This Southern Sweet Potato Pie is the perfect fall and Thanksgiving dessert to make and share with family and friends. Easy to make with simple ingredients, it's the perfect make-ahead sweet treat!
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Full Recipe Ingredients/Instructions are available in the
recipe card at the bottom of the post.
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.
I love the flavors of fall, lots of warming spices come into play and my thoughts always turn to delicious sweet pies. A traditional Southern sweet potato pie is one of my favorite fall desserts.
The sweet potato filling in this easy sweet potato pie is silky smooth. When it's topped with some whipped cream I'm in heaven! You can make your own pastry crust, but if pushed for time a store bought pastry crust will work just fine.
It's one of my preferred Holiday pies and lucky for me, my kids love it too. So I always end up making this pie most often around the Holidays. This has become my best sweet potato pie recipe and is enjoyed by everyone I serve it up to.
This is a great pie to serve up for Thanksgiving or Christmas along with my Simple Pumpkin Cake! However, it also makes a great weekend treat any weekend during fall, with my family and friends.
Ingredients
- Pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
- Sweet potatoes - prefer to roast my sweet potatoes in the skin and then peel them for this recipe. Some have boiled it and had great results.
- Butter - adds richness and flavor to the pie. I use unsalted butter.
- Light brown sugar - this adds an incredible depth of flavor to this pie.
- Large Eggs, Evaporated Milk, and Vanilla Extract
- Spices - Ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and salt
How To Make Southern Sweet Potato Pie
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mash cooked sweet potatoes in a bowl.
- TOP TIP: I like to either bake my sweet potatoes in the air fryer or microwave them for 8-10 minutes. I never boil them.
- Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth and combined.
- Pour in prepared pie crust. You can see my crust broke a little, lol. It was still mighty good though.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until pie is set in the middle.
Can you make Sweet Potato Pie ahead of time?
Yes! This is the perfect make-ahead dessert. In fact, you want to let the pie sit for at least an hour before serving it. Once the pie has cooled to room temperature, cover it loosely with plastic wrap of foil and it will keep well for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Can you freeze Sweet Potato Pie?
If you are super organized and planning ahead, then you can freeze the pie. It's best to freeze the pie before you bake it or it can become soggy once thawed.
Place the filling in the crust and then wrap securely in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. Defrost the pie in the fridge overnight before baking. The pie will keep well frozen for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Take the butter out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to bake. This allows the butter to soften, making it easier to incorporate into the other ingredients.
- Sweet potato pie is best when it has cooled, so wait to serve it.
- The best sweet potato pie is made at least a day ahead and chilled. Remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Don't boil the sweet potatoes or they will take on too much liquid and the filling will be soggy.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
- Pecan Pie
- Purple Sweet Potato Pie
- Chess Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Old-Fashioned Pinto Bean Pie
- Watergate Salad
- Sweet Potato Pudding
- Homemade Chocolate Pudding
- Air Fryer Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
If you're looking for more delicious sweet potato recipes, try my candied sweet potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes recipes.
Watch this video tutorial and see how I make this sweet potato pie from start to finish.
FAQs:
As with any sweet dessert, there is sugar in this pie, however, this is not a heavily sugar laden pie. Sweet potato is a healthy, nutrient-rich vegetable that is full of fiber, so a better sweet pie option than fruit-based pies. As with all things, a sweet treat now and again will do no harm.
Sweet potato pie has a lovely creamy texture and as it uses similar spices of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, is not dissimilar to a pumpkin pie.
The flavors in both of these traditional Thanksgiving pies are similar, but sweet potato pie is less dense and more light and airy. It's sweeter and more creamy and I find it much richer in flavor.
The pie is cooked when the pie filling has set and is no longer liquid. You can check but inserting a toothpick into the filling, if cooked it will come out clean.
You can serve this pie warm at room temperature, or chill it in the fridge. It is entirely down to personal taste.
Over-baking the pie is the main cause of the filling cracking. Cook until the filling is just set.
Whether or not you have strings in your sweet potatoes will depend on the growing conditions of your sweet potatoes. If the soil is too fertile, you'll get stringy sweet potatoes. Try to purchase short plump sweet potatoes to avoid stringiness. If you need to get rid of strings, pulse the sweet potatoes in a food processor after baking them.
