How do you keep a sweet potato pie from getting stringy?

How do you make a sweet potato pie less stringy? I addressed this issue with sweet potato pie by using the blender to make the filling . Blending the sweet potato puree with the heavy cream until smooth ensures that the filling is not stringy at all!

Why is my sweet potato pie not setting?

Underbaking: If the pie is underbaked, the sweet potato filling might not have had enough time to fully set . Make sure to follow the recommended baking time and temperature for your recipe, and check for signs of doneness using the methods mentioned earlier.

Is sweet potato pie good for you or bad for you?

While most dessert pack empty calories, this dessert is made with healthy sweet potatoes, which are high in beta-carotene and vitamin C . This simple pie recipe is great for beginner bakers and for anyone who is super busy with all the holiday festivities.

What is the main ingredient in sweet potatoes?

Sweet potatoes are mainly composed of carbs. Most of the carbs come from starch, followed by fiber . This root vegetable is also relatively low in protein but still an important protein source in many developing countries.

How do you keep sweet potato pie crust from getting soggy?

Often, blind-baking solves this problem. If you're making a single crust custard-filled pie, like a pumpkin pie, bake the pie dough first before adding filling to allow some of the moisture in the crust to evaporate. You can also totally blind-bake fruit pies.

Do you refrigerate sweet potato pie after baking?

Sweet potato pies usually contain milk and eggs, so they are essentially baked custard pies and should be stored in the refrigerator . Rule of thumb: If a pie contains milk, cream and/or eggs, refrigerate it. You'll also want to refrigerate pies containing evaporated or condensed milk products.

Is it better to bake or boil sweet potatoes for pie?

Many recipes for sweet potato pie call for steaming or boiling the sweet potatoes before making the filling. This leads to water-logged sweet potatoes. Instead, baking sweet potatoes whole concentrates their flavor and sweetness .

How do you thicken a sweet pie filling?

When thickening a fruit pie filling, there are several options to consider. Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency.

How do you fix a runny sweet potato pie?

The solution for watery casseroles is instant potato mash powder or cornflour - slake (mix with a little water) at first or it will go lumpy . Stir well. Alternatively, don't add so much water at first, especially if you're using a slow cooker.

What are the components of sweet potato?

Bioactive carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, conjugated phenolic acids, and minerals represent versatile nutrients in different parts (tubers, leaves, stems, and stalks) of sweet potato.

What is pie filling made of?

Fruit, sugar, cornstarch, acid, extras . These are the only things you need to remember to turn out a perfect pie filling. You've already read our step-by-step guide to the flakiest, butteriest pie crust.

What is the tradition of sweet potato pie?

After emancipation, when African American cooks gained more access to their own equipment and refined ingredients, they continued the tradition of baking with yams and sweet potatoes — especially the pie. These deep roots became the foundation of a strong tradition in African American food culture.

Does sweet potato pie contain milk?

Sweet potato pie is a Southern favorite and commonly found on the holiday dessert table. But it most often contains milk and butter , so it is not safe for those with dairy allergies.

How To Make Sweet Potato Pie (2024)

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Desserts

Meghan Splawn

Meghan was the Food Editor for Kitchn's Skills content. She's a master of everyday baking, family cooking, and harnessing good light. Meghan approaches food with an eye towards budgeting — both time and money — and having fun. Meghan has a baking and pastry degree, and spent the first 10 years of her career as part of Alton Brown's culinary team. She co-hosts a weekly podcast about food and family called Didn't I Just Feed You.

updated Aug 9, 2020

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Serves8 to 12Makes1 (10-inch) pie

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“Southern as sweet potato pie” is a saying I didn’t learn until I moved to Georgia over 10 years ago, but long before I ever came to the South I had fallen in love with sweet potato pie. When I was 10, my mom dated a man from Athens, Georgia, who introduced us all to Southern cooking. Sunday supper became a feast of collard greens, cornbread, and sweet potatoes, and he introduced my family to sweet potato pie. It became a staple of our Thanksgiving table, and my sister still requests sweet potato pie instead of cake on her birthday.

Never a fan of pumpkin pie, this sweet potato pie was a revelation. It was lighter yet creamier than its pumpkin cousin, with a heavy dose of vanilla and subtle spices. Beyond tasting better, sweet potato pie is easier to bake. It doesn’t require cooking the filling, as the sweet potatoes are fully baked in advance, and the pie crust doesn’t require blind baking.

How is Sweet Potato Pie Different from Pumpkin Pie?

Sweet potato and pumpkin pie are both members of the custard pie family. Custard pies are based on a mixture of eggs, dairy, and sugar. Technically you could swap the pumpkin for sweet potato purée in any pumpkin pie recipe and make a sweet potato pie. However, traditional sweet potato pie has a higher purée-to-custard ratio, fewer spices, and more vanilla.

Like a lot of recipes with a Southern heritage, sweet potato pie relies on canned milk. In our recipe we use evaporated milk, which makes for a custard pie with a lighter and creamier texture.

The Best Sweet Potato Pie Starts with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Many sweet potato pie recipes call for boiling the sweet potatoes on the stovetop until tender, but I believe that the best sweet potato pie is made from baked sweet potatoes.

Baking sweet potatoes softens them without adding extra moisture, concentrates their flavor and sweetness, and makes sweet potato pie-making easier. Less moisture in the sweet potatoes also means a creamier pie.

Sure, whole sweet potatoes take at least an hour to bake in the oven, but that cook time is completely hands-off. There’s no peeling, no dicing, and no tending to a boiling pot on the stove, which is the last thing you want to be doing while making three or four other side dishes for Thanksgiving.

Make-ahead tip: Bake the sweet potatoes up to one week in advance and store the flesh in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to purée.

Use A Deep Tart Pan, Not a Pie Pan

Baking a pie in a tart pan instead of a pie pan also breaks from tradition, but since my pie pan is often occupied with another pie on Thanksgiving, I stumbled upon this discovery out of necessity.

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Sweet Potato Pie

A deep metal tart pan with a removable bottom is the best pan for baking sweet potato pie. The thin metal browns the crust without the need for blind baking, and the fluted sides and removable bottom makes for a better presentation, too.

Origins of Sweet Potato Pie

The conversation of sweet potato pie versus pumpkin pie usually brings into focus the regional preferences associated with these dishes, with the typical split presented as the North preferring pumpkin and the South choosing sweet potato.

If we trace the trail of how sweet potato pie came to hold such a prominent place on southern Thanksgiving tables, we find a multilayered story — one that includes a sweet vegetable brought to the Americas from Peru, a tradition of dessert imported from Europe, agriculture (historically, edible pumpkins grew better in the North and sweet potatoes better in the South), and the history of slavery and emancipation in America. Together, these factors give us the pie we enjoy today.