If you’re a fan of pumpkin pie, you will love this sweet potato pie recipe! This pie uses similar ingredients, but sweet potatoes are sweeter than pumpkins, leading to a sweeter and lighter pie filling. It’s a great addition to any holiday menu as it’s so easy to make.
The texture of this pie is just what you need to end off your meal. I love how the sweet potato filling is rich, silky, and luscious in contrast to the buttery, flaky pie crust. Roasting the fresh sweet potatoes leads to an even sweeter and caramel-like flavor, making for such a flavorful pie. The warm spices pair extraordinarily well with the sweet potatoes; you might even like it more than my pumpkin pie!
If you want another easy holiday dessert recipe to go with your Thanksgiving dinner then, try my pecan pie recipe, pumpkin cheesecake recipe, or chocolate pie recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Sweet potatoes — I recommend using sweet potato varieties with orange or red skin, such as Red Garnet or Jewel. These varieties are more sweet and moist in comparison to tan or purple skin sweet potatoes that are more starchy. They also have deep orange flesh, making for a more eye-catching pie.
Milk — you can use evaporated or whole milk for the pie filling. I would not use skim milk as it won’t give you a filling as rich and thick.
Vanilla — for the best flavor, I like using real vanilla extract instead of artificial extract.
Pie crust — for convenience, you can use a store-bought pie shell, but I recommend using my homemade pie crust recipe if you have the time! Store-bought crusts aren’t as thick in comparison, and you’ll want a sturdy crust to hold up the luscious filling.
Seasonings — the filling is flavored with a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie
1. Pierce the sweet potatoes in several places with the tip of a knife and place them on the baking sheet lined with foil. Bake for 1 hour or until very soft and the skin wrinkles when pressed. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before peeling.
2. Mash the sweet potatoes in a large bowl or puree them in a food processor for a smoother filling.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the roasted sweet potato, sugar, and milk.
4. Add the eggs, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Whisk until well combined.
6. Pour the sweet potato pie filling into the pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature and bake for another 40 minutes or until the filling is puffed and the center of the pie barely wobbles when gently shaken. Let cool completely on a wire rack. The sweet potato pie can be served at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 24 hours before serving.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- If using a homemade pie dough, I recommend you blind-bake the crust for a crisp and flaky crust. To blind bake, once the dough is crimped, freeze it for 20 minutes. Line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for 20 minutes at 425F. Remove the parchment and weights and let cool while proceeding with the filling in Step 5.
- Store-bought refrigerated or frozen pie crusts do not need to be pre-baked.
- If following my homemade pie crust recipe, you’ll end up making two 9-inch pie crusts worth of dough. You can tightly wrap and freeze one disc of dough for up to 3 months- just thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before using. Roll out the pie dough, fill the pie pan and crimp the edge as desired.
- This recipe makes enough filling to fill a standard deep-dish pie. If using a shallow pan or pre-made frozen crust, you will have a bit extra, or you can fill two shallow pie crusts.
- Instead of mixing cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, you can use a pre-made pumpkin pie spice.
- For extra flavor, you can add a couple of tablespoons of bourbon or rum to the sweet potato filling. The alcohol will evaporate in the oven and leave behind its flavorings, such as notes of vanilla and caramel.
- You can substitute light brown sugar for white granulated sugar if you’d prefer.
- I like to top my slice of pie with homemade whipped cream. However, ice cream, caramel sauce, cool whip, and marshmallow fluff are popular alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
For sure! Since you can serve the pie warm, room temperature, or chilled, you can make it a day or two ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.
Any leftover sweet potato pie should be covered and refrigerated in an airtight container for up 5 days. Just make sure you don’t leave it uncovered, as the sweet potato filling can absorb scents from the fridge.
This pie and the sweet potato filling are freezer-friendly! Once baked and cooled to room temperature, you can freeze the pie for up to 3 months. Wrap the pie tightly with plastic wrap or foil before freezing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
I bake the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them as you retain more moisture in the sweet potatoes. When you boil and mash the sweet potatoes before baking the filling, the sweet potatoes are much drier. When you bake sweet potatoes, you also get hints of caramel notes, so your filling is more flavorful.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this homemade Sweet Potato Pie recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Sweet Potato Pie
Video
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Foil
- 9-inch pie pan
- mixing bowl
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 2 pounds whole sweet potatoes (900g)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- 1 cup milk evaporated or whole (240mL)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust*
- whipped cream to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Pierce the sweet potatoes in several places with the tip of a knife and place them on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 1 hour or until very soft and the skin wrinkles when pressed. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Peel, discard the skins, and mash the sweet potatoes in a large bowl or puree in a food processor for a smoother filling. (Should yield about 2½ cups.)
- Increase the oven temperature to 400F. Position the oven rack in the bottom third. (If using a homemade crust, see notes about blind baking.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the roasted sweet potato, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk until well combined. Pour into the pie crust.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and continue baking for 40 minutes or until the filling is puffed and the center barely wobbles when gently shaken. Let cool completely on a wire rack. The pie can be served at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 24 hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up 5 days.
Notes
- *If using a homemade pie dough, I recommend you blind-bake the crust for a crisp and flaky shell. To blind bake, once the dough is crimped, freeze it for 20 minutes. Line with parchment paper and fill with weights. Bake for 20 minutes at 425F. Remove the parchment and weights and let cool while proceeding with the filling in Step 5.
- Store-bought refrigerated or frozen pie crusts do not need to be pre-baked.
- If following my homemade pie crust recipe, you’ll end up making two 9-inch pie crusts worth of dough. You can tightly wrap and freeze one disc of dough for up to 3 months- just thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before using. Roll out the pie dough, fill the pie pan and crimp the edge as desired.
- This recipe makes enough filling to fill a standard deep-dish pie. If using a shallow pan or pre-made frozen crust, you will have a bit extra, or you can fill two shallow pie crusts.
- Instead of mixing cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, you can use a pre-made pumpkin pie spice.
- For extra flavor, you can add a couple of tablespoons of bourbon or rum to the sweet potato filling. The alcohol will evaporate in the oven and leave behind its flavorings, such as notes of vanilla and caramel.
- You can substitute light brown sugar for white granulated sugar if you’d prefer.
- I like to top my slice of pie with homemade whipped cream. However, ice cream, caramel sauce, cool whip, and marshmallow fluff are popular alternatives.
Nutrition
It was divine and the whole family loved it!
Normally, I’m not personally a fan of sweet potato pie but two people that I love are. I made this for Christmas Dinner and the crowd of 20 thought it was the best they’d had. I loved it. The orange zest is so important and the best part of making this pie special. I gave the printed copy to my Dad who was especially excited about it. Thanks again, John, for a delicious recipe!
Can you explain why you don’t blind bake the pie crust? Thanks!
Beautiful leaves
Great idea using sweet potato!
Hi! This recipe looks great. I was just wondering if you blind baked the pie crust before adding the filling? Thanks!!
Hilary,
I didn’t blind bake the pie crust! Hope you enjoy!
John
Hi, I’m looking at baking this tomorrow as we don’t have this recipe in the UK. On your ingredients for the pie crust, it says eggs are needed….in the step by step, eggs aren’t needed? Please can you help me as to wether I need them or not? Many thanks, Krista.
Krista,
Eggs are needed for the egg wash! Hope you enjoy!
John