My Southern bourbon sweet potato pie is a Soul Food family favorite! With a silky smooth, spiced and spiked sweet potato filling and all-butter crust, you'll fall in love at first bite.
I referred to the soulful baking prowess of my dear, late maternal grandmother and the infamous Patti LaBelle when developing this recipe, and I think I did them proud. Don't be intimidated by the history behind this recipe because I know that you can make it for your family, too.
And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my southern sweet potato pecan pie or sweet potato pie ice cream, too!
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
- What You'll Need for this Recipe
- Should I roast or boil sweet potatoes for pie?
- Substitutions & Variations
- How to Make Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon
- Pro Tip #1
- Pro Tip #2
- How to Make Sweet Potato Pie Filling Smooth
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Serve
- More Soul Food Favorite Dessert Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Reader Review
★★★★★
"This has become my family's favorite sweet potato pie and I came searching for your recipe ahead of Thanksgiving because I've already been "assigned" to make it. The filling is very tasty and I make sure to use good bourbon as you recommend. Just want to extend a word of thanks to you Jazz! My family will accept no other sweet potato pie!"
-Cassandra
❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
Made the Old Fashioned Way - If you look forward to Thanksgiving all year, this southern-style bourbon sweet potato pie recipe is for you. It is a staple at our holiday table that I've perfected over the years thanks to two great culinary muses in my life.
Perfect Sweet Potato Flavor - The flavor profile of this pie is creamy, sweet, and earthy with caramelized warming spices and notes of butter, oak, and vanilla.
👉🏾 I inherited my knack for holiday desserts from my grandma, and it doesn't stop with this bomb sweet potato pie. Check out my butter pecan pound cake, Georgia peach cobbler, apple pear cranberry crumble pie, sweet potato pie cookies, and praline sweet potato bread pudding!
What You'll Need for this Recipe
Wondering what does Patti Labelle put in her sweet potato pie? My version is actually how to make Patti Labelle sweet potato pie better! Here's what to add to your grocery list.
Sweet Potatoes, of course! I recommend Jewel or Garnet for their earthy and slightly sweet flavor, bright orange color, and texture that's easy to work with. If you already have sweet potato puree on standby, use about two cups of it.
Should I roast or boil sweet potatoes for pie?
Short answer: You should roast sweet potatoes for sweet potato pie.
Roasting sweet potatoes deepens and concentrates their flavor and doesn't mess with their texture the way that boiling does. When you boil sweet potatoes, they get tender, but they also lose flavor and starch and can get a bit waterlogged, which is not great for pie filling.
Many recipes, including Ms. Patti's original recipe, will instruct you to boil your sweet potatoes. I'm not here to say that's wrong, but I am here to say that roasting is my preference.
Bourbon Whiskey: I recommend using a good quality bourbon to spike this sweet potato filling. Go for one you would enjoy sipping neat or in your favorite whiskey cocktail. The alcohol will cook away, leaving only the flavor behind, which is why the quality matters.
Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar for texture and taste. I love the caramelized molasses flavor that brown sugar adds. You can use either light or dark brown sugar interchangeably.
Cinnamon and Nutmeg add a dimension of subtle warmth, and it's my opinion that you can't make a good sweet potato pie without them.
Heavy Cream helps make the filling smooth and, well, creamy. Alternatively, you can use half and half or even plain milk in a pinch.
Check out the recipe card below for full ingredients list, measurements, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions!
Substitutions & Variations
Spices - Wondering what spices belong in a sweet potato pie? in addition to nutmeg and cinnamon, you can also mix in cardamom, ginger, and/or clove!
Store-bought Crust - If you are short on time come Turkey Day, you can grab frozen or chilled pie dough from the store and proceed to make the homemade filling.
Canned Yams - On the flip side, you can jazz up a can of candied sweet potatoes or even use leftover homemade candied yams. Either way, you won't need to roast them and can reduce the amount of sugar by about half.
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie with Bourbon
Crust
- Step One: Combine the crust ingredients until a dough forms then shape the dough into a disc (like a hockey puck). Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill. (Photo One)
Pro Tip #1
Be sure to use ice cold butter and water for making the sweet potato pie dough. This helps create pockets of butter throughout the dough that bake into beautiful flaky crust.
- Step Two: Roll out the chilled dough and place it over a round pie pan. (Photo Two)
- Step Three: Gently press the dough into the pan, cut off the excess around the edges, and shape the edges. Use a fork to prick the bottom. (Photo Three)
- Step Four: Par bake the dough for about 15 minutes. (Photo Four)
Pro Tip #2
Par baking, also called blind baking, partially cooks a pie crust before adding the filling so that it doesn't shrink while baking. Add pie weights or dry goods like rice or lentils over parchment paper to help it keep shape.
Filling
- Step Five: Roast the sweet potatoes until fork tender--meaning you can pierce them with a dinner fork. The skin will be wrinkly and easy to pull away. (Photo Five)
- Step Six: Peel and puree the sweet potatoes until smooth. (Photo Six)
How to Make Sweet Potato Pie Filling Smooth
For silky smooth pie filling free of any pesky sweet potato strings, use a food processor to break down the sweet potatoes and combine your filling ingredients. You can use a stand mixer or your own elbow grease, if need be, but a food processor is the most efficient and yields the best results.
- Step Seven: Mix the sweet potato puree with the other filling ingredients until uniform and smooth. (Photo Seven)
- Step Eight: Spread the filling into the crust and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is cooked through. (Photo Eight)
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can make the whole pie up to two days ahead of time and chill or freeze it until you need it. Alternatively, you can make just the pie dough ahead of time and/or roast the sweet potatoes ahead of time. Either step will be a good start.
