This vegan sweet potato pie is rich, creamy, and lightly spiced for amazing flavor. A delicious dairy-free and egg-free dessert that's perfect for holidays and special occasions!
Growing up, my family was always all about pumpkin pie for holidays. It wasn't until I started developing recipes that I decided it was time to try sweet potato pie for a change. Boy was that overdue!
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Sweet potato pie is absolutely delicious. It's packed with flavor and a tad denser than pumpkin pie. Sweet potato pie tastes like fall, but in the form of a pie. What could be better? Now I make sure there's always a vegan sweet potato pie at Thanksgiving dinner.
This vegan spin on a classic southern pie is pretty easy to make, as far as pies go, and it always wins over other folks who have never tried sweet potato pie...even the non-vegan ones!
Ingredients You'll Need
- Sweet potatoes. We're using basic orange sweet potatoes for this recipe, which might be labelled as "yams" if you buy them in the United States. I'm sure you could substitute other varieties like yellow and purple sweet potatoes if you'd like.
- Pie crust. You can use a homemade vegan pie crust, or buy one at the store. Be sure to check the ingredients if you go with store-bought — many brands contain lard or butter.
- Coconut milk. Use full-fat coconut milk from a can. You could probably get away with using light coconut milk or some other non-dairy milk, but coconut will give you the richest, most decadent sweet potato pie filling.
- Maple syrup. You can sub another liquid sweetener, like agave, if you'd like.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch is one of my favorite vegan egg substitutes, and it worked particularly well in my vegan custard pie, so I tried it again in this one. Worked like a charm!
- Vegan butter. Most grocery stores sell this near the regular butter. Earth Balance, Miyoko's and Melt are a few popular brands you could use.
- Spices. Since this is a spiced vegan sweet potato pie, the recipe calls for a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom. Feel free to leave them out for more of a traditional sweet potato pie flavor.
- Salt.
How It's Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Start by baking your sweet potatoes. Poke a few holes in each with a fork or knife, then place them directly on the oven rack to bake until they're soft. Once they're done, slice them open to help the heat escape.
Tip: To save time, your sweet potatoes can be microwaved for about 8 minutes instead of baked. You can also bake (or microwave) your sweet potatoes a few days ahead of making the pie. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Prepare your crust while the sweet potatoes cook. Roll it out, place the dough in a pie plate, poke a few holes in it and crimp the edges.
Next you'll be blind baking the crust. This means prebaking it before you fill it to prevent it from getting soggy. Line the crust with some foil or parchment paper, fill it with pie weights (or dried rice or beans), and pop it into the oven to bake while you make the filling.
While the crust bakes, place all of the filling ingredients into a food processor bowl. This includes the insides of your sweet potatoes, coconut milk, maple syrup, vegan butter, vanilla extract, spices and salt.
Blend everything until the batter is smooth and creamy. Feel free to give it a taste-test at this point and make any adjustments you'd like, such as adding more maple syrup or spices.
Transfer the filling to your pie crust, smooth out the top with a spatula, and pop it into the oven. Bake your vegan sweet potato pie until the filling is set.
Let the pie cool completely on a wire rack before slicing it.
Tip: Because it can take a while to cool, it's a good idea to make this pie a day before serving.
Variations
- Skip the spices. For a more traditional vegan sweet potato pie, omit the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom.
- Bourbon sweet potato pie. Add a tablespoon or two of bourbon to the filling.
- Marshmallow topped vegan sweet potato pie. Add a layer of vegan mini marshmallows (such as Dandies or Trader Joe's) during the last twenty minutes of baking.
- Chocolate sweet potato pie. Top your sweet potato pie with a drizzle of melted chocolate or a layer of vegan chocolate ganache.
Leftovers & Storage
Vegan sweet potato pie will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yup! Just use a vegan and gluten-free pie crust, such as this one.
I haven't tried it myself, but I can't see why not!
The topping shown in the photos Reddi-Wip dairy-free topping, made from almond milk. Another option is to use coconut whipped cream (see this strawberry shortcake recipe for instructions on how to make it).
More Vegan Pies
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Spiced Vegan Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 ½ pounds total)
- 1 homemade vegan pie crust, or a store-bought vegan pie crust
- ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Poke a few holes in each sweet potato using a sharp knife.
- Place the sweet potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake them until very soft, about 45 minutes (Note 1).
- When the sweet potatoes are done baking, slice them open to allow the steam to escape. Allow them to sit for a few minutes to cool.
- Prepare the pie crust while the sweet potatoes bake. If you're not using a premade crust, roll out your dough and drape it into a 9-inch pie pan. Press it into the pan, trim the excess, and crimp the edges if desired.
- Use a knife or fork to poke a few holes in the bottom and sides of the crust.
