Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover with cold water by 1 inch; salt generously. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook until easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain, and return to pan. Heat over medium, stirring, until liquid has evaporated and a thin film covers bottom of pan, about 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat; add milk, butter, and nutmeg. Mash until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Transfer sweet-potato mixture to a 2-quart baking dish. (To make ahead, refrigerate, up to 1 day.)
Top casserole with marshmallows; bake until center is warmed through and marshmallows are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
I just made this recipe for Christmas dinner & received rave reviews! I did sprinkle a little brown sugar on top, before I added the marshmallows. The roasted marshmallows give the casserole such a nice crunch & texture - delicious!! I will definitely be making this again! Thank Martha!
Yum!! I swapped out the nutmeg for cinnamon and added 1/3 cup of brown sugar. Also, like some people mentioned, 8 potatoes might be an awful lot for three pounds!!! In any case, the casserole was delish! Thank you Martha!
I LOVE sweet potato casserole! This was my first Thanksgiving away from the States, so my husband
My family enjoyed this recipe on Thanksgiving. I usually make a much sweeter recipe with nuts etc., but this was extremely simple and surprisingly good!
I've been making this recipe for years, however, on occasion, I add 1/3 cup chopped walnuts. I always add 1/4 cup brown sugar as well. They have been my sons favourite since he was 3 years old and he still asks for my sweet potatoes at every family dinner and he's 40. They really are amazing.
My mom's secret has always been to add a dash of cooking sherry and very finely diced apples to her potatoes. They are to die for and every time I make them, people are trying to dissect the wonderful flavor and taste sensation.
I also used the large chopped marshmallows - I do not know how they look so dusted and white and puffy in the picture; mine kept their round shape and turned brown and glossy. It all still tasted great! (although there were so many potatoes there was not a great marshmallow-to-sweet potato ratio) Yummy, plenty of leftovers. :)
I picked out 8 sweet potatoes that came to nearly exactly 3 pounds. They did not all fit in a "large saucepan", I had to move the whole mess to a large pot. They also did not fit in a 2-quart baking dish; they were bursting out of my 2.5 liter dish. So, I would recommend fewer sweet potatoes. Probably 6. I mashed some brown sugar into mine as well.