This is a dynamite combination and a great dish for your Thanksgiving table. Pineapple and sweet potato taste fabulous together. The flavors play off each other and turn the humble sweet potato into something really special.
A simple mix of toasted pecans, butter, and a little sweetener creates a delicious, crisp, and gluten free topping. It’s especially great if you use the awesome soaked, sprouted, and dehydrated pecans from the Pecan Shop. They’re so special that I devoted an entire post to them last week.
A sweet potato is clearly not low carb. But it’s way better for you than a white potato. Sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index than a white potato, meaning that the carbohydrates in them are not turned into sugar as quickly and don’t elevate your blood sugar as much as a white potato does. Couple that with a sugar free dish and a healthful pecan topping and you’ve got a good for you treat.
- 6 pounds sweet potatoes or yams (6-8 medium-large)
- 12 Tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted), melted and divided
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups fresh pineapple (from 1 medium pineapple), diced into small (1/4") pieces
- sea salt
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 4 cups pecans (I use the soaked and dried sea salt pecans from the Pecan Shop)
- 1/2-2/3 cup xylitol, erythritol, or coconut sugar
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400°. Poke each sweet potato a few times with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Bake potatoes until very tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, peel and put flesh into a large bowl. If you want to speed things up you can cut the hot potatoes in half, let cool for 10 minutes, and then scoop flesh into a bowl.
- Turn heat down to 375°.
- Butter a large baking dish (about 9"x13").
- Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add 6 tablespoons melted butter, vanilla, and chopped pineapple to the potatoes and stir to combine. Add salt to taste. Sweet potatoes and pineapple vary in sweetness so taste and add a little sweetener of your choice (I use xylitol, erythritol, or coconut sugar) to the potatoes if desired. Stir in eggs. Transfer potato mixture to baking dish.
- Put pecans in a medium bowl. Add remaining 6 tablespoons butter and sweetener. Stir to combine and sprinkle evenly over the potatoes.
- May be made up to this point 24 hours ahead of time and kept covered and chilled.
- Bake at 375° for about 35-45 minutes or until pecans are nicely browned. Serve warm. May be baked a few hours ahead of time and reheated.
