A sumptuous slice of sweet potato pie is the truly Southern way to send off your holiday feast. My bourbon sweet potato pie is filled with caramelized roasted sweet potatoes, warm fall spices, and a splash of bourbon all baked in a butter pie crust. Then it's given the fancy treatment with a gorgeous earth-shattering brulee top to wow all your guests this season!
This recipe was originally posted in November 2020, but has since been updated with step by step photos, better content, and clearer instructions. Thanks for supporting Sweet Tea + Thyme!
My loves, it isn't Thanksgiving without a sweet potato pie. Yes, yes, I know about the pumpkin pie. I hold fond memories of eating my first ever pumpkin pie with my granddaddy, the lanky man on my dad's side who sounded just like Bill Clinton, in his house in the country woods of south Georgia.
But this pie? Sweet potato pie? She is my must have at Thanksgiving, I've never had one without it.
Well, except for that one time I ended up spending Thanksgiving with my grandparents on my dad's side where my grandma didn't know what candied yams were so she bought me literal canned yams, y'all. Like a can of Bruce's canned yams. It was a wild Thanksgiving that year.
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Jump to:
- Homemade Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon
- Quick History on Sweet Potato Pies
- Ingredients
- How to Make Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie from Scratch
- How to Make the Pie Ahead of Time
- Tips for the Brulee Top
- Variations and Pro Tips
- Storing, Freezing, Thawing
- Equipment I Used
- FAQs
- More Thanksgiving Ready Recipes
- Brulee Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie
Homemade Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon
Sweet potato are a tasty starchy tuber, but it's the little things that elevate them to a fall must have. The spices, the caramelized sweet potatoes roasted to perfection, the way it can take on so many different forms: cornbread, pies, tarts, cinnamon rolls...it goes on.
With its gorgeous orange color, creamy and smooth filling, the crust is nice and flaky, and naturally sweet, rich flavor complimented by the warmth of holiday spices, sweet potato pie is the true love of every Black American and Southern household.
This recipe is a spin on my grandma's traditional sweet potato pie filling, with a shot of warm and spicy Kentucky bourbon mixed in and a very special creme brulee style sugar topping on the pie.
All those classic holiday flavors --vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger-- get a boost from the bourbon. And I know you wouldn't think a sugar crust would add flavor, but if you've ever had creme brulee you'll recognize that complex caramel flavor that comes from the sugar.
This recipe is just as great as the sum of its parts; and while it sounds complex, it's really quite forgiving and straightforward to make.
Quick History on Sweet Potato Pies
Sweet potato pies have been around for centuries, as Americans were trying to keep up with the English and their new-fangled squash-pumpkin pies.
While the northern states took on pumpkin because they grew easily there, sweet potato was farmed much more easily on the plantations of the South and the enslaved Black Americans learned to recreate the trendy dessert for their enslavers.
After sugar became affordable and Black Americans were freed from slavery, sweet potato pie has stayed a recipe saved for celebrations in Black homes and on Southern tables.
Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes - I always keep some sweet potato puree on hand in the fall because I am using them in everything! All you need to do is bake the sweet potatoes at 350 on a baking sheet for an hour, then run the fork tender potatoes through a potato ricer or food mill to make string free (they're very stringy!) roasted sweet potato puree.
- Unsalted Butter
- Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar - the molasses in brown sugar adds depth!
- Eggs - this is a custard, the eggs in this recipe are crucial to setting the pie filling and giving it body.
- Vanilla Extract
- Spices - you may be surprised at the addition of black pepper, but those little peppercorns add a tiny bit of spice that is just so good!
- Evaporated Milk - it makes the pie more stable while baking so you'll have less of a chance of failing.
- Bourbon - There's no need to go out and buy a fancy bottle of bourbon if that's not how you do things. Sweet potatoes and bourbon pair so well together, they're a match made in heaven. I also have used spiced rum in a test batch and it was delicious so even if you don't have bourbon, rum is a great substitution.
- 9-inch pie crust
- Turbinado Sugar- this is 'sugar in the raw', or raw sugar. It has bigger crystals that I love when I make the brulee, but it's also optional.
How to Make Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie from Scratch
Step 1 | Beat together the sugars and butter with an electric hand mixer.
Step 2 | Then you mix everything but the sweet potatoes in that bowl.
Step 3 | Now gently whisk in the mashed sweet potato puree! Don't overmix, just until it's all combined.
Step 4 | Pour the sweet potato filling into the pie dough and bake the pie for 50 minutes up to an hour. The center of the pie should be jiggling slightly.
Step 5 | Let the pie cool to room temperature before covering with plastic wrap. Store the pie in the fridge if you're making this ahead of time.
Step 6 | Take the chilled pie out of the fridge and cover with sugar, mostly granulated sugar with some turbinado sugar.
Step 7 | Carefully burn the sugar with a kitchen torch. Some darkness is okay, it is burnt sugar after all!
How to Make the Pie Ahead of Time
Once the pie is baked, store the it in the fridge for up to 2 days ahead of serving. On the day of serving, you want to blot off any moisture from the pot of the pie and burn the sugar on it. This must be done the day of serving, that crunchy sugar topping softens in the fridge.
Let the finished pie cool on the counter for 30 minutes before serving so the heat from the brulee cools down.
