Made with baked sweet potatoes and brown sugar, this Sweet Potato Pie recipe is perfectly creamy and dense. Top with whipped cream for the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table.
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Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
This pie has become a holiday dessert table staple in our home, and for good reason. Here are a few reasons why.
- Perfect for Thanksgiving. This sweet potato pie is a Southern classic that absolutely deserves it’s prime spot on your Thanksgiving dessert table! It’s similar to pumpkin pie, but with a softer flavor.
- Perfectly spiced. My sweet potato pie recipe is sweet, creamy and perfectly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of cloves. Brown sugar gives it a slightly caramel flavor that is beyond delicious.
- Easy to make. If you can make sweet potato casserole, you can make this sweet potato pie! It takes just a few easy steps and you can even make a day in advance.
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 pie cheesecake.
What You’ll Need
There are a few key ingredients to ensure this Sweet Potato Pie recipe turns out perfect:
- Sweet potatoes – I like to bake my sweet potatoes for sweet potato pie. Baked sweet potatoes are much more moist than boiled sweet potatoes. The instant pot makes them extra moist as well!
- Unsalted butter – At room temperature so it is easier to mix in. If you have little butter lumps in your pie batter, don’t worry, it will bake just fine!
- 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, and salt. 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.
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust – I use my favorite homemade pie crust, but you can also use a store bought pie crust.
Why Bake The Sweet Potatoes?
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.
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 350°F.
- 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!
Tips for Success
Here are a few tips to help you perfect your sweet potato pie on the very first time!
- Use whole milk. You definitely want to use whole milk for this recipe. Using 2% or skim will thin the following a bit more than desired.
- How do you know when sweet potato pie is done? The easiest way to tell is to insert a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, the pie is ready.
- 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.
- Can I add buttermilk? I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe, but it sounds like you are looking for my other classic recipe for a slightly tangy sweet potato pie. While very similar, my buttermilk sweet potato pie is made with buttermilk to give it a little different flavor.
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. 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 In Advance?
Yes! Sweet potato pie is perfect for making up to a couple of days in advance. Even if you don’t want to bake the pie in advance, you can make the sweet potatoes themselves so you don’t have to wait for them to cool before assembling the pie.
How to Store Homemade Sweet Potato Pie
- Fridge: Wrap your sweet potato pie tightly with plastic wrap and/or foil. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: While you can definitely serve this pie chilled, you can also serve it at room temperature or pop it in the microwave for about 20 seconds.
- Freeze: Allow it to cool completely then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then again in foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge then serve as desired.
More Easy Thanksgiving Recipes
- Best Thanksgiving Turkey
- Best Green Bean Casserole
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Easy Jiffy Corn Casserole
- Best Homemade Stuffing
- Cranberry Relish
- Air Fryer Ham
- Fried Apples
- Apple Cranberry Sauce
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet potatoes
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- a pinch of ground cloves
- 1 9 inch unbaked homemade pie crust (or store bought)
recommend topping options:
- whip cream, or cool whip
- marshmallow fluff
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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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I have never made a pie before would you be able to use canned sweet potatoes or is it better to use fresh sweet potatoes.
Hi Amy! I highly recommend fresh sweet potatoes for this recipe, the moisture content will be off if you used canned sweet potatoes.
I followed the recipe and it has good flavor and texture, but it’s too sweet. I served it with homemade whipped cream that was lightly sweetened. I’ll look for another recipe next time or try reducing the sugar to about 2/3 cup total.
First time I’ve ever made a sweet potatoe pie. It came out so beautiful and delicious. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. Merry Christmas.
I’ve never baked sweet patatos in foil, what is the purpose, & what is marshmallow fluff?
Baking sweet potatoes in foil keeps them more moist (the moisture is trapped inside while it cooks and it essentially helps to steam the sweet potato from the inside). Marshmallow fluff is a jarred version of soft marshmallow cream.
I like orange flavor can I substitute clove for orange zest?
Sure! You can also include the clove and orange zest! The combo would be delicious.
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!
I know it’s been over 2 yrs since Allyson’s comment but,. My granny grew up the only child on a dairy farm. Long story, anyway she always used baked sweet potatoes.
Everyone loved her pies. She gave out her recipe to some people but it never tasted anywhere near the same. What she didn’t tell them was about using only baked sweet potatoes.
The main comment is about the “Oleo”. My granny and my mom used Oleo butter. My mom was the bread winner of a family of 6 making $92 a week after a 5 cent rise. Granny was the only person who worked and ran a cattle farm and grow a huge garden. Granddaddy was disabled but did the plowing and planting of the fields with his tractor.
“Oleo” Is butter. The 4 stick pack of butter and margarine was to expensive. So we always used the 1 lb cake of Oleo brand butter. It said “Butter” right on the label.
We lived in the old house up the hill from her and grandady. I was there all the time watching her cook. Rolling out biscuits and pie crust.
When she made sweet potato pie, she rolled out her crust grabbed some potatoes from the, fresh from the garden, one’s she had on hand. She always baked 4 or more pans of sweet potatoes at a time.
After we ate our fill, she made 3 or 4 pies for whoever wanted them. And to “dinner on the ground” Sunday’s.
When I grew up I did the same. The ladies there said their pies didn’t taste as good as mine. I told them why.
If you read this far you read the whole book. For the very best sweet potato pie use baked sweet potatoes. And Oleo is butter. Alice
Same Allyson, here. My mom told me Oleo was margarine back in the day. I had no idea it was butter. I also make these pies with baked sweet potatoes now. Much better than boiled. The things you learn on the most unassuming sites.
[…] 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 […]
Forget all the other sweet potato pie recipes you’ve ever used.
Hands down this is exactly the way a sweet potato pie should be made. The perfect combination of brown and white sugar, not too much, not too little.
I just finished making it and my family is salivating waiting for it to cool off enough for us to have it for dessert.
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.