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The real deal. The classic. This old fashioned southern sweet potato pie recipe is a piece of my childhood made by both my mama and grandma. Made with simple ingredients, this is the best sweet potato pie recipe you will ever have grace your holiday tables.
I gave y'all my grandma's southern candied yams recipe, which is an absolute hit every year, and now it's time for you to get reacquainted with her southern sweet potato pie.
My grandma lives in a small town in northern Georgia, and my childhood summers were filled with sitting with her tending her massive garden, having frogs hop out of giant leaves of collard greens, picking pears and peaches from her trees, and her making multiple sweet potato pies for Thanksgiving because I would eat a whole pie by myself.
Sweet potato pie is a southern tradition that when you take a bite out of it, the word 'love' comes to mind. True soul food and comfort in a sweet and smooth southern dessert with a flaky buttery crust.
This sweet potato pie is creamy, rich, and flavorful. Made with brown sugar, whole roasted sweet potatoes, and plenty of spice, then served with a dollop of whipped cream (or some meringue if you're feeling fancy) this particular sweet potato pie recipe has been passed down from my grandma, to my mama, to me...and now to you, honey.
It's not fussy, no craziness. I'm not asking you to whip out the food processor or get the stand or electric hand mixer out. There's no need to make a meringue or bust out the corn syrup. She's simple, sweet, and stunning, and is my family's all time favorite thanksgiving dessert.
Jump to:
Origins of Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet potato pie is a Black American tradition, dating back to when Africans were kidnapped and taken from their homes to a new country that didn't have yams, which are a white-fleshed tuber found in many countries of Africa and Asia.
But sweet potato wasn't unfamiliar to many of the West Africans, because the Spanish had brought it to them in Africa centuries prior, which wasn't a big hit compared to the more popular plantain, cassava, and yam.
Meanwhile, in Europe, sugared vegetable, potato, and squash custard pies were all the rage, filled with heavy cream and sugars. Even the monarchy and Shakespeare enjoyed them so much he wrote into the play 'The Merry Wives of Windsor', "Let the sky rain potatoes!"
Slave traffickers and plantation owners had the enslaved Black American chefs recreate the squash pies, but because sweet potatoes grew more abundantly and easily as crops in the South, the enslaved chefs would make pies with sweet potato.
But in the cabins of the enslaved Africans and their families, sweet potatoes were not the in-thing.
However, sweets in general were not part of their diets, just like in West Africa where desserts aren't a big part of food culture. Dessert was usually skillet cornbread or hot water cornbread with molasses and fruit. They didn't have the ability to buy the expensive processed sugars and flour or have the advanced ovens in their cabins to bake a pie.
Sweet potato made its way slowly into the diets of Black Americans, first simply roasted whole and seasoned with spices, then turned into something called 'sweet potato pound' a twist on of a type of Native American baked bread. It was accepted as something that could be used similarly to yam, since the familiar tubers of Africa did not grow in the Southern US.
After Emancipation, Black Americans were able to create sweet potato pies for their own families and other sweet potato recipes, usually saved for special occasions like the holiday season, Easter, family reunions, birthdays, etc. Sweet potato pie became a staple at every thanksgiving dinner.
Once the KKK was established in the South many Black Americans left the South for the North, where pumpkin pie reigns supreme, bringing the beloved southern pie with them across the rest of the country.
How to Choose Good Sweet Potatoes
Choosing a good sweet potato is important, the worst thing is having unusable sweet potatoes when you are making a pie or candied yams. Sweet potatoes are amazing to have in your diet and considered one of the healthiest foods in the world, full of fiber, vitamin A, Vitamin B6, vitamin c, and beta-carotene.
And because they're so naturally sweet, sweet potato pies have less sugar than a typical pumpkin pie.
When looking for sweet potatoes, look for small or medium sized ones. Large sweet potatoes have much more starch than the smaller ones which are creamier in texture and sweeter.
Good sweet potatoes are smooth and firm, with tan skin that doesn't have any cracks or bruises, either.
What does Sweet Potato Pie Taste Like
Classic sweet potato pie has a lot more flavor than pumpkin, let's just put it out there in the open, people. It has a naturally sweet, rich, and caramelized flavor, especially since we are roasting the potatoes in the oven.
