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.
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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.