Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Pie

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This homemade sweet potato pie is perfectly sweetened with brown sugar and spiced with the flavors you love in fall. Top it with fresh whipped cream for a simple yet impressive dessert for your Thanksgiving spread.

The Best Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

It’s kind of crazy to think as I’m typing this that almost an entire year has passed since I began my year of pies. To think that 11 whole months have come and gone since I dedicated sharing a pie recipe with you every single month is totally bananas.

I’ve eaten more pie than I ever thought I would, discovered new flavor combinations, and can honestly say I’m 100% a pie fangirl now.

With this 11th month of the year also comes a special time for those of us who live in the USA: Thanksgiving. And with Thanksgiving comes all things pumpkin, cranberry, and sweet potato.

Just a bit ago, I shared with you my recipe for sweet potato crunch (my crunchy spin on the classic sweet potato casserole). And some time before that, I shared my recipe for adorable pumpkin spice cut-out sugar cookies.

I guess you could say it’s safe to say I’ve been preparing for Thanksgiving for a while now!

Today I’m sharing my recipe for homemade sweet potato pie. This Southern-inspired classic is always a welcome addition to your Thanksgiving spread, and is full of those signature fall flavors we know and love.

This sweet potato pie recipe is decadent, custard-like, and perfect for including with your holiday celebrations. But you don’t have to limit it to just the holiday season! You can enjoy this delicious pie anytime of year. Full permission granted!

Oh, and if you haven’t been following along, you have some catching up to do in the pie department. I kicked the year off with the unique banoffee pie, and soon followed it up with Butterfinger pie, coconut custard pie, fresh peach pie, and, most recently, shoofly pie.

Of course, I had so many others in between. Be sure to check out my pie archives to see what I’ve been up to (and of course, make this Southern sweet potato pie while you’re at it).

Do you know why I won’t judge you? Because it’s your kitchen, your rules! If you want to take an easy shortcut, that’s no sweat off my back.

And while I totally think homemade is better, there’s a time and a place for good quality frozen crust, and that’s totally ok. Even if it’s for my super-awesome-totally-favorite sweet potato pie recipe. I promise, you do you, friend.

But if you want to make it from scratch, may I humbly suggest my homemade pie crust recipe? It’s buttery, it’s flaky, it’s a perfect balance of all the things. It’s also been tested and loved for 11 months of pies so far this year alone.

The best part though? It’s shockingly simple to make. I mean, all you need is some flour, a touch of sugar, some salt for balance, cold cubed butter, and some cold vegetable shortening. Bring it all together, add in some ice water and you’ve got the easiest, tastiest pie crust EVER.

Are you sold yet?

And while I totally want to encourage you to try my homemade whipped cream (seriously, it’s soooo easy to make), I also want to tempt you to try my seasonally appropriate recipe for pumpkin spice whipped cream to complement that sweet potato flavor.

Is it overkill? Absolutely not! You have whipped cream (which is already absolutely amazing), and then you add pumpkin spice into the mix? Well, be still my heart!

Both my standard whipped cream recipe and my pumpkin spice whipped cream call for just a handful of ingredients. Seriously: heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract is all you need for both recipes, plus a little pumpkin pie spice if you desire a seasonal twist.

You could get a can of store-bought whipped cream, but homemade is just as easy and tastes wayyyy better. Just trust me on this one.

The benefit of this structure is that it is simple and easy to prepare. No working intricate lattice crusts (although I have a detailed tutorial if you’re interested) or complicated steps. It’s just a good, old-fashioned recipe that has stood the test of time.

So let’s get started!

Even if you go for frozen I recommend that you transfer it to a regular pie plate, since the foil plates are generally too shallow to hold all of the filling. In order to make it reach the edges of the plate, you may just need to roll it a bit thinner first and then drape and press it into the dish.

Then crimp the edges of your dough and place it in the refrigerator to chill until you are ready to fill it with the prepared sweet potato filling.

Start off by peeling your sweet potatoes (about 2 medium sweet potatoes should give you 1 pound and about 2 cups once mashed) and cutting them into 1-2″ chunks.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add your chunks of sweet potato and boil for about 15-20 minutes, or until the pieces are fork-tender.

Once the sweet potatoes are done cooking, drain them and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. This will help any excess water evaporate, giving you the perfect consistency for sweet potato pie.

Once the sweet potatoes have cooled a bit, go ahead and mash them. You could use the pot you boiled them in, or transfer them to a large bowl– totally up to you! You could even transfer them to the bowl of stand mixer since that does a mighty fine job of getting them nice and smooth.

Use an electric hand mixer (or a stand mixer with the paddle or whisk attachment) to “mash” the cooked sweet potatoes until smooth.

Then add in the brown sugar, heavy cream, eggs, flour, vanilla, salt, and spices. Give everything a good mix until it’s well combined and smooth.

Press out any large lumps of brown sugar with the back of a spatula or your whisk. Small lumps are ok, as they will dissolve easily, but the larger ones should be broken up a bit.

The filling is pretty thin, so you don’t even need to really spread it out. Just give the pie a little tap on the counter and it should sink into every nook and cranny necessary.

Then fit the edges of the pie crust with a pie shield (or a rim of foil). Trust me, as someone who has been baking pies all year, this tool is a game-changer! It allows the entire pie to bake evenly while protecting the vulnerable edges from burning or browning too quickly.

Just remember to remove it when there are 15-20 minutes remaining on the bake time.

Once you’ve got your pie edges all swaddled and secure, you’re ready to bake. Yay! In just a few minutes you’ll smell all those seasonal spices working their magic inside the oven.

Bake the pie for about 55-60 minutes, or until the center of the pie is just slightly jiggly. That means if you were to stick a toothpick into the center of the pie it would come out mostly clean, but with still a little bit of sweet potato on it.

That’s perfect because it will continue to set up outside of the oven.

With about 15-20 minutes remaining, remove that pie crust shield, and stick it back in the oven until mostly set. Once the pie is done, remove it from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve your pie at room temperature or chilled (your preference) and with a gorgeous dollop of homemade whipped cream (or pumpkin spice whipped cream). Adding the whipped cream takes an already spectacular pie to the next level. It’s just absolutely delicious!

If you’re serving this for a big dinner like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve, you could even offer a choice of regular whipped cream or pumpkin spice whipped cream for that extra special touch.

I say this traditional sweet potato pie needs to make an appearance at all of your holiday meals for the rest of the year, to be honest. Those flavors, that creamy sweet potato pie that just warms your belly, any reason to make some whipped cream… I could keep going, but I have a feeling you’re convinced already, no?

Once you’re ready to serve, thaw the pie (if frozen), and slice and serve. Since I think both sweet potato and pumpkin pie taste better when served at room temperature, I would recommend that you allow it to rest at room temperature for a few hours. That being said, some people prefer a chilled pie, so serve it however you like it best!

Sweet potato pie freezes very well for up to 3 months. Just ensure to wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a large freezer bag. When you’re ready to serve, thaw the pie in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Homemade Sweet Potato Pie Recipe FAQs

I’m going to go ahead and assume that if you’re here checking out my delicious sweet potato pie recipe, you’re probably also looking for more holiday-inspired recipes. You can’t skip over my classic pumpkin pie recipe or this addictive sweet potato crunch.

And I certainly wouldn’t be a good friend if I let you leave without checking out my recipes for caramelized apple pie, pumpkin hand pies or my creamy pumpkin swirl cheesecake, now would I?