This. I never understood why people add sugar or sweeteners – they’re sweet potatoes to begin with. Hated the cloying taste of candied sweet potatoes for years until one Thanksgiving they just roasted them and served them like baked potatoes. That’s all you need.
Butter, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Same as most of what I eat.
Yes, you clearly can answer without reading the thread :).
Glad the pecan streusel works for you! I’m not at all convinced it’s gonna be better than marshmallows for the diabetic, but maybe it is; I’m no dietician.
And pulykamell, if you can eat putrid herring in a can, you can eat marshmallows on sweet potatoes. It’s a classic for a reason!
I usually mash them with butter, ginger (fresh grated or diced), cinnamon, orange juice, crushed pineapple, and a good glug of bourbon (or rum). Add some brown sugar or molasses or maple syrup if you don’t think they are sweet enough. Leftovers make great pie!
No, you guys can keep your marshmallow sweet potatoes and Campbell’s green bean casseroles to yourselves. 
Neither was a tradition among my family and friends, although I did encounter the green bean casserole for the first time a few years ago.
The marshmallows are just a topping. Pick any recipe for sweet potato soufflé/casserole that you like and substitute a mixture of chopped cashews, brown sugar and flour for the marshmallows. Sprinkle all over the top.
Yeah, I do the pecan thing. Mix melted butter, brown sugar, and chopped pecans to a crumbly consistency and sprinkle across the top of a traditional sweet potato casserole before baking. No marshmallows.
One way you can compromise is to top half with marshmellows and half with the nuts. It looks nice in an oval dish, and the marshmallow people are happy.
Got the idea here.
Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes: Mashed Sweet Potatoes Recipe (Without Marshmallows!)
Really easy to make ahead and reheat at dinner time. I usually add a dash of nutmeg as well.
If you want to make a statement, use peeps instead of marshmallows. You can use them in jello molds also. I like to drown them in hot chocolate or impale them and immolate them over a campfire with my sweetie. You can then crush them between two fudge stripe cookies and have quick and easy s’mores.
I got this recipe from King’s Inn, in Williamsburg VA. My family insists that I make it for every holiday. I use less milk than this calls for, enough to get the consistency I want.
Kings Inn Sweet Potatoes
3 lb sweet potatoes or yams
¾ cup brown sugar
3T butter
½ t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
¼ t salt
1 C milk
Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Reserve 2T sugar; add remaining ingredients. Mix. Place in greased casserole. Sprinkle reserved sugar on top. Bake at 400o.
I dice them and sauté in a little peanut oil then season with garam masala and salt. That probably wouldn’t go well for your more traditional types though.
Preheat oven to 425F, dice the sweet potatoes into approximately 1/2" cubes, mix with tablespoon of olive oil and tarragon and roast for approximately 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven when the cubes can be easily pierced with a toothpick or fork tine and then serve. I personally do not peel the sweet potatoes.
FWIW, my wife and I actually prefer yams to sweet potatoes.
Sweet Potatoes with Three Kinds of Ginger
4 medium sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into half-inch slices
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons grated young ginger (if not available, double the amount of fresh ginger)
1 tablespoon chopped candied ginger
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cover the bottom of a small baking dish with a layer of sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with a bit of each of the three kinds of ginger. Add another layer of sweet potatoes and more ginger. Continue layering until the sweet potatoes have been used up. Mix the cream and soy sauce together and pour it over the sweet potatoes. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
THAT’s where I’ve had it with pecans! My mom has occasionally made a similar half-and-half dish, except she uses diagonal stripes of marshmallows and pecans; it’s striking, and allows choice.
Assuming you aren’t talking about yams from Africa, the U.S. yams are a variety of sweet potato.
I should share what my side of the family does, as no one has mentioned it here. Whole sweet potatoes are boiled till they’re soft but firm. They’re then peeled and sliced about 3/4" thick rings. These sweet-potato hockey pucks are then fried in butter till blackened.
Yeah, that’s what my maternal grandmother used to do and that’s what my mom and some of my sibs lurve. Me, not so much. In fact, because of this, I didn’t eat sweet potatoes for many years. At least now, my mother will bake a few for those of us who don’t like blackened sweet potato hockey pucks. 
I boil the sweet potatoes, then mash them roughly into a baking dish. I top that with a crust of pecans fried in butter and brown sugar with just a touch of ginger and cinammon (seriously, just a touch; not looking for it to taste like pumpkin pie). I then bake the resulting dish at 350 for about a half hour, enough time for some moisture to cook out of the sweet potatoes and for the topping to set a little firmer.
I think I covered this with “Everyone ruins sweet potatoes.” 
I’ve prepared them this way a few times and like them a lot. I think it would work well with a traditional Thanksgiving menu.
For more casseroleyness you could probably adapt a topping from another recipe, or even just use toasted chopped pecans.