Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans Recipe - Vegan in the Freezer (2024)

FAQs

Can you freeze sweet potato pecan casserole? ›

The answer is yes — though there are some guidelines to follow to ensure it freezes well. The absolute best way to freeze sweet potato casserole, to start, requires you to cook the sweet potatoes before freezing.

Can you freeze raw sweet potatoes? It's not recommended to freeze raw sweet potato fries or cubes. They won't hold up well in the freezer and they won't cook correctly in recipes. Blanching or cooking sweet potatoes fully is the way to go.

In fact, it's best to freeze meatless casseroles uncooked as the process of baking, freezing, and re-baking can alter the texture of some ingredients.

Freezing also lowers the starting temperature of the potato, allowing more time for amylase enzymes to convert starch to sweet-tasting maltose. Starting the sweet potatoes in a cold oven further enhances sweetness via gradual heating, which stretches out the time spent in the “sweet spot” for enzymatic activity.

Freezing an unbaked casserole will yield disastrous results; raw sweet potatoes are full of water, and freezing them can burst their cells and render them a watery mess when removed from cold storage. If at all possible, you should also freeze the cooked casserole and topping separately.

To Store: Store sweet potato casserole covered in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. To Freeze: Prepare the sweet potato casserole completely, but don't bake it. Cover with a double layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

It's best for raw sweet potatoes to not be stored in the freezer because they will spoil faster.

Freeze Baked Sweet Potatoes

Baked sweet potatoes are delicious but they require a lot of time in the oven. You can have whole, pre-baked sweet potatoes ready in the freezer for a quick side dish any time you like. All you have to do is warm them up. Heat the oven to 375 F.

It is not recommended that you freeze raw potatoes because they just won't act right in recipes nor will they taste their best. If you want to freeze a whole sweet potato, then it's also important to cook it first.

We suggest checking out our recipe for The Best Sweet Potato Casserole, below, which you can make and freeze up to 3 months ahead of time. The eggs will be raw when you freeze the mix in your casserole dish, but they'll be fine because they're completely mixed with the sweet potatoes.

What casseroles don't freeze well? ›

There are definitely casseroles that don't freeze well

And dairy, in general, can get a bit grainy if it's frozen, then reheated. Likewise, eggs, starchy vegetables, and watery vegetables can make a thawed and reheated casserole a soggy mess.

If the casserole you're making has raw meat in it, you should absolutely bake the dish to the full temperature before you cool and freeze it. If it has pre-cooked meat or no meat, you don't have to cook it at all. Freeze the casserole uncooked, and save the cooking for later.

Cooking the sweet potato from frozen also likely allows it to spend more time in a critical temperature zone from 135° to 170°F (57° to 77°C), when an enzyme in the sweet potato called amylase becomes very active, converting the tuber's complex starches into the (very sweet) simple sugar maltose.

The most versatile and sweetest variation of sweet potatoes is the Beauregard. Throughout the United States, you will see this species stacked high in the grocery stores during the holiday season. Beauregard's have a bit of a stringy texture, but they stay soft: this is what makes them so popular.

“Freezing sweet potatoes before baking them results in a nice and charred exterior and the most fluffy inside, because freezing the potatoes allows their interior flesh to macerate from the inside out,” says Chin. (FYI, “macerate” is the chef word for soften.)

Prepare the filling according to the recipe and pour it into a foil baking dish. Wrap the dish tightly in foil and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Top with marshmallows and baking according to the directions.

You can safely refreeze frozen food that has thawed—raw or cooked, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. To safely refreeze, the thawed product must have been kept cold at 40 degrees or below for no more than 3-4 days.

A batch of make-ahead and freeze, slow-cooker sweet potatoes tastes just as irresistibly good as if you made it on the same day! Prep early for Thanksgiving by cooking and freezing these slow-cooker sweet potatoes weeks beforehand.

The answer is yes! This sweet potato crunch makes a great make-ahead Thanksgiving side dish. Don't you just love when that happens? I recommend freezing the sweet potato casserole unbaked, just up until the part before adding the pecan topping and freezing for up to 3 months.