Sweet Potato Pie

By Amanda Hesser

Updated Dec. 16, 2024

Sweet Potato Pie
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 55 minutes
Rating
5(1,257)
Comments
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This mildly-sweet version of the classic Southern pie has a crisp crust and a filling that's surprisingly light. It's rich with egg and boldly spiced with nutmeg, but as fluffy as chiffon (a quality owed to the baking powder in the filling). This means you'll probably have room for two (or three) pieces.

(Don't let making your own pie crust intimidate you: our pie guide has everything you need to know.)

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch pie
  • 3medium sweet potatoes, peeled (about 1¾ pounds)
  • 5tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • ¾cup sugar
  • 1¼teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1large egg
  • ½teaspoon vanilla
  • 2¼teaspoons baking powder
  • 3tablespoons evaporated milk
  • Unbaked pie shell, 9 inches (see recipe)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until very tender, about 45 minutes. Drain well.

  2. Step 2

    Mash the potatoes in a bowl. The potatoes should yield about 2¾ cups mashed potatoes.

  3. Step 3

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add butter to hot potatoes, and mash until smooth. Add sugar, nutmeg, egg and vanilla, mixing well. Combine baking powder with evaporated milk, and stir to blend. Add to mashed potatoes. Whisk mixture until velvety.

  4. Step 4

    Mound into pie shell, then spread evenly to edges.

  5. Step 5

    Bake until pie has set and is lightly browned on top, about 55 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,257 user ratings
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Comments

Doug Johnston

A few suggestions--from somebody who has been cooking sweet potato pies since 1970--as I first experienced them first-hand baked by Princess Pamela, founder of the Soul Food Kitchen.

First--baking the sweet potatoes--in their skins--until soft will yield a much more flavorful sweet potato base--with wonderful hints of caramelization boiling them will never produce.

And evaporated milk was a wartime answer to ahortage of heavy cream. Heavy cream is no longer in short supply. And tastes better.

Traci

So I made this again using the recommendations of others that I bake the potatoes instead of boil and use cream instead of evaporated milk. The first pie was a 5 star, but with the suggested changes. It's now a 5 plus star. Highly recommend trying these changes to the recipe.

JMac

I've been making sweet potato pies for over 50 years, as my mother and grandmother did before me. We use at least half brown sugar, roast the potatoes rather than boiling, and season with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and a lot of ginger. It's true that the WWII generation used evaporated milk, but I substituted cream. And we used more eggs, which makes the pies light. The day after Thanksgiving, we eat the leftovers for breakfast!

Carla Ann Blumberg (www.astccc.net)

For real sex appeal, use the Paul Prudhome recipe. https://approvedpromo.info/recipes/6235-paul-prudhommes-sweet-potato-pecan-pie%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cdiv class="noteactions_noteActions__VlyP0">

Heidi

Sweet potatoes, or yams??

Kas

What does the baking powder do?

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