And I don't want to see not nary a can of yams, let me tell you how my Panamanian grandma tried to make me 'yams' by bringing out a can of those mushy boiled things...scarred for life! Don't do it. Do like my Grandma Reid and use whole sweet potatoes.
The sweet potato pie is creamy and the texture is lighter than a pumpkin pie, and it goes so well with a dollop of whipped cream!
With that caramelized sweetness, we have all those nice warm fall spices. I also love adding a dash of cardamom and about ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Don't look at me like that! The black pepper just gives it that extra oomph, some zing, it's just so darn good.
The basics are ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove. Basically pumpkin pie spice, but the sweet potato actually adds flavor to it so it doesn't just taste like spices.
Yes, I'm a little shady. Sweet potato will forever reign in my heart, even if pumpkin pie is delicious, too.
Making Sweet Potato Pie
By the way, I see y'all out here looking for 'black folks sweet potato pie'. I'm not judging, because y'all find my soul food mac and cheese by looking up 'black folks mac and cheese' all the time! So don't worry, you know I've got you covered.
Ingredients
Flaky, Tender, Buttery Pie Crust
All-Purpose Flour. The everyday flour you have is exactly what we need here.
Ice cold unsalted butter and leaf lard. I promise you, this crust is basically foolproof. It's flaky, crisp, and tender....all because of the butter and leaf lard.
Kosher Salt. I keep telling y'all to throw out that table salt and get cheffy with it, honey! Kosher salt will change the way you season and cook food!
Ice Water. I want you to keep this in mind the entire time you're making this pie from beginning to oven: don't melt that fat until it's in the oven. The ice water keeps the pie crust cold while you're working it and making it come together.
Filling
Sweet Potatoes. I prefer Jewel or Garnet varieties, they're sweet and have a beautiful color. Do not use purple or white sweet potatoes, they're drier and starchier than your classic orange ones.
Eggs. This is a custard pie, it needs eggs to bind together and set. IF you end up with a soupy pie, try to remember...did you add the eggs?
Ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves. You want your pie to be well seasoned and spiced. I also like adding cardamom and a little black pepper. Don't knock it 'til you try it!
Evaporated Milk. A must have, cannot use regular milk, cannot use heavy cream. Go find a can of carnation milk (or any other brand really but most black folk call evaporated milk 'carnation' in general) and crank it open.
Vanilla Extract. Gotta use a good vanilla, as Ina Garten would say. I made my own vanilla extract, which I can't wait to bring to you guys soon!
Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar. No explanation necessary.
Creating the Pie
First thing first, make the pie crust. I stand by my favorite pie crust recipe: Butter and Leaf Lard.
Those two are a serious flaky, tender pie crust powerhouse. It doesn't have a porky flavor because leaf-lard is made from an entirely different fat and is delicate in flavor. But its high melting point gives us amazingly flaky, tender pie crust, while the butter gives us that delicious flavor.
You can keep the uncooked pie crust in the fridge overnight up to 3 days ahead of when you need it.
You pour your filling into the unbaked pie crust, don't blind bake, it's not needed, okay? You can if you want to, but we've never had to.
Next, making the sweet potato pie filling. You'll need to start by roasting about six medium sized fresh sweet potatoes. You don't want those super large ones, they're more starchy. You'll want to use Garnet or Jewel sweet potatoes if you can find them for the best flavor but any sweet potato variety will work. Roast them until they're fork tender, then let cool a little before peeling.
Next, rice the sweet potato flesh with a potato ricer. You don't want to activate the starches by blending it up in a food processor, electric mixer, or blender (ever mix or blend potatoes before? They usually become goopy and gluey because of the starch!) but you want to get rid of those pesky strings. No one wants a stringy pie!
Ricing does the trick! It 'rices' the flesh to a smooth consistency but keeps all of the strings inside of it.
After that, make the custard part of the pie filling. It's simple: eggs, evaporated milk, brown sugar and white sugar, spices, butter, vanilla extract, all the good stuff. Whisk it up, then use a rubber spatula to stir in the sweet potatoes. The sweet potato mixture will be thick, and that's exactly what we want. This custard can stay in the fridge overnight covered in plastic wrap. The butter will solidify, it is perfectly fine.
