The Bizarre Reason Marshmallows Ended Up on Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
A dish that started as a marketing campaign, not a family tradition.
The surprising marketing-driven origin of the marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole, and how a 1917 recipe pamphlet turned into a permanent holiday fixture.
This dish reads like a strange family tradition, but the real origin traces back to a very specific, very deliberate piece of early food marketing.
It Started With a Recipe Pamphlet
A marshmallow manufacturer distributed a recipe booklet in the early 1900s that included a sweet potato dish topped with marshmallows, aiming to expand the use of marshmallows beyond just candy.
The Timing Lined Up With Thanksgiving Marketing
The pamphlet's release coincided with a broader early-20th-century push to market marshmallows for cooking rather than eating on their own, and the sweet potato pairing became one of its most successful examples.
It Reinforced an Existing Sweet Potato Tradition
Sweetened sweet potato dishes already had a presence at Southern holiday tables before marshmallows entered the picture, which likely made the addition feel like a natural extension rather than a strange one.
It Became a National Staple Over Decades
What started as a specific promotional recipe gradually became a genuine holiday standard across the country, repeated in cookbooks and family recipes long after most people forgot its marketing origin.
The Dish Remains Genuinely Divisive
Despite its staying power, it's one of the more debated Thanksgiving side dishes, with strong opinions on both sides about whether sweet potatoes need the marshmallow topping at all.