Sweet Potato Pie is a Southern classic that’ll give any pumpkin pie a run for its money! It’s sure to become your favorite fall dessert!
Why We Love Homemade Sweet Potato Pie
- This pie is everything you want in Fall comfort food. It’s creamy and beautifully sweet without tasting really sugary. It’s perfection on a plate.
- It’ll take the Pepsi challenge against pumpkin pie any day. Heck, you could probably serve this, not tell anyone, and they would rave about how good this pie is.
- Your house is going to smell ah-mazing! Like all those yummy baking spices we crave this time of year.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Pie
SWEET POTATOES: I like to use garnet, jewel, or Beauregard sweet potatoes so this pie has a pretty orange color. Yams would work too, and if you want something really different… grab some sweet potatoes with white flesh inside.
FILLING: This is really similar to pumpkin pie. We’re using butter, sugars, eggs, a little flour, heavy cream, vanilla, and baking spices. There’s a little bit of lemon juice to balance everything out. You won’t taste it, but it’ll do awesome things for this pie. Kind of like adding coffee to chocolate desserts.
PIE CRUST: If I’m short on time I usually buy a box of refrigerated pie crust (by the biscuits) or a frozen, pre-made crust. The holidays are busy and shortcuts are nice. But making homemade pie crust is a zen thing for me, so I do love to make pie crust from scratch when I’m whipping this pie up for a weekend treat.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie
Jump to RecipeSTEP 1 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Microwave the sweet potatoes until they’re cooked through and then let them cool to room temperature. Once cooled, remove the skins and use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to whip the potatoes. Add in the butter and sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves.
STEP 2 Mix in the eggs and then add the heavy cream, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, salt, and spices. Mix everything together until it’s smooth and creamy.
STEP 3 Pour the sweet potato pie filling into your pie crust and smooth out the top. I like to crimpy the edges or the pie crust so the pie looks fancy.
STEP 4 Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the center is set. It may be a little jiggy still, but a knife inserted in the center should come out mostly clean. Let the pie cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing.
Tips & Tricks
- If you don’t have all the baking spices need (or you just don’t like some fo them) you can substitute more cinnamon in its place.
- Can’t get your hadns on heavy cream or want to save some calories? You can use regular milk or evaporated milk instead.
- If your pie crust starts to brown too quickly, cover it loosely with some tin foil. Every oven is different, so just give things a check about halfway through the cooking time.
- You can make this pie ahead of time and once it’s cooled pop it in the fridge. It’s just as good cold, or you can set it on the counter and let it come up to room temperature before serving.
- This pie will keep for up to 5 days covered in the fridge. If you want to freeze your pie, let it cool to room temperature – you can freeze the whole pie or slice it and wrap the slices individually. Then pop it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw it out in the fridge overnight before serving.
Sweet Potato Pie FAQ
Which is better, pumpkin or sweet potato pie?
It’s really a personal preference. I’m obsessed with sweet potatoes and would eat them with almost everything meal if I could. My husband is a serious pumpkin pie eater (like has to have his very own pie on Thanksgiving), so it’s a toss-up in our house. Both are incredibly delicious though.
Is sweet potato pie a Southern thing?
Sweet Potato Pie originated in the South. I first had it as a little girl when my grandma used to make it. She was from Tennessee and gave me my love of Southern foods. Sweet potato pie isn’t just for Thanksgiving. It’s an amazing dessert that’s the right answer anytime you’re thinking of having pie.
Is sweet potato pie made from yams?
You can use sweet potatoes OR yams to make this pie. Sweet potatoes are starchier and hold their shape better. Yams have a higher sugar content and get nice and soft once cooked. Whichever you can find at the store will work just fine.
Other Recipes You May like
- Bourbon Bacon Pecan Pie
- Strawberry Pie with Jello
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Chocolate Cream Pie
- Walnut & Cranberry Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet potatoes
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 9-inch pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Poke holes all over the sweet potatoes and place them on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave for 5 minutes flipping the potatoes over halfway through. (see note)
- Poke a knife into the potatos. If there is no resistance they are ready. If there is resistance, place them back in the microwave and heat in 30-second intervals until soft. Let the potatoes cool to room temperature.
- Take the peel off the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Whip them with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add in the butter and mix until combined. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar, mix until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Add the heavy cream, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, mix until completely combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Place the pie crust into a pie plate and crimp the edge. Add the sweet potato filling to the pie crust and smooth out the top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until set. The filling might be the slightest bit jiggly once the cooking time is up. The pie is ready when a butter knife inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let the pie cool to room temperature before slicing to serve, or chill until ready to serve.
Notes
- If you don’t have all the spices listed above or don’t care for some of them, you can substitute more cinnamon in its place.
- Regular milk or evaporated milk can be used in place of heavy cream.
- The sweet potatoes can also be boiled in the skin or baked to cook the flesh. Microwaving is just the fastest option.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
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