You only need one pie crust for this pie, unless you decide to do a pretty cut-out leaf stampers-made pattern like I did here. I used about half the other pie dough for those leaves, but you can double the filling and make two pies instead. I found those leaf stampers on Amazon.
Roll out the pie crust, give it a crimp, and pour in the pie filling. Bake at the bottom of a 375 degree oven (just like in my deep dish apple pie recipe, make sure to keep it on top of a cookie sheet to protect your oven from bubbliness...or in this case, rogue melting butter. I also suggest using a pie shield while baking to protect the crust from getting over-browned or burned.
The pie done when its juuuuust set, with a little jiggle in the middle, baked for about an hour. Then let miss sweet potato pie cool completely before storing in the fridge or you can serve her warm with freshly made whipped cream!
Freezing and Storing your Pie
Store by wrapping it up in plastic wrap and keeping in the fridge. It is a custard pie (dairy and eggs) and therefore needs to be refrigerated for up to 3 days. So this pie can be baked a few days ahead of Thanksgiving or any other holiday or special occasion and just warm it up in a low oven.
You also can freeze your baked pie by wrapping it in many layers of both plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and it'll stay good for 3 months.
To thaw: Leave the pie on the counter to defrost.
To warm up: Bake at 200 degrees F until warm, about 10-15 minutes.
Tips for the Best Southern Sweet Potato Pie
Keep that pie crust cold! After you roll it out, put it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to keep those fats cold. Anytime that the crust has been messed with, touched on with hands, or sat out on the counter for a little while, you need to get those fats back to being cold and solid. The secret to a flaky, crisp crust is all in keeping that butter and leaf lard cold!
Always roast your sweet potatoes. Boiling will give you soupy, waterlogged filling and flavor. Roasting them caramelizes the natural sugars in the potatoes and deepens the flavor while losing some of the moisture so you will have thicker pie filling.
For clean, smooth pie slices, use a sharp knife and carefully wipe it down with a damp towel or paper towel dipped in hot water. Make sure to cut through the entire crust a couple of times before lifting with a cake lifter, otherwise you'll be missing some pieces.
A few cracks are okay, honestly they don't make for a bad pie at all... but if you want to avoid them: Bake the pie until it wiggles a little in the middle but the edges are set.
More Thanksgiving Desserts:
- Southern Peach Cobbler
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Deep Dish Apple Pie
- Bourbon Brulee Sweet Potato Pie
- Naked Carrot Cake
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📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Southern Sweet Potato Pie
The real deal. The classic. This old fashioned southern sweet potato pie recipe is a piece of my childhood made by both my mama and grandma. Made with simple ingredients, this is the best sweet potato pie recipe you will ever have grace your holiday tables.
Ingredients
Flaky Butter and Leaf Lard Pie Crust
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour, + more for work surface
- 1 ¼ teaspoon (10 g) kosher salt
- 8 tablespoon unsalted butter (112 g), chilled and cubed
- ½ cup (105 g) leaf-lard or vegetable shortening, chilled
- ½ cup (104 to 120mL) ice water*
Sweet Potato Pie Filling
- 6 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 stick butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup evaporated milk
Instructions
To Make Pie Crust
- In a large bowl or food processor, whisk together kosher salt and all-purpose flour. Add the eight tablespoons of butter and the leaf-lard or shortening.
- With a pastry cutter or the food processor on 'pulse', cut the fats and flour together until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Most of the fat should be the size of sweet peas or beans, and larger sized bits of fat are encouraged.
- Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, pour one tablespoon of ice water at a time in and stir with a large rubber spatula or spoon. Stir after each addition of water. Stop adding water when the dough begins to clump together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. It should be slightly, slightly tacky and come together easily. Form the dough into a ball, then divide it into two halves. Flatten each half into 1 inch thick discs. Wrap each dough disc tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour (but they can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days).
To Make Sweet Potato Pie Filling
- Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
- Bake sweet potatoes for 1 hour in the oven on a baking sheet. When done, let cool slightly. Peel the skin off of the potatoes and rice them, with a potato ricer, into a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light in color and creamy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice and salt to the creamed butter and sugar. Add evaporated milk, then pour the mixture into the riced sweet potatoes in the large bowl. Whisk together or stir with rubber baking spatula until smooth and creamy.
