Say goodbye to the laborious task of preparing sweet potatoes and welcome a hybrid frozen/fresh dish that delivers the best of both worlds. This Sweet Potato Casserole transforms Trader Joe’s Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes into a star-studded side dish without sacrificing a homemade feel or the precious moments you want to spend cooking with your loved ones. So, let’s savor the simplicity of cooking without the fuss as we whip up a delightful food hack that’s as satisfying as it is time-efficient!
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I like to say our first time hosting Thanksgiving (2023) was brought to you by Trader Joe’s! We bought most of our food items from the beloved chain and it made cooking a lot easier than it could have been.
Trader Joe’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes have one ingredient: Sweet Potatoes! Despite being frozen, they felt guilt-free to me. And hey, I’m not going to complain about not having to peel, cook, and mash potatoes the hard way. These frozen pieces of mashed sweet potato heat into a creamy mash on the stove. We could have done that and called it a day, but I felt the urge to enhance the sweet potato dish and decided on making a sweet potato casserole.
How to Make Sweet Potato Casserole Using Trader Joe’s Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Don’t have time or don’t want to peel, cube, cook, and mash sweet potatoes? Trader Joe’s to the rescue! This sweet potato casserole is easy to make and most of the ingredients are ones you probably have in the house. Instead of marshmallows, it’s topped with a pecan crumb topping that is sweet and delicious. Want to save more time and cook ahead? You can refrigerate the filling in a covered container and store the topping in an air-tight container at room temperature. Sprinkle on the topping right before baking.
Disclosure: I am not a chef. I modified Food Network’s “The Best Sweet Potato Casserole” recipe to incorporate the Trader Joe’s ingredients and steps.
Measure the Quantity of Frozen Sweet Potato Pieces You Need
If you search for any sweet potato casserole recipe online you’ll find the first steps are peeling, cubing, cooking, and mashing the potatoes. I don’t know about you, but that would take me a really long time. The prep time on recipes never seems accurate for novice home cooks like me. Using Trader Joe’s Mashed Sweet Potatoes makes this step super easy since that prep is already done!
Each bag contains 1 lb. 2 oz. of frozen mashed sweet potato pieces, or a little over 2 large sweet potatoes. According to Evolving Table, a large sweet potato weighs approximately half a pound, a medium one weighs a third of a pound, and a small one weighs about a quarter of a pound.
You can use a kitchen scale to weigh out the pieces and get the exact weight you want. I ended up using almost 2 bags to equate to 1 lb. 12 oz of the frozen pieces, or 3-4 sweet potatoes.
Cook Frozen Sweet Potato Pieces per Instructions on Bag
This part is easy! Pour the frozen pieces onto the stove with a little bit of water and stir it constantly for about 10 minutes. The result is perfectly mashed sweet potatoes!
Mix-in the Filling Ingredients and Pour into Baking Dish
In a bowl, mix in the mashed potatoes, butter, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, and eggs. When it’s a smooth consistency, transfer to a buttered two-quart baking dish.
Make Topping
The topping of this easy sweet potato casserole is a brown sugar pecan mixture.
In another bowl, mix together the AP flour, brown sugar, butter, salt, and chopped pecans. When it is well-mixed, put it on top of the filling in an even layer.
Bake at 350F for 25 Minutes
Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 – 30 minutes until the center is mostly set and the top of the potatoes are golden.
We only have a single oven in which our turkey was roasting, but thankfully we recently purchased a Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro which acts as another oven. Thanksgiving would not have been so smooth without it! (Side note at time of posting: It is available for a Black Friday discount so order now for Christmas!).
Serve hot and enjoy the looks on everyone’s face when they try this creamy, sweet and delicious casserole!
Recipe Details
Sweet Potato Casserole using Trader Joe's Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Don't have time or don't want to peel, cube, cook, and mash sweet potatoes? Trader Joe's to the rescue! This sweet potato casserole is easy to make and most of the ingredients are ones you probably have in the house. Instead of marshmallows, it's topped with a pecan crumb topping that is sweet and delicious.
Kitchen Supplies Needed
- Two quart baking dish
- Large saucepan
- Kitchen scale
- Whisk or Spoon
- One large and one medium mixing bowl
Filling Ingredients
- 2 bags of Trader Joe’s Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (plus a little extra to butter the baking dish)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
Topping Ingredients
- 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
Directions
- Measure out 1 3/4 pounds of Trader Joe’s frozen mashed sweet potato pieces using a kitchen scale.
- Cook on stove to package directions. When done, move to a large mixing bowl.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a two-quart baking dish with butter.
- Mix together the mashed potatoes with the filling ingredients until the consistency is smooth. Transfer to the baking dish.
- Make the topping. Combine the flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt until the mixture it is mixed well and moist. Stir in the chopped pecans. Layer this mixture on top of the filling. Bake 25-30 minutes until the filling is mostly set in the center and appears golden on top (you can peak through the topping to see). Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Per Serving: 369 calories; 21 g fat; 43 g carbohydrates;
5 g protein; 79 mg cholesterol; 248 mg sodium.
Giving this a try or have other food hacks to share? Let us know in the comments below or in our Facebook group! The Purple Door Group on Facebook is your doorway to a vibrant and supportive community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about creativity, home decor, DIY projects, food/drink, crafts, and all things lifestyle.
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