Nut-free topping for candied sweet potato casserole?

I'm making a candied sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving but every recipe I've found calls for pecans as the topping. I have a nut allergy (to all tree nuts and peanuts, but not to seeds) and would love to find a crunchy tasty topping that I can substitute for the pecans. Any suggestions?

Juliette Dallas-Feeney
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9 Comments

Nancy
Nancy December 24, 2017
Crunchy fried onions (stolen from thanksgiving green bean casserole).
Bacon or other crunchy meat garnish (beef, chicken)
Fried bits of sweet potato skins
 
Mike P.
Mike P. December 24, 2017
This is my favorite holiday dish. However, I recently began dating someone with a nut allergy, so I've been thinking of possible substitutes myself. I'm really considering bits of toffee. Perhaps cut back a bit in the brown sugar to compensate for the added sweetness.
 
chez_mere
chez_mere November 21, 2012
How about some nut free granola?
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour November 21, 2012
When boulangere tested my sweet potato casserole recipe last year she used rolled oats for the topping with good success. http://www.food52.com/recipes/14630_saras_sweet_potato_casserole
 
bigpan
bigpan November 21, 2012
I would a seed smaller than pumpkin- maybe sunflower. But the crumbled snaps sound good too.
 
Monita
Monita November 21, 2012
Try oats (not instant); they work really well in a crumble topping
 
Kristy M.
Kristy M. November 21, 2012
Toasted pumpkin seeds could be nice.
 
Merrill S.
Merrill S. November 21, 2012
Or wonder if you could toast some quinoa, mix it with a little brown sugar and butter and achieve a nice crunchy top that way. (Never actually done that, but seems like it might work.)
 

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Merrill S.
Merrill S. November 21, 2012
Since it sounds like you're going for a fairly sweet dish, how about crumbling up some hard gingersnaps and scattering them over the top?
 
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