A wonderful side dish combining seasonal butternut squash with sweet potato and a praline topping, perfect for the holidays.
Praline Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Casserole
Try adding this combination of sweet potatoes with butternut squash to your holiday menu. We have a pretty short window of availability for any kind of winter squash in the south, and butternut barely gets a passing glance in the grocery stores here. Given that, it isn't a squash that I have experimented with much. One thing I did find, however, was that I was not too wild about it at all in any kind of soup form, which seems one of the most common ways it is presented. It didn't take me long to figure out that I preferred butternut be treated more on the sweet side than the savory, but I'm not too into sweet soups either. I have to say though, I was super pleased with the way that this dish turned out.The squash and the sweet potatoes marry together so well in this dish, and the praline topping is just a perfect accent. My husband is not a veggie eater, though he will eat sweet potatoes. I managed to pull off this recipe without my husband knowing there was a bit of squash in it all! He simply thought it was sweet potato casserole.
I photographed this on a Christmas plate thinking that it would be perfect for that special menu, but, of course, this is a great side dish for Thanksgiving too of course.
If you'd rather stick with the traditional sweet potato casserole with a marshmallow or praline topping, then click right here and we'll take you right to that recipe! Click here for more traditional southern Thanksgiving dishes, or here for some Christmas recipes.

For more of my favorite sweet potato recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!

Recipe: Praline Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Casserole
©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Inactive time: 1 hour
Cook time: 1 hour Yield: About 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
For the Praline Topping:
- 1 butternut squash
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon of allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- Approximately 1/2 cup of heavy cream
Instructions
- 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons of all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- Whole pecan halves for garnish, optional
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F to roast the squash and sweet potatoes.
Slice the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and fibers and rinse. Place the squash on a jellyroll pan and drizzle with olive oil, turn over and cook cut side down. Rinse and scrub sweet potatoes, prick with a knife and place on baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for about one hour, or until tender. Sometimes the sweet potatoes will take longer to cook; insert a knife to test and leave in the oven longer if needed. Remove and let cool.
When you are ready to make the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter or spray a 1-1/2 to 2 quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop the flesh out of the squash and the sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl with a flat paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth; add in the sugar, allspice, cinnamon, vanilla extract and eggs. Blend well and add just enough cream to moisten as needed. Mixture should be fairly thick. Spread evenly in casserole dish.
For the topping, melt the butter. Mix the brown sugar, flour and pecans in a small bowl. Pour the butter into the brown sugar mixture and stir with a fork until well mixed. Sprinkle the pecan mixture all over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Cook's Notes: Double for the holidays. To make sweet potato casserole, omit the butternut squash and substitute with 2 additional sweet potatoes, prepared as above. If you miss your marshmallows, sprinkle the top with a few miniature marshmallows and return the casserole to the oven just until melted and lightly browned.
Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
Requires Adobe Reader - download it free! ©Deep South Dish
☛ Are you on Facebook? If you haven't already, come and join the party! We have a lot of fun & there's always room for one more at the table.
Traditional Southern Sweet Potato Casserole
Southern Sweet Potato Pie
Baked Sweet Potatoes and More!
Thank you for supporting my work! Please note that Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, do not copy and paste post or recipe text to repost or republish to any social media (such as other Facebook pages, etc.), blogs, websites, forums, or any print medium, without explicit prior permission. Unauthorized use of content from ©Deep South Dish is a violation of both the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and copyright law. All rights reserved.
Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
.