- Line the inside of the crust with a sheet of foil or parchment paper, then fill it with pie weights, dried rice, or beans.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes, then remove it from the oven and place it on a cooling rack.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350°.
- When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the insides and place them into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade (Note 2). Add the coconut milk, maple syrup, cornstarch, vegan butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and salt.
- Blend the ingredients until smooth, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed.
- Transfer the batter to the pie crust and smooth out the top with a spatula.
- Bake the for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until set. Keep an eye on the pie and, if needed, cover the edges with foil or pie shields after about 15 minutes to prevent burning.
- Remove the pie from oven and allow it to cool completely before slicing.
- Serve with dairy-free whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon, if you'd like.
Notes
- Alternatively, you can microwave the sweet potatoes for about 8 minutes, checking every minute or so after the first 5 minutes.
- You should have about 2 cups of sweet potato. If you have much more than that, use the extra for something else.
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In the oven! Love all your ingredients, perfect balance of flavors. a vegan delight. Thank you!
Thank you!! I hope you enjoy it!
Hi! Sweetened or unsweetened coconut milkv
Unsweetened. :) Enjoy!
Hello!! Is it canned coconut milk? Or regular?
Canned coconut milk, although the kind in a carton will work as well!
Thank you so much! I’ll be doing it today 😍😘👏🏼 Ill let you know how it works 😁
Thanks for the feedback! Next time I make it I'll play around with the amounts so I can suggest some ranges. :)
Thanks for the feedback! This is quite a spicy pie and I understand that's not for everyone.
It is pretty spicy! I hope you enjoy it when you give it another try!!
I just wanted to thank you for this AMAZING recipe! I'm still stunned that it came out PERFECTLY! Had I not made the pie myself I never in a million years would have guessed it was vegan and refined sugar free! We adjusted the spices to taste and added in a bit of fresh lemon juice. We also used a combo of maple syrup, agave, and a bit of stevia. This pie recipe is absolutely perfect and I am already raving about it to friends and family! Thanks again!
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Marisa!
I'm sorry to hear that! I've made this a couple of times and never had that problem! Did you happen to taste the mixture or even just the sweet potato itself before baking the pie? The only thing I could think of is that you got a bad one, so I did some googling and found this - https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-tell-sweet-potatoes-are-spoiled/ and this https://www.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/1n4xsm/why_do_orange_sweet_potatoes_sometimes_taste/
tasted ok raw, maybe not sweet enough, but that sounds like what happened... like when you get that one bad pistachio :)) yuk.. i'll make it again sometime.. and I LOVE all your recipes. you are awesome!!
Thank you so much! I hope you give this another shot and it works out! :)
How would I adapt this recipe to leave out the crust and make a casserole? Would it burn on the bottom without the crust?
I've never made a crustless pie, but I think if you just pour the batter into a lightly oiled pie plate it should work. I'd keep an eye on it incase the cook time is a bit different.
It's fine at room temperature for about a day - if you keep it around longer I'd stick it in the fridge. :)
An absolute gorgeous recipe. Thank you for posting.
Thanks Diane!
My pie was still not solid after 40 min. Is this normal? Does it need to go in the fridge after, or does it just set cooling down?
Hey Alissa! Thanks for the recipe looks amazing! Question though, I am actually allergic to coconut is there anything I use instead of that? Thanks!
Thanks Jessica! You might be able to get away with another non-dairy milk, like soy or almond, I can't be totally sure without trying it myself. Another thing that might work is a mix of silken tofu and another non-dairy milk, perhaps in equal parts.
Is the coconut milk lite or full fat that you used?
It was full-fat. Enjoy!
Hi! I love your recipe. Thank you! – Lily
Hi Courtney! Yeah, 2 tablespoons is correct! It does seem like a lot, but I was going for something very flavorful - I actually just checked my notes on the recipe to confirm, and it looks like I kept bumping up the amount of cinnamon (and the other spices) for just that reason. :)
No need to bake it! Just line your pie pan with the dough, pour and bake. Hope you enjoy it!
Do you think agave syrup would work just as well, I have almost all the other ingredients already on hand is why I ask :d
It should work just fine - these days I use agave and maple pretty much interchangeably. The stores are bound to be crazy today so I don't blame you for avoiding a trip out for ingredients! Enjoy!!!
Hi Cassi! You should get about 1 1/2 cups of mashed from 2 sweet potatoes.
Yeah, suppose the need to refrigerate custardy-type pies is key, but because these pies usually contain eggs, I'm still a bit of a novice as far as they're concerned.
Good call with the whole foods crust! Thanks Aya!
My gosh, it looks heaven!
Thanks so much!!!
it looks delish!
Thank you!!! :)