Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
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This delicious sweet potato pie with the perfect crispy homemade crust and marshmallow merengue is the better holiday dessert. Leave the pumpkin pie at home this year and try this one instead.
Who doesn’t like to finish off their meal with a sweet treat? If you and your family are the same, check out my Pecan Pie or Chocolate Chess Pie.
Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet Potato Pie is a delicious dessert made from cooked mashed sweet potatoes combined with spices and sugar and baked in a pie crust until firm. It is often served with meringue or whipped cream.
It tastes similar to pumpkin pie, but the textures are different, and the flavors are far more intense. While pumpkin pie is a bit dense and loaded with spice flavors, sweet potato pie is fluffy and sweet, with a hint of cinnamon. This pie offers the perfect flavor combination of sweet and savory, and once you eat it, you’ll forget all about pumpkin pie.
History of Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet potatoes were introduced from Central America to North America during the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Black slaves immediately welcomed them in southern states because they were like the African yam. However, it wasn’t until later that sweet potatoes became famous in Europe, where they’re known for making root vegetables cooked in pie dough.
From there, it made its way back to a young America and became popularized throughout the colonies, specifically in Southern kitchens by African American slaves.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Potatoes – I usually use fresh, basic red sweet potatoes for this recipe. However, you can use any breed of fresh sweet potato or yam for this pie. In addition, if you only have frozen or canned sweet potatoes or yams, you will still use the 50-ounce total for the filling.
- Flour – All-purpose or bread flour may be used for the pie crust.
- Sugar — Light brown, dark brown, or granulated sugar works well for the filling. A little bit of granulated sugar is also used in the pie crust. You can make brown sugar at home by mixing 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of molasses.
- Spices – I prefer just a few spice ingredients, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. However, you can use pumpkin pie spice.
- Eggs — You will need large eggs for the filling and large egg whites for the meringue. With the leftover egg yolks, you can make things like sabayon cream, crème anglaise, or Caesar salad dressing.
- Milk — The filling can be made with Heavy cream, half-and-half, whole, 1%, 2%, or skim milk.
- Fat – The secret to a perfect flaky pie crust is lard. However, butter or rendered bacon fat will also work. You will also need some unsalted butter for the sweet potato pie filling. I always like to use unsalted butter to control the sodium content.
- Salt — Coarse salt is used in both the crust and filling. I almost always use coarse kosher salt in my cooking and baking.
- Water – You will need some ice-cold water to help bring the dough for the crust together.
- Marshmallows – I sometimes use marshmallow crème called marshmallow whip, combined with the meringue topping.
- Cream of Tartar — This is used to stabilize the egg whites in the meringue and help eliminate air bubbles, making it pillow-soft.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie
Add the sweet potatoes to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or a pan and sporadically poke holes on all sides with a fork.
Bake them in the oven on a middle rack at 375° for 60 to 65 minutes or until tender. Baking over other cooking methods will help them develop a richer, sweeter taste.
In the meantime, add the flour, sugar, salt, and cold lard to a food processor and pulse on high speed until it resembles a meal.
Slowly drizzle in the cold water while pulsing until the dough firms up. When pinched with your fingers, it easily holds shape.
Transfer the dough to a clean surface and fold it into a disc. Generously dust both sides with flour.
Roll out the dough until it is roughly ¼” thick and about 16 to 18 inches in diameter.
Transfer the dough to a 10” by 2” tart pan with a removable bottom lined with a parchment paper round. Form the dough into the pie tin and trim any access. Chill in the refrigerator until the sweet potatoes are done baking.
Remove the potatoes and let them cool slightly before peeling them using your hands or a paring knife.
Add them to a large bowl along with the brown sugar, eggs, butter, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and milk, and using a firm whisk, mix until combined.
Pour the filling into the pie crust and level it using a spatula.
Place the pie on a sheet tray and bake on a middle rack for 60 to 65 minutes at 375° or until it becomes firm on top and in the center. When it’s done, it should read 175° F internally.
How to Make the Marshmallow Meringue
While the pie is cooking, add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar to a standing mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until they’ve reached medium peaks, about 90 to 120 seconds.
