This creamy homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe is an ultimate Southern classic made with baked sweet potatoes, butter, milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg!
Table of Contents
- My Favorite Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
- What is Better: Sweet Potato Pie or Pumpkin Pie?
- Baked Sweet Potatoes Make the Best Pie
- Sweet Potato Pie Ingredients
- How to Make Sweet Potato Pie from Scratch
- Toppings Ideas
- Can I make this pie ahead of time?
- How to Store Homemade Sweet Potato Pie
- Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
- More Thanksgiving Recipes!
My Favorite Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
I precisely remember the first time I had a bite of Sweet Potato Pie and falling immediately in love. It’s similar to pumpkin pie, but with a softer flavor. Since that first bite, I have been on the hunt for my version of a perfect sweet potato pie and I have finally got it just right.
My sweet potato pie recipe is sweet, creamy and perfectly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of cloves. It’s in a basic pie crust and uses baked sweet potatoes to keep it extra moist and easy to make. Brown sugar gives it a slightly caramel flavor that is beyond delicious!
I’m excited to share this recipe and all my tips and tricks on how to make the best sweet potato pie!
What is Better: Sweet Potato Pie or Pumpkin Pie?
This is the ultimate Fall dessert debate isn’t it? If you ask me they are both must-make pies this time of year. Why not make a sweet potato pie and a pumpkin pie? Or if you want to mix things up slightly, you could make a Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Baked Sweet Potatoes Make the Best Pie
I highly recommend you bake your sweet potatoes for this sweet potato pie recipe. Why?
- Keeps your sweet potatoes moist: When you boil your sweet potatoes in water on the stove top, once you mash the sweet potatoes, they are actually much drier when compared to a baked sweet potato. By contrast, when you bake a sweet potato, the moisture inside the potato stays inside.
- Less dishes to clean! Another bonus to baking your sweet potatoes — you won’t dirty a big pot boiling them or have to watch them on the stove top as they boil. You just need foil and a baking sheet to bake the sweet potatoes in the oven! It’s easy hands off prep time that you don’t have to worry about.
- More flavor: When you bake your sweet potatoes you get a hint of caramel that comes from sugars in the sweet potato cooking in the oven. It’s an incredible combination with the brown sugar in this recipe!
Note: If you do decide to boil your sweet potatoes, you may need to add a little extra butter and milk to your pie mixture. Otherwise, the finished pie may turn out very dry.
Sweet Potato Pie Ingredients
There are a few key ingredients to ensure this Sweet Potato Pie recipe turns out perfect:
- Sweet potatoes – Baked, for the reasons I mentioned above.
- Unsalted butter – At room temperature so it is easier to mix in.
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Whole milk or evaporated milk – Do not use a milk with lower fat content.
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg (freshly grated is great if you have it), cloves.
- You could also use a little pumpkin pie spice instead. I recommend doing 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
- Salt
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust – Homemade pie crust or store bought. Cookies & Cups has a nice pie crust recipe you could use.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie from Scratch
This sweet potato pie is easy to make! Here’s how you do it:
- Bake the sweet potatoes: Heat your oven to 400F. Wrap the sweet potatoes in foil and bake them on a cookie sheet until soft, about 45 minutes. Allow them to cool when done.
- Skin sweet potatoes: Once cooled, remove the skins from your sweet potatoes. You can do this by just pulling the skins back and scooping out the soft sweet potato flesh.
- Heat oven to 350F.
- Make the sweet potato pie filling: Mash the sweet potatoes and room temperature butter together in a large bowl. Whisk in the sugars, milk, eggs, vanilla, spices and salt. Keep whisking until the filling is well combined.
- Bake your pie: Pour the filling into an unbaked pie crust. Bake for 50-6o minutes. You will know your sweet potato pie is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The pie will rise while baking and then deflate after it cools.
- Serve. You can serve it warm or chilled. If you chill your pie you can add a dollop of whipped cream or marshmallow fluff on top!
Toppings Ideas
You absolutely do not need any toppings for this particular sweet potato pie recipe, it is perfect as is! However, I have a few suggestions of possible fun toppings you can add:
- Whip Cream
- Marshmallow Fluff (as seen in the photos)
- Ice Cream
- Cool Whip
I personally like mine best topped with a dollop of Marshmallow Fluff and then if I am feeling fancy I hit it with a cooking blow torch (affiliate link). Second best topping option, is a dollop of homemade whip cream. It’s the most classic topping and always delicious.
