Sweet potato pie is a staple at Thanksgiving for many Southerners and African Americans. Here’s my version of our family’s recipe that we’ve been enjoying year after year.
Thanksgiving is almost here! Do you know what that means??? SWEET POTATO PIE! It’s been a staple at every Hutcherson family turkey day dinner for as long as I can remember. My dad usually is tasked with making the pies and growing up I would always be there right alongside him elbow deep in sweet potatoes. It is very much a part of my Thanksgiving tradition.
In addition to getting to spend some time with my dad, I was also lucky enough to learn the recipe—if you can really call it that—by heart. What I mean by this is that we never really measured anything. There’s usually a lot of tasting and adjusting that goes on with the amounts of sugar and other ingredients, but I’ve finally come up with an actual recipe that I think would make my family proud.
A Short History of Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet potato pie can trace its roots to 16th century Europe when sweet potatoes were shipped from Peru to Western Europe where they were used in desserts. When the colonizers came to America, they brought their culinary traditions with them. And once on this land they learned that sweet potatoes grow very well in the South, which is why the dessert is so popular in the region.
Sweet Potato Pie Ingredients
The main components of the recipe are sweet potatoes (of course), sugar (it is a dessert after all), eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and spices. Some recipes also call for cream or milk, but my family does not include it in our recipe and butter is the only form of dairy. As such, this recipe yields a denser pie than others might that do include cream or milk.
Can You Use Yams Instead of Sweet Potatoes for Pie?
While many might argue otherwise, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing. Yams are a completely different plant that is not even typically found in the United States. People started calling orange-fleshed sweet potatoes “yams” all because of some marketing back in the 1930s. So technically speaking, you can not use yams for sweet potato pie. But within the United States, many use the terms interchangeably to refer to the same produce.
How Do You Make Sweet Potato Pie from Scratch?
It all starts with cooking your sweet potatoes. We tend to boil them whole until tender and then remove the skin. I suppose you could also bake them in the oven or peel and dice them before boiling to make them cook quicker, but that’s up to you. Then it’s a matter of mixing the sweet potatoes with all of the other ingredients. I recommend adding the egg last so that you can taste the filling without eating raw egg to make sure it suites your palate in terms of the level of sweetness and amount of other spices.
How Do You Know When Sweet Potato Pie Is Done?
For me, I like to bake the pie until the crust is nice is crisp and the filling has started to brown a little bit. When the latter happens, it means that the sugars have caramelized a little, which means a more delicious pie. But it’s important to keep an eye to make sure that the crust doesn’t get too crisp (aka burnt). To prevent that, cover the edges of the pie with foil if you see that it is getting too brown.
I may actually be breaking some sort of unspoken family code by sharing this with you, but here it goes . . .
*This post has been updated from the original to really make it shine.
Southern-Style Sweet Potato Pie
This pie recipe has been a staple at my family's Thanksgiving table for decades. I'm happy to get the chance to share it with you.
Ingredients
- 3 medium to large sweet potatoes (1 1/2 pounds)
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg
- One 9-inch frozen pie shell or homemade pie crust
Instructions
- Place the sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook with the lid slightly ajar until tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. (A knife or fork should easily pierce the potatoes with little to no resistance.) Let cool slightly and remove the skins.
- Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Meanwhile, put the peeled potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Add the butter and whip the potatoes until smooth and the butter has melted and is fully incorporated. Mix in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Taste the pie filling to see if you want a little extra sugar or maybe a dash more of cinnamon or nutmeg. Mix in the egg until fully incorporated and pour the filling into the pie shell.
- Bake the pie for 20 minutes; reduce the temperature to 375˚F and continue baking until the filling starts to brown slightly around the edges, about 40 minutes more. (Cover the edge of the pie with foil if it starts to get too dark.) Let cool for before serving.
I am SO glad you took the chance and shared this family treasure!!!
Sweet potatoes in Florida are just not sweet! They’re pretty dreadful. So I am going to make this but possibly upping the sugar and with a gluten free pie crust. I still haven’t adjusted to living in Florida, after 8 years! Thank you for the recipe.
Feel free to adjust the sugar in the recipe to your liking. Enjoy!
Why is this recipe totally different from Hutcherson Family Sweet Potato Pie in the Taste of Home magazine Nov 2020? The website version is way sweeter, spicy, and vanilla than the magazine. Whereas the mag calls for UNsalted butter with no added salt. I might try a combo of the two.
1
Preheat oven to 425˚F. Place unsalted butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, and place in oven until butter is browned, about 8 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and granulated sugar in large bowl. Remove skillet from oven, and carefully pour 6 tablespoons of the melted browned butter into a small heatproof bowl, reserving remaining browned butter in skillet. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and the 6 tablespoons of melted browned butter. Make a well in center of cornmeal mixture, and add buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour batter into remaining melted browned butter in hot skillet. Bake at 425°F until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes.
I think you might be confused. I never contributed a recipe to Taste of Home. I shared a recipe with Southern Living for their November 2020 issue, and it is exactly the same as the one in this post. (The instructions you pasted sounds like a recipe for cornbread.)
The recipe you shared in Southern Living did not have any vanilla and used only 1/2 a cup of sugar. But you did say to adjust according to taste. Anyways, I made the recipe from the magazine last year and It turned out delicious. I currently have that same exact pie in the oven right now for Thanksgiving tomorrow:). Thanks for a delicious recipe. Happy Thanksgiving!
I think you might be think of a different sweet potato pie recipe in Southern Living because what I shared is the same is this recipe. (It isn’t online – it was only in print – so I can’t link to it.) But regardless, glad you enjoyed it. Happy Thanksgiving!
My mom made the recipe that year from the magazine and we liked it so much that I took a photo with my phone so I would have it. You are correct(as you well know). I am unable to attach to this comment box or I would show that the recipe published in southern living nov 2020 is exactly as the recipe you have posted here.
I wrote that recipe for Southern Living 🙂