To Assemble Pie
- Remove one pie crust disk from the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a work surface. Roll out the disk from the center outward, lifting crust slightly and rotating it 90 degrees after every few rolls. Lift and dust underside with flour every so often to prevent the pie crust from sticking. Roll dough out to be about 11 to 12 inches, and about ⅛" thick.
- With your rolling pin, roll pie crust off the work surface to loosely wrap around the pin and carefully it roll out into the pie dish. Trim the edges to ½ inch beyond the lip of your pie dish, then turn the edge under to create the rim. Press the rim against the pan to form an even edge. Use scraps to fill in any tears, thin spots, or holes in the pie crust. Refrigerate the pie crust for 15 minutes to chill the fats again.
- Pour the pie filling into your unbaked pie crust. Bake on bottom rack of oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until center of pie is still slightly jiggly and the edges are set. Cool for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Serve warm or let cool completely and eat with a dollop of whipped cream.
Notes
*If it's winter or your home is in a place that is particularly dry, you may need a couple more tablespoons of ice water.
I like adding about ¼ to ½ teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper to the filling for some extra spice. A ¼ teaspoon of cardamom, too, brightens up the warm spices.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 491Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 274mgCarbohydrates: 64gFiber: 3gSugar: 30gProtein: 7g
All nutrition facts are estimations. Please see a physician for any health-related inquiries.
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
Mandi says
Hi there, about how many pounds are 6 medium sweet potatoes? I have 4.5 pounds. 4 potatoes. Not sure about measurements? Thanks!
If you’re using medium sized sweet potatoes, you’ll need about 4 cups of mashed sweet potato for the recipe.
Zaire says
I will be trying your recipe this thanksgiving and I’m super excited about it! Is it possible to use whipping cream instead of evaporated milk? I’m wondering if it’ll add a level or richness to it...also what do you think of adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to sweet potato pie?
Substituting heavy whipping cream will not allow the pie to set correctly. It has too much liquid and way more fat than evaporated milk. Baking is chemistry, it can’t have substitutions without knowledge of the chains that bind it together. As for the lemon, that’s up to taste but you need to factor in how much of the evaporated milk it will replace. If there is too much liquid the pie won’t set correctly.
Jori says
Sweet potato pie was the first pie I had when I moved to the US. This brings be back! Looking forward to making this for Thanksgiving.
farwin says
This looks delicious and I love your addition of ground pepper !
Jacqueline Debono says
I have yet to try or make a sweet potato pie but yours looks and sounds to-die-for! Definitely want to give this recipe a try. On my bucket list!
Andrea Metlika says
This pie looks Fabulous! I eat sweet potato pie every year but yours sounds like the best with the roasted potatoes.
Chris Collins says
Now this looks like one heck of a sweet potato pie! Seriously can't wait to try the recipe!!
Armelle_dee says
I have tried this over the weekend, I wanted to take a picture, but the people around me couldn't wait to taste it and I was too tired to fight them. It was so delicious. Thanks for sharing this
Honey, that’s why I made two, one for everyone else and one just for me!
Casandra says
This looks amazing. Way better than a Patti Pie lol
Andrea @ Beautiful Eats & Things says
The black pepper addition is genius! I will add this recipe to my "Must Try" list!
alsothecrumbsplease says
Your sweet potato pie looks and sounds beyond delicious! Great recipe. Perfect for Thanksgiving.
Thank you! Thanks for stopping by!
Jeni @ Biscuits & Booze says
LOVE the blog name, and I love sweet potato pie. I can't wait to make this for my husband - he's from London and has never tried it!
I love your blog name, too! He’ll love the pie, sweet potatoes and spice are irresistible!
Mary says
I looove roasted sweet potatoes in just about anything. This pie looks amazing!
Thank you! And so do I!
Beeta says
I love that you roast your sweet potatoes - talk about flavorrrr! And the trick with the black pepper? Brilliant! This sweet potato pie looks so incredible <3
Thank you, Beeta! The roasted potatoes (instead of boiled) add a deep, rich sweetness that just blows boiled potatoes away. Thanks for stopping by!
cheddarben says
I have never made, or eaten, sweet potato pie... but I feel it has to be on my bucket list. The flavors have to work well together.
Trust me, Sweet Potato Pie is life giving!
Dannii says
I have never had sweet potato in a sweet dish before, but this would be great to serve up at a dinner party.