This pie is great served topped with pumpkin spice whipped cream or maple meringue!
Tips for the Brulee Top
Here’s what makes our bourbon sweet potato pie really special: the caramelized sugar crust. We brûlée it (that fancy French word for “burnt”) to get that awesome crackly top, like crème brûlée.
We use a culinary torch to caramelize a mix of regular sugar and turbinado sugar. These torches are pretty cheap (I snagged mine for $15 on Amazon) and super handy—not just for brûlée, but also for toasting meringue or giving some color to sous vide dishes. Just make sure you know how to handle your torch safely.
To brûlée, set your torch to a medium flame and gently wave it over the sugar, moving it around to keep it from burning. You’ll see the sugar melt and bubble up, turning brown as it caramelizes. Stop when it’s all nicely browned and crackling—better to play it safe and not overdo it since you can always go back for more.
What you end up with? A stunning, glassy crust that’s so fun to crack and goes perfectly with your bourbon sweet potato pie.
Variations and Pro Tips
- It's perfectly okay to use a store-bought pie crust, honey. We have so much more to worry about on Thanksgiving than making a crust from scratch, right?
- Blind baking pie crust - if you're using a store-bought pie crust, I suggest blind baking. This is simple partially baking the pie dough ahead of time covered with parchment paper and weighed down with pie weights for 15 minutes.
- Do not use canned 'yams' or sweet potatoes, they do not have the same flavor and do not caramelize as well when roasted (they're also already soft and covered in liquid which makes it more difficult to get those rich, roasty flavors).
- Please do not use actual 'yams'! Yams are a completely different vegetable, with a rough, dark brown bark-like skin and white flesh. I personally love garnet sweet potatoes, which have a pretty red skin and very sweet bright orange flesh. Any other sweet potato variety will do, though. Even purple ones (though it is more starchy).
- Remember: It should jiggle, just a little, in the middle. That's when you know your pie is done.
Storing, Freezing, Thawing
Since sweet potato pies are custard pies, they need to be stored in the fridge. So store sweet potato pie covered with plastic wrap in the fridge for 4 days or freeze it for up to a month. Just remember, the brûlée crust should be done on the day of serving. If you're making the pie ahead of Thanksgiving or another holiday, bake it fully, let it cool completely to room temperature, freeze it, and then thaw it in the fridge for about 24 hours to avoid a soggy, weepy crust.
When ready to serve, blot any moisture with a paper towel and caramelize the sugar for that perfect crackly crust. Sweet potato pie is great served chilled or at room temperature. Do not to leave the pie out at room temperature for more than 2 hours!.
Since the pie only needs about an hour to bake and a few hours to chill, making it the day before is a great make ahead tip—just brûlée it on the day you plan to serve!
Equipment I Used
- 9-inch Pie Dish
- Oven Thermometer (for accurate temperatures)
- Turbinado Sugar (if you can't find it at the store)
FAQs
Cracks in custard pies happen when the eggs overcook, usually from a too-hot oven or baking a bit too long. But don’t worry—unless it’s in there over an hour, even with cracks around the edges, it’ll still be creamy and delicious. Once you brûlée the sugar on top, no one will notice anyway!
So if it cracks, don’t panic. If there was some jiggle in the center, it's still perfect. The cracks are just a little secret between you, the Lord, and the ancestors who probably nudged you to pull it out earlier!
About 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes make a cup of mashed sweet potato puree.
I'm always going to tell you to roast them! Sweet potatoes taste their very best roasted, their sugars caramelized and the flavor concentrated thanks to the water in them evaporating. If you want the best tasting pie, roast those 'taters!
More Thanksgiving Ready Recipes
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Brulee Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Pie
- 8 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, finely ground
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups sweet potatoes, roasted and mashed (about 4 medium sweet potatoes)
- ½ cup evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 1 unbaked pie crust, 9 inch
Caramelized Brulee Sugar Crust
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
- 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃/Gas Mark 4).
- In a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream together unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy, about 3 minutes.8 tablespoon unsalted butter, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- Add eggs, vanilla, spices, and salt, and beat until all incorporated. Mix in evaporated milk and bourbon, then add the mashed roasted sweet potato. Whisk together by hand until smooth and creamy then pour the filling into your unbaked pie shell.2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 2 cups sweet potatoes, ½ cup evaporated milk, 1 tablespoon bourbon, 1 unbaked pie crust
- Bake your sweet potato pie on the bottom rack of the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the center of your pie is just a little jiggly. It'll be puffy when it comes out but will deflate as it cools. Let cool to room temperature or chill in the fridge before starting the brulee process.
Brulee Sugar Crust
- Blot any moisture from the top of your pie gently with a paper towel, then sprinkle the sugars onto the pie. Tilt and shake the pie gently to cover the top of the pie in sugar then shake excess granules off into a sink or bowl. Repeat this step with granulated sugar until the entire pie is covered in sugar.1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Using a culinary torch on medium flame, hover about 3 inches over the pie and focus on small areas with the flame, constantly moving so the sugar doesn't burn. As the sugar caramelizes, wisps of steam will come up and the sugar will turn brown, this is your cue to move on to a new section. Continue this process until the entire pie is completed.
- Let the pie cool from the heat for about 5-10 minutes and serve. The brulee crust does not last in the fridge, but the pie itself can be made days ahead of time.
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