This easy homemade sweet potato pie recipe is truly one of the most incredible pies I’ve made. It has a flaky butter crust with a creamy, light sweet potato filling. I cannot wait for you to try it!
We learned how to make sweet potato pie from our friend, Richard. He’s an incredible chef and grew up in the South, so I knew he was the right person to talk to about it. Richard’s sweet potato pie is out of the world. So light, delicious, and creamy!
If you’re familiar with our pumpkin pie, this homemade sweet potato pie is similar, but it’s a bit more flavorful, less spiced, and has a more light and fluffy filling. I love it so much!
Key Ingredients
- Pie crust: I use this flaky butter pie crust. It’s the homemade crust we recommend for all ourpie recipes on Inspired Taste. To make sweet potato pie without a crust, pour the filling into a baking dish and bake it until a toothpick inserted about 2 inches from the crust comes out clean.
- Sweet potatoes: I use fresh sweet potatoes, which are sometimes sold as yams. It doesn’t matter if the label says sweet potato or yam as long as you buy medium-to-large potatoes with orange flesh. Look for Beauregard, Jewel, and Garnet sweet potatoes. Tips for canned sweet potatoes are below the recipe.
- Sugar: This pie is less sweet than others I’ve tried. We use brown sugar in the filling, which sweetens and adds a caramelized flavor.
- Butter and Milk: Unlike my pumpkin pie recipe, which uses cream in the filling, this sweet potato pie calls for a mixture of melted butter and milk. They make our pie filling lighter and more fluffy.
- Eggs: I use 2 eggs to help the pumpkin pie filling set up. They also add a rich flavor that you’ll love.
- Spices: I love the combination of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in this pie. You taste the spices, but they aren’t overpowering.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet potato pie is just as simple to make as homemade pumpkin pie. Instead of pumpkin puree, you’ll need cooked sweet potato. Based on Richard’s recommendations, I steam them. It’s really easy and quicker than baking. Steaming also prevents our potatoes from becoming waterlogged. Another option is to bake them (baking tips are below the recipe). We do not recommend boiling sweet potatoes for this pie.
When the potatoes cool, I scoop out the flesh and beat them with melted butter, brown sugar, milk, eggs, and our spices. A handheld mixer does the trick, or you can use a stand mixer.
When it’s well blended, I scoop the filling into my crust and bake the pie!
I bake sweet potato pie in a 350°F oven for around 50 minutes. Depending on your oven, you might need a bit longer.
Then, it needs to cool to room temperature, and if you have the time, chill it in the refrigerator overnight. Chilling overnight helps with that shiny top and the smooth, creamy filling.
For serving, I love this traditional Southern pie topped with our not-so-traditional sour cream whipped cream (phenomenal) and a dusting of chopped pecans. As much as I love pumpkin pie, we’re bringing sweet potato pie to Thanksgiving this year, and I think you should, too.
For more Thanksgiving recipes, see my favorite Thanksgiving turkey, these incredible candied pecans, this fresh green bean casserole, and our homemade apple pie.
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Easy Sweet Potato Pie
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We love this easy sweet potato pie recipe! It’s flavorful, creamy inside, and topped with a lovely whipped cream. We keep this more traditional by holding back on the spices. You’ll love how the sweet potato flavor comes through.
We prefer to steam our sweet potatoes for this pie. Steaming is easy and is a little easier when it comes to making sure the entire potato is cooked through, but not caramelized. If you’d prefer to bake them, we’ve included tips below.
1 (9-inch) pie, 8 servings
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Sweet Potato Pie Homemade Pie Crust, our recipe makes two crusts, you will need one 2 large sweet potatoes or yams (orange flesh), 1 ½ pounds 8 tablespoons (115g) unsalted butter, melted 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, omit if using salted butter
Sour Cream Whipped Cream1 ½ cups (355ml) chilled heavy cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar, or more to taste
6 tablespoons (90g) sour cream
Directions
- Cook Sweet Potatoes
1Fill a large pot with 2 to 3 inches of water and bring to a simmer. Insert a steamer basket inside the pot. Place the sweet potatoes into the steamer basket, lower the heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cover the pot with a lid.
2Steam until the sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 35 to 45 minutes. Allow the sweet potatoes to cool completely.
3Make-ahead: Wrap and store steamed sweet potatoes for up to 2 days in the fridge.
- Roll Out Crust
1Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate (pie dish).
2Roll out the dough to be two inches larger than your pie dish (I use an 8-inch or 9-inch pie dish). Gently press the dough down into the dish to line the bottom and sides. (Be careful not to pull or stretch the dough). Trim dough to within 1/2-inch of the dish edge.
3Fold the edges of the dough underneath itself, creating a thicker, 1/4-inch border that rests on the lip of the dish. Crimp edges. (We do this in our pie crust recipe video). Refrigerate until you are ready to bake the pie.
- Make Pie Filling
1When cooled, remove the skin from sweet potatoes. You will need 20 ounces — 2 generous cups — of sweet potato flesh for the pie. Save unused sweet potato for another dish.
2Place sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl and use a handheld mixer to beat them on medium-high speed for one minute. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.
3Mix on a low speed until blended, then increase the speed to medium-high and mix for two minutes. The mixture may look grainy, but this is okay.
- Bake Pie
1Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).
2Place pie dish with crust onto a baking sheet. Scoop batter into the prepared pie shell and smooth out the top. Bake until the filling is set and a toothpick or thin knife plunged it into the pie, about 2 inches from the edge, comes out mostly clean. Rotate once or twice during baking. The pie will bake 55 to 60 minutes.
3Let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate overnight. As it cools, the middle of the pie will fall slightly. Do your best to cool the pie to room temperature slowly — one way to do this is to leave the pie in your oven turned off with the door open.
- Whipped Cream Topping
1Pour the chilled cream into a large mixing bowl along with the powdered sugar. Using a hand mixer, begin beating the cream at a low speed. As the cream starts to foam and bubble, gradually increase the speed to medium-high.
2Continue beating the cream at medium-high speed until soft peaks form — this occurs when the beaters are lifted, and the cream peaks gently flop over.
3Once soft peaks have formed, add the sour cream to the mixing bowl. Continue beating the cream on medium-high speed until it thickens and the peaks stand tall and firm when the beaters are lifted. Spread or pipe the whipped cream onto the pie. If there are any cracks between the crust and filling, use the whipped cream to cover them.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- To bake sweet potatoes for sweet potato pie, scrub, pierce, and bake them at 400°F (205°C) for 45-50 minutes until tender.
- Can I use canned sweet potatoes? You can make sweet potato pie with canned sweet potatoes. If you do use canned, use sweet potato puree. For our recipe, you will need 20 ounces or two generous cups.
- Storing: Sweet potato pie will last in your refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Leave the whipped topping off the pie until the day of serving. The whipped topping should last longer, but we recommend adding it up to 24 hours before serving. If you are freezing the pie, wrap it in foil before freezing. Thaw frozen sweet potato pie overnight in the fridge.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We did not include the whipped cream topping.
Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1 slice, 8 total / Calories 407 / Total Fat 24.9g / Saturated Fat 15.1g / Cholesterol 109.1mg / Sodium 196.8mg / Carbohydrate 41.8g / Dietary Fiber 1.6g / Total Sugars 21.3g / Protein 4.9g
AUTHOR: Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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