’s very easy to make. I will definitely be making this again.
This dish is fantastic! It was a perfect addition to the meal!
I did make a couple of adjustments when I made it… I used four sweet potatoes and did four layers sprinkling two tablespoons of brown sugar per layer. In my opinion, while the pomegranate arils are pretty I don’t feel they’re necessary and seem to be a bit overpowering in taste and texture for this dish.
Will definitely be making this again!
Elizabeth, question for you please.
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! I will be making it again for Christmas but will need to double and do four layers . Did you have to bake it longer?? Thanks!
I would advise against doubling and making 4 layers. It will get mushy. You can make two separate dishes. We tried this for Thanksgiving last week and it completely changed the texture of the sweet potatoes. It became more like mashed sweet potatoes. Hope this helps!
Thanks!
OMG! I am not normally one to write comments but this is just amazing! I made this for my family for thanksgiving this year and it was my favorite dish! Perfectly sweet and just absolutely delicious. I was gonna make my moms traditional mashed sweet potato casserole but came across this recipe and decided to try it out instead and it was such a good decision. You will not regret this dish for any holiday meal.
I’m confused by the comments referring to marshmallows and pomegranates in the recipe! Has this recipe been updated from a previous one?
Yes! We recently updated the recipe. If you’d like to add marshmallows you can sprinkle them on in the last 5 minutes of baking and pull the casserole out of the oven once the marshmallows are toasted. You can garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds before serving.