Can I make this pie ahead of time?
Yes! This Sweet Potato Pie is delicious served warm, room temperature or chilled. You can’t go wrong, it’s all about personal preference. However, no matter which way you choose to serve it, you can easily bake this Sweet Potato Pie up to 24 hours before and no one will be the wiser!
How to Store Homemade Sweet Potato Pie
- Allow sweet potato pie to cool completely on the counter. If you try to put it into the fridge too early, the top can crack and condensation can form and ruin the top of the pie.
- Wrap the sweet potato pie tightly with saran wrap (or cling wrap/foil) and place in the fridge.
You can serve the sweet potato pie chilled, reheat a slice for 20 seconds in the microwave to serve it warm or serve it at room temperature.
This Sweet Potato Pie is a Southern classic that absolutely deserves it’s prime spot on your Thanksgiving dessert table! While pumpkin pie may be the king of Thanksgiving, I highly recommend you give this Sweet Potato Pie recipe a try.
If you are looking for more awesome Thanksgiving recipes, make sure and check out these other Southern classics that my family loves:
- Best Thanksgiving Turkey
- Best Green Bean Casserole
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Corn Casserole
- Cranberry Relish
- Fried Apples
When you try this recipe, please leave a review/comment below to let me know how it turns out!
Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
This creamy homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe is an ultimate Southern classic made with baked sweet potatoes, butter, milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg!
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- a pinch of ground cloves
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (homemade or store bought)
recommend topping options:
- whip cream (or cool whip)
- marshmallow fluff
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap sweet potatoes with foil and bake on a cookie sheet until soft, about 45 minutes (or longer if your sweet potatoes are extra large).
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Once sweet potatoes are cooled, preheat oven to 350°F. Remove foil and skin from sweet potatoes.
- In a large bowl, mash sweet potatoes and butter until completely smooth. Whisk in sugar, brown sugar, whole milk, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves. Whisk until mixture is well combined.
- Pour filing into unbaked piecrust. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The pie will rise while baking and then deflate as it cools.
- Serve warm or chilled with a dollop of whip cream or marshmallow fluff!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10 slicesServing Size:
1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 299Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 63mgSodium: 165mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 2gSugar: 23gProtein: 4g
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So, my family’s recipe, going back a couple generations so it legit says “Oleo” instead of margarine because butter back then was not cheap, has always called for Eagle Brand Condensed Milk and both sugars but since I’ve taken up the pie-making. I’ve been omitting the white sugar because it’s just too sweet for me now that I’m an adult and now can control the amount of sugar in my food. We’ve always boiled the potatoes with the skins on. I plan to try baking them this time on Thursday morning. I’m always looking to try new things and make family recipes better. Also, never thought to do marshmallow fluff. I might try that on one of the pies. The family recipe makes 2 pies because the first one is always gone within minutes of dessert time. I also made our recipe and brought the pie to a Christmas dinner with my ex-boyfriend’s family. There was a relative born and raised in Louisiana there and he said it was the best sweet potato pie he’d ever had. So, of course, I want to make it even better!
[…] and a great alternative for those who don’t want pumpkin pie. While the flavors are similar, Sweet Potato Pie has a much milder flavor than pumpkin pie. For this recipe, it’s important to bake your sweet […]
This is an easy to make sweet potato pie and DELICIOUS. I boiled my potatoes in their skins then removed skin promptly when cool enough to handle, insuring sugars melt. I used 2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes. Next time will bake. This is my 2nd pie, 1st one was eaten within an hour.
Thank you very much, this is my first time making a sweet potato pie, it came out very good. I follow all your instruction, I even made some homemade whip cream to go with my sweet potato pie. I gave some to my friends and they all love it. I used fresh grated nutmeg, clove.
Great alternative to pumpkin pie. Just as delicious!
This Sweet Potato Pie looks totally awesome!
What a great recipe and perfect for fall! Looking forward to enjoying this over the next few weeks! Delish!
mmm…I would LOVE a slice of this sweet potato pie! It looks absolutely ahhmazing!!
I have never thought of this idea, it looks incredible!!
This sweet potato pie is on my Thanksgiving dinner menu. Love it!
This is a must have for every dessert table this holiday season. Looks amazing!
This recipe is easy and delicious. It is a light consistency. I added pecan strudel on top. My son loved it.
Re sweet potato pie recipe- do you mean ground cloves?They don’t appear in the instructions. I guess we mix them in with the other spices. Thank you.