Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet potato pie might be the Cinderella of Thanksgiving desserts—under-appreciated and overlooked—but with this forever favorite recipe, I’m bringing her into the spotlight and making her shine. Mounds of roasted sweet potato combine with dark brown sugar, vanilla, and spices inside a golden flaky crust for a pie that rivals all other contenders. Here are some tips and tricks on how to make my best-ever sweet potato pie:

How To Make Sweet Potato Pie

INGREDIENTS

• Sweet Potatoes: About 3 medium sweet potatoes will give you the perfect amount for this pie, but sweet potatoes vary by size, so make sure to measure them. Roasting the sweet potatoes concentrates and caramelizes their natural sugars, transforming them into a rich foundation for the pie. Yes, the roasting takes a while, but it’s the only way to get that deep complex flavor out of the sweet potato—and without that, the pie is just one-dimensional.
• Pie Dough: While you can use store-bought, I highly recommend making our best-ever pie dough for this pie for the ultimate golden, flaky crust.
• Eggs: Eggs are classically used in baking as a binder and to give a slight lift in baked goods. This helps to keep the structure of the pie light and airy.
• Heavy Cream: Just like in our classic pumpkin pie, heavy cream is used here to add moisture and fat to the sweet potato filling.
• Dark Brown Sugar: Dark brown sugar, with its extra bump of molasses, further accents the sweet potato’s richness.
• Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon & Nutmeg: A generous hit of vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg become the finishing touch to round it all out.
  

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

First, we’ve got to prep our sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven to 425°, then line a baking sheet with foil. Grab your potatoes, and pierce them with a fork on all sides and arrange on a baking sheet. Then roast until completely tender, and be patient—let them sit until they are cool enough to handle.

While they’re cooling, we’ll prep our pie crust. On a lightly floured surface, roll pie dough into a 1/4"-circle. Then, lift and very carefully transfer to a glass or metal pie pan. Lift up the edges to allow the dough to slump down into the dish. Let the pie crust do its thing—don’t be tempted to stretch it. Grab a sharp knife or kitchen shears, then trim the edges of the dough, leaving about a 1/4” overhang. Then fold the excess dough underneath the dough on the top rim of the pie pan. Then using clean fingers, crimp the dough to seal it. Put it in the refrigerator until cold, around 30 minutes.

Place a rack in the center of the oven, then preheat it to 375°. Cut out a large square piece of foil or parchment paper, and scrunch to wrinkle it. Grab your cold pie crust, then line it with the scrunched foil and fill to the brim with something to weigh it down. You can use pie weights, uncooked rice, or dried beans—the choice is yours. Put it in the oven, then bake the crust until the top and sides are dry and set. Then, you can remove the foil and pie weights, and continue to bake until the bottom is dry and set—this should only take around 5 minutes more. Remove and let it cool, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°.

Grab your cooled potatoes, and peel and trim off any overly caramelized patches. Measure 2 cups of potatoes, and transfer to a food processor. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture is well blended, making sure to scrape down the sides as needed. Add the eggs, cream, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, then continue to pulse. Scrape down the sides every 30 seconds until smooth, which should be around 90 seconds total. Then, pour the filling into the crust.

Bake the pie until the filling is set around the outside and just slightly jiggly in the middle. The filling will be puffy around the sides and will still look damp in the center—that’s okay, that’s what we’re looking for. Let it cool first, then slice and serve. Top with whipped cream if no pie is complete without it for you.

Full list of ingredients & instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• How to blind-bake. When a pie has a wet filling like this, blind-baking is the key to achieving that crisp, golden brown bottom crust (and avoiding a soggy bottom!). Chill the formed pie shell at least 30 minutes before baking, then line it with foil and fill it to the brim with pie weights. While some people like to prick the bottom and sides of their pie crust to prevent it from puffing up and out of shape, we found this to be unnecessary, provided the liner is filled to the top with the pie weights. After the pie shell has baked for 20 minutes, it should be completely set around the edges, and at this point, you can remove the liner and the pie weights and return the pie to the oven for 5 more minutes just to dry out the bottom. Let it cool before loading it with the pie filling and baking it off.
• How to know when it's ready to go. No one wants to serve a pie with a giant crack in the center, so for the best results, pull this pie out of the oven when the filling is still slightly jiggling in the center. It will look damp in the center and puffy all around the sides, and that’s okay: As the pie cools, the middle will set up and the top will settle into a gorgeously smooth, glossy surface.

Storage

While it’s unlikely that you’ll have leftovers (even on Thanksgiving!), this pie will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or store in an airtight container.