Next, add the marshmallow whip and mix on high speed until it reaches stiff peaks, which takes about an additional minute.
When the pie is done cooking, decorate the top with marshmallow meringue.
Bake on a middle rack at 425° for 10 minutes or until the meringue is browned.
You can serve the pie hot, at room temperature, or chilled.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this pie up to 3 days ahead for freshness.
How to Store: Cover and keep it in the refrigerator for 5 days. Freeze, covered for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the fridge until it is soft and ready to heat, which should take less than 24 hours.
How to Reheat: Some folks enjoy eating sweet potato pie warm. If that’s you, add your desired pie slices to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven at 350° for 3 to 5 minutes or until warm.
Chef Notes + Tips
- You can also make the pie crust by hand using a pastry blender.
- When cutting the lard into the dry ingredients for the pie crust, it should be very small, like Mediterranean cous cous, and easily integrate into the flour.
- If you like a thicker crust, multiply the pie crust recipe by 50%.
- Using parchment paper will help keep the pie moist and aid in removing it with ease after being sliced.
- When using a regular 9” x 1 ¼” pie tin, use 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes weighing roughly 36 ounces instead of 4 sweet potatoes weighing 50 ounces.
- You can also boil the peeled sweet potatoes. Just be sure they are entirely drained before mixing in the filling ingredients.
- Mix the filling with electric hand beaters or a stand mixer.
- It’s ok if the marshmallow crème is +/- 1 or 2 ounces.
More Pie Recipes
Video
Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes, totaling about 50 ounces
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the Crust:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cups of ice-cold lard
- 1/4 cup ice cold water
For the Marshmallow Merengue:
- 3 large egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar
- ¼ cup of sugar
- 1 7- ounce jar of marshmallow whip
Instructions
- Add the sweet potatoes to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or a pan and sporadically poke holes on all sides with a fork.
- Bake them in the oven on a middle rack at 375° for 60 to 65 minutes or until tender. Baking over other cooking methods will help them develop a richer flavor and sweeter taste.
- In the meantime, add the flour, sugar, salt, and cold lard to a food processor and pulse on high speed until the mixture resembles a meal.
- Slowly drizzle in the cold water while pulsing until the dough firms up. When pinched with your fingers, it easily holds shape.
- Transfer the dough to a clean surface and form it into a disc. Generously dust it with flour on both sides. Roll out the dough until it is roughly ¼” thick and about 16 to 18 inches in diameter.
- Transfer the dough to a 10” by 2” tart pan with a removable bottom lined with a parchment paper round. Form the dough into the pie tin and trim any access. Chill in the refrigerator until the sweet potatoes are done baking.
- Remove the potatoes and let them cool slightly before peeling them using your hands or a paring knife.
- Add them to a large bowl along with the brown sugar, eggs, butter, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and milk, and using a firm whisk, mix until combined.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust and level it using a spatula.
- Place the pie on a sheet tray and bake on a middle rack for 60 to 65 minutes at 375° or until it becomes firm on top and in the center. When it's done, It should read 175° F internally.
- While the pie is cooking, add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar to a standing mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until they’ve reached medium peaks, about 90 to 120 seconds.
- Next, add the marshmallow whip and mix on high speed until it reaches stiff peaks, which takes about an additional minute.
- When the pie is done cooking, add the marshmallow meringue to the top of the pie in any decoration you’d like.
- Bake on a middle rack at 425° for 10 minutes or until the meringue is browned. Serve the pie hot, at room temperature, or chilled.
These potatoes look like yams. Does it matter which?
You can use any breed of fresh sweet potato or yam.
Chef, you have taken a real Classic and turned it into a very elegant Pie Tart. It is not only elegant looking but very delicious, and nothing beats a Toasted Meringue like this one to top a gorgeous Pie like this one.
Chef Parisi – This pie is AWESOME!! Especially the merengue!!! I made this pie for Christmas and OH MY – LOVE it!! Probably will make all my meregue this way now!! I did take a shortcut with the crust, used a store bought one – still made a Wonderful pie 🙂