The first time I remember having sweet potato pie was just this year.

At a farmer’s market in San Diego, one of the vendors was selling homemade mini sweet potato pies.  I had to try one. 

When I finally took my first bite that night, I immediately regretted not purchasing more of those mini pies. It was amazing.

Sweet Potato Pie vs. Pumpkin Pie

The sweet potato vs. pumpkin pie debate is legendary.  I’ve always considered myself on the side of pumpkin pie.  But after trying that sweet potato pie this year, my allegiance shifted.  While I still love pumpkin pie, sweet potato is superior.   

This month, I finally got around to developing my own sweet potato pie recipe.  Sugar, brown sugar, and heavy cream make this pie silky smooth and decadent.  A bit of nutmeg and cinnamon complement the sweet potato flavor without overpowering it.  This is definitely a sweet potato pie.

Make Sweet Potato Pie

Make my sweet potato pie this holiday season, but don’t label it solely a holiday pie.  This is a pie to be enjoyed throughout the year.

A Few Things

Don’t overbake the pie!  It’s done when the edges of the crust are lightly browned, and the filling is mostly set but still has a jiggle to it. 

Be sure to let the pie cool for at least an hour and a half before slicing.  This will ensure that the pie slices keep their shape.

You will have leftover pie filling that won’t be used in this recipe. Use it to make my sweet potato cake recipe.

Homemade is Better

Make homemade pie crust.  It’s so much better than store bought.  Take a look at my pie crust tutorial for step by step photos. You can find my favorite Emile Henry pie dish in my Amazon store.

This pie can stand alone. But if you’re going to serve it with something, I recommend my homemade whipped cream.

5 from 5 votes

Sweet Potato Pie

This decadent sweet potato pie is silky smooth with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. Enjoy this pie over the holidays or anytime of year.

Prep Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Servings: 8 slices

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Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 1 ½ cup flour
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter, cold, diced into cubes
• ¼ cup shortening, cold, diced into cubes
• ¼ cup almond milk, very cold, or milk of choice

For the sweet potato filling:

• 2 cups sweet potato puree, about 3 medium sweet potatoes
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Instructions

Make the pie dough

• In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, and salt with a fork.
• Add the cold butter and shortening
• With a pastry cutter or your hands, cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients. (I always use my hands.)
• Work the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until you end up with a crumb topping-like mixture, with little balls the size of peas.

Add the cold almond milk

• Now add the almond milk, and mix until the pie dough comes together. If it feels a little dry, add an additional tsp or two of cold almond milk. If the dough feels a little wet, add a little more flour.

Refrigerate the dough

• Form the dough into a disk, and refrigerate the dough for at least a half hour. (You can also wrap the dough disk in saran wrap, and freeze it if you won’t use the dough within a week.)
• While the pie dough refrigerates, bake the sweet potatoes.

Bake the sweet potatoes

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash 3 medium-size sweet potatoes, and prick them all over with a fork. The fork won’t go through the potatoes very far, and that’s okay. Just do your best.
• Bake the sweet potatoes on an oiled cookie sheet (preferably lined with foil for easy cleanup) for 40 minutes.
• Take the sweet potatoes out of the oven, and prick them all over with a fork again. This time the fork will easily go through. (But be careful, the sweet potatoes will be hot!)
• Bake the sweet potatoes for an additional 20 minutes. The sweet potatoes are done. Take them out of the oven, and let them rest for 15 minutes while you prepare your pie dough for baking.

Roll out the dough

• Oil a 9 inch pie dish. Set aside. (For photos, take a look at my Pie Crust Tutorial.)
• Take the pie dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it out on a clean, floured surface.
• Roll the dough out as evenly as possible. Keep rolling until you get to the point that if you were to place the 9 inch pie dish upside down on top of the rolled out dough, there would be 2-3 extra inches of dough around the circumference of the pie dish. (If you’re careful not to puncture the dough, go ahead and put the pie dish upside down on top of the dough to check this measurement.)

Put the dough in the pie dish

• Carefully lift the pie dough up, and gently place it in the oiled pie dish.
• Alternately, you can gently fold the dough in half, then fold it in half one more time, and place the folded dough in the pie dish. Then carefully unfold the pie dough in the dish.
• Gently press the dough down into the pie dish, then fold and scallop the edge of the dough with your fingers (See my Pie Crust Tutorial for photos.)
• Place the pie shell in the freezer for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling. (Freezing helps keep the pie crust from shrinking too much in the oven during baking.)

Puree the sweet potato

• The sweet potatoes should now be cool enough to touch, but still very warm. Carefully remove the potato skin from the flesh. You can peel it off, but I prefer to literally just squeeze the baked sweet potato out of the skin. Discard the skin, and place the baked sweet potato flesh in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.
• Using a stand or hand mixer, puree the sweet potato until completely smooth. Measure out 2 cups of the sweet potato puree for the pie filling, and remove any leftover puree from the mixing bowl. (Any leftover sweet potato puree will not be used for this recipe. You can store it in the refrigerator for later use.)

Add the butter

• Put the 2 cups of sweet potato puree back in the mixing bowl, and add the softened butter. With your hand mixer or stand mixer, blend until the butter is completely incorporated into the sweet potato puree. The potatoes will be warm enough to melt the butter.

Add everything else

• Now mix the sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and heavy cream into the sweet potato and butter mixture. Mix until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Last, add in the eggs and vanilla extract, and mix for another 1-2 minutes until smooth.
• Take your pie shell out of the freezer. Pour 2 cups of the filling into the pie shell. WE WILL ONLY USE 2 CUPS OF THE FILLING FOR THIS RECIPE. (Use the remainder of the filling to make a mini pie with leftover dough trimmings, a crustless pie, or to make my sweet potato cake recipe.)

Bake the pie

• Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven.
• The crust will be slightly browned on the edges, and the filling will be mostly set, but still have a slight jiggle to it.

Serve and enjoy

• Let the pie rest at room temperature for at least an hour before slicing. Serve alone, or with whipped cream. Enjoy!

Notes

This pie is vegetarian.

Don’t overbake the pie! It’s done when the crust is slightly browned on the edges, and the filling is mostly set but still has a slight jiggle to it.

Serve with my homemade whipped cream.

For help making homemade pie dough, take a look at my photo tutorial.

Make my sweet potato cake recipe with the leftover pie filling.