To make your pie ahead of time, let it cool fully to room temperature, then wrap it up in foil and refrigerate until it's go-time.
Store sweet potato pie covered in foil or plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Keeps for up to five days.
To freeze, wrap the cooled pie in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil, then place in the freezer. Keeps for up to three months.
How to Serve
This pie is great served warm or chilled, but I prefer mine heated up, and right next to a slice of old-school pecan pie. Add a dollop of whipped cream or a spoonful of southern praline sauce for extra razzle dazzle. Serve with vanilla ice cream or butter pecan ice cream if you want to get real decadent.
A good sweet potato pie is typically a given in Black families, whether you're serving Sunday dinner recipes or preparing a traditional Black family Thanksgiving spread. I've got a few more sweet thangs for you below!
More Soul Food Favorite Dessert Recipes
Want more recipes like this one? Try these:
Creating a sweet potato pie from scratch can seem like a daunting task because most of us think about the shoes we fill when doing so--my Grandma Carolyn and Ms. Patti, in this case. Now, there's a little magic and plenty of love poured into these steps, but making this bourbon sweet potato pie is really as simple as it appears.
I am over here wishing you a wonderful holiday season filled with all the Thanksgiving pies you can handle and lots of family time. And sharing is caring, so be sure to pin this soulful sweet potato pie recipe over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
📖 Recipe
Southern-Style Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor or stand mixer or hand mixer
- 1 silicone spatula or kitchen spoon
- pie weights optional
Ingredients
For the Bourbon Sweet Potato Filling
- 1 pound sweet potatoes (about 2 large sweet potatoes roughly 6 inches long and 3 inches thick)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
For the All-Butter Crust
- ¾ cups cold butter cut into cubes
- 1 ½ cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
How to Make the Pie Crust
- Make the pie crust by incorporating sea salt, flour, and butter until a coarse, sandy-looking meal forms. This can be done in a bowl with your hands or in a food processor. Add cold water and continue working or pulsing the mixture until a dough forms. Shape into a disc (like a hockey puck), wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.¾ cups cold butter, 1 ½ cup flour, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, 1 tablespoon cold water
How to Roast Sweet Potatoes for Pie Filling
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a fork or knife, pierce sweet potatoes several times with a fork or knife (this will help them let out steam as they bake) then place directly on oven rack with a sheet pan underneath to catch any drippings. Roast for about 45 minutes or until tender then set aside to cool. You can place them in the refrigerator to speed up this process.1 pound sweet potatoes
Making the Pie
- Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees. Roll out chilled pie crust and place in a 9-inch pie pan. Remove excess dough from around sides of pan and crimp or style edges, as desired. Prick bottom of dough with a fork a few times then par bake for about 15 minutes then remove and decrease oven heat to 350 degrees. See notes about par baking below.
- While the crust par bakes, process cooled sweet potatoes in a food processor until smooth. Add heavy cream, butter, eggs, bourbon, brown sugar, granulated sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sea salt then or pulse until uniform, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.¼ cup heavy cream, 6 tablespoons butter, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon Nutmeg, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Spread filling into prepared pie crust. Return to oven and bake for about one hour and 10 minutes or until top of filling is firm to touch. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
Terri Tofili says
First of all, thank you! I misplaced my regular holiday only Bourbon Sweet Potato filling recipe and am delighted that I decided to give this one a try. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the flavors and texture. I made no changes to the filling recipe. I always bake my sweet potatoes in the oven wrapped in foil. I always buy a deep dish pie crust, thaw as directed, add filling and bake. Just the two of us and the pie was
gone in 3 days. His with ice cream in the evening and mine with coffee in the morning. This recipe has made me curious enough to try and make the pie crust, too. Great recipe!
Jazzmine Woodard says
This is so wonderful to read, Terri. Glad you enjoyed and happy holidays!
JC says
Can I bake the potatoes one day, refrigerate them and make the pie the next?
Jazzmine Woodard says
Hi, JC! You can absolutely do this. I've baked the sweet potatoes up to three days in advance with good results.
Julie McDonald says
Question: how much puréed sweet potato does your recipe end up with? I ask because I baked up about 6 sweet potatoes the other day and it’s all been pureed already. So I’m not sure what 2 whole potatoes or 1 lb of raw potato equates to in cups of already puréed potato.
Jazzmine Woodard says
Hi, Julie! I'm sorry I missed your comment while I was away. One pound of sweet potatoes (one really big sweet potato or two medium sized ones) typically yields about two cups of puree. I hope this is helpful in the future and will be sure to add this information to the recipe card!
Cassandra says
This has become my family’s favorite sweet potato pie and I came searching for your recipe ahead of Thanksgiving because I’ve already been “assigned” to make it. The filling is very tasty and I make sure to use good bourbon as you recommend. Just want to extend a word of thanks to you Jazz! My family will accept no other sweet potato pie!
Britney Brown says
I made this pie over the weekend and my family loved it! There was not one slice left after dinner!
Chenée says
I love everything about sweet potato hi, but the addition of the bourbon in this pie made it amazing! The pie had such great flavor! I'll definitely be making this again closer to the holidays!
Lilly says
I love the flavor the bourbon brings to the pie! It's such a great recipe! I cannot wait to make this pie again!
Tamara Johnson says
The bourbon in this sweet potato pie recipe really added something special! It was the perfect touch to an already amazing recipe. I cannot wait to make this again for Thanksgiving this year.
Robin says
I can't wait to make this pie again over the holidays!
Mila says
Self-professed store-bought pie buyer here! This was my first attempt at making my own sweet potato pie and it was AMAZING. Roasting the sweet potatoes makes them more flavorful and is worth the extra time!