If you have tried to make this delicious Southern Sweet Potato Pie, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Southern Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 9- inch pie crust store-bought or homemade
- 1.5 lbs sweet potato about 2 medium sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- ½ cup evaporated milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Bake or microwave the sweet potatoes:
- Air fryer - 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-40 minutes.
- Oven - 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-50 minutes.
- Microwave - prick potatoes all over, microwave for 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway.
Make the pie
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and mash them in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth and combined. Pour in prepared pie pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until pie is set in the middle. Remove and allow to cool for at least 1 hour.
Video
Notes
- Prepare pie crust according to your recipe or package directions.
- Sweet Potato Pie is best when it has cooled, so wait to serve it.
- The best sweet potato pie is made at least a day ahead and chilled. Remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Don't boil the sweet potatoes or they will take on too much liquid and the filling will be soggy.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 8/17/2020. It has been updated with additional helpful tips.
Anthon C Thomas says
Is there a difference in texture if I decided to use whole milk or 2% milk instead of evaporated milk? Will the taste be the same or diffrent
Tanya says
Hi Anthon, the evaporated milk in the recipe serves as a thickener. A better sub would be condensed milk or even heavy cream, although the taste will change a little.
Rhonda says
I made this pie, smells wonderful. It’s for Thanksgiving and it was hairy not to cut it. Let you know how it turned out
Tanya says
Sounds good Rhonda! It's even better when you make it the day before. I hope you love it as much as we do. Happy Thanksgiving!
Janelle says
can you use a frozen deep dish pie crust for this recipe? if so, should i thaw it before using or just place it in oven?
thanks!
Tanya says
Hi Janelle, the batter won't fill the pie shell of a deep dish but you could use it if that's all you got. It'll just have a little more crust. Thaw it first.
Angela Ellis says
Can I use a blender to mix?
Tanya says
For a blender, you may need to do it in batches. A food processor works.
Karren says
Can I use a mixer instead of whisk to mix the ingredients?
Tanya says
yes you can.
Deb H says
Tanya I made this pie last year and I tried it using Silk Eggnog in lieu of evaporated milk. It was a real hit!!!!
Gracie says
Tanya, what would be a dairy free substitute for the evaporated milk?
Tanya says
Hi Gracie, I've only used evaporated milk but I think coconut milk would work fine.
Deb says
@Tanya,
I have seen coconut evaporated milk in a can.
Deb H. says
@Gracie, They actually make coconut evaporated milk. I don't know if you are close to a Sprouts store, but that is where I get mine. I'm sure it would be great in the pie.
Charmaine says
I had heard of sweet potato pie, but had never tried it. I followed your recipe to the letter and it was absolutely DIVINE!!! I made it for my family for Thanksgiving and it was the star of the show. Thank you for sharing this great southern tradition. You have a new fan on the east coast of Canada. 🙂
Wade says
My first time making, and they turned out great. Thank yoi
Billie Patrick says
could you use canned sweet potatoes, that have been drained?
Tanya says
Hi Billie, that should work fine.
Yesha says
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe! Cooking it right now. Oven bound #sweetpotatoepie
Sonja R Schnur says
Soooo to prep the sweet potatoes for the pie it looks like I bake them 40-45 min prior to baking again as pie?????? Instructions are slightly vague for first time bakers🤔🤔😳😳😳😳 or I'm overthinking it 😩😆
Tanya says
Correct, you need cooked sweet potatoes before you mash them and add the remaining ingredients before baking the pie. You can bake them in the oven, air fry them, or microwave them to cook them.
Gini says
@Tanya, do you peel the potatoes after cooking them?
Tanya says
Hi Gini, yes I peel them. I'll make sure to update the recipe card to make that clear. I hope you like the pie.
Michele says
Can you use yams instead of sweet potatoes?
Tanya says
Yams have more starch so it wouldn't come out as creamy.
Mama says
Pie is great but I added a pinch of cloves and I’m in love
Tamara says
I definitely enjoyed the recipe, however I did boil my sweet potatoes and I used store brought crust. I didn’t pre bake the crust, I filled my crust and baked my pies for 50 minutes and they turned out beautiful !!!
Tanya says
Thanks so much for the feedback Tamara!So glad you liked the pie 🙂