I tried sweet-potato pie recipes from Trisha Yearwood, Alton Brown, and Carla Hall. The best had an easy homemade crust.

Though the other recipes I tested called for premade pie dough or canned sweet potato, Hall's version of the pie didn't come with shortcuts.

Per the recipe's instructions, I roasted 2 pounds of sweet potatoes for nearly two hours and then scooped out the filling of each to make the custardy pie.

The recipe also called for making pie dough from scratch using sugar, salt, all-purpose flour, and unsalted butter. I dissolved the sugar and salt in hot water, let the mixture cool, and then combined it with cold, cubed butter and flour.

Once I formed the dough, I chilled it until it was firm. Making the dough was a little time-consuming, but overall, it was one of the easiest homemade pie crusts I've made.

Hall's recipe called for eggs, evaporated milk, light brown sugar, butter, salt, and an assortment of spices.

Most of the ingredients were simple except for the hand-mashed sweet potatoes and homemade pie dough. 

To make the filling, I mixed the mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, salt, butter, brown sugar, and evaporated milk until the mixture was smooth.

Then, I whisked in the eggs and the filling was complete.

I rolled out the pie dough and placed it in my baking dish, pinching the edges to form a uniform crust.

Though the pie crust rolled out easily and looked flawless, things changed once I put the pie tin in the freezer.

I noticed the pie had cracks along the bottom. I tried to close them by gently pushing the dough around those areas but they were still there even after a blind bake. I had to hope the filling would be thick enough to not seep through the bottom of the crust.

I added the filling and baked the pie at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Per the recipe's instructions, I then reduced the temperature to 350 degrees and baked the pie for about 40 more minutes.

After about five hours of prepping, baking, and cooling, my pie was ready to eat.

It had a great structure, as the crust was durable even with the cracks I was so worried about. The filling held together well, and nothing fell apart as I ate. 

I thought the crust was a little bland on its own, so I probably won't nibble on this part of the pie by itself. But when eating the crust and filling together, this pie was excellent.

The filling was sweet but not overly so, and the spices subtly came through.

I don't mind having some easy recipes in my back pocket so I was excited to find that Yearwood's sweet-potato pie was made with simple ingredients but didn't skimp on special touches, like a sugary crust.

Yearwood's recipe called for either canned or roasted and peeled sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and homemade or store-bought pie crust.

Because the other two recipes I tested called for roasted and steamed potatoes, I decided to use a canned version here. I also opted for a store-bought crust.

Using canned sweet potatoes and store-bought crust made this recipe incredibly quick.

I just had to combine the ingredients in an electric mixer, pour the filling into the frozen pie crust, and add sugar on top. Per the recipe's instructions, I let the pie stand for 15 minutes so the sugar could fully melt before baking.

The only problem I ran into was the low oven temperature, 300 degrees. The recipe said the pie only needed to bake for about one hour, but when I checked on it, the filling was still too wet and the crust was nowhere near browned. 

After about one hour and 40 minutes in the oven, the pie was ready. The sugar on top formed a delicate, delicious-looking crust over the filling.

Yearwood's pie was sweeter than the others, but I could still taste the sweet potato and the spices. 

The only issue was that the filling was a little bit watery for me. The pie still held together well but I wished the filling was slightly firmer.

In the future, I'd try baking this pie at 325 or even 350 degrees and extend the baking time to see if it helps improve the texture.

Brown's sweet-potato pie combined a from-scratch sweet-potato mash and a premade, frozen pie crust. The filling itself called for plain yogurt, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg yolks, and salt.

I was most looking forward to the topping, which consisted of chopped, toasted pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup. I figured the maple syrup and pecans would perfectly complement the sweet-potato pie.

I started by peeling and cubing a very specific 1 pound and 3 ounces of sweet potatoes, which needed to be steamed for the filling.

I don't have a steamer basket, so I made do with a soup pot that had an inner straining basket that I propped up above the water in the pot with some crumpled aluminum foil.

I let the potatoes steam until they were really soft, which took about 30 minutes, and then put them in the fridge to cool.

Next, I combined the sweet potatoes with the other ingredients, which included a lot of plain yogurt and five large egg yolks.

Then, I poured the filling into the pie crust and added the highly anticipated topping.

I baked the pie at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Though I let the pie cool in the fridge before serving, the crust didn't hold up. The instability wasn't a huge deal to me — obviously, I like it when the pie looks neat, but I think flavor is the most important part. 

Unfortunately, Brown's pie missed the mark for me. Despite using a small amount of plain yogurt, it was the strongest flavor in the filling. I thought the pie was too tangy and earthy, and I didn't get any sweetness or spice.

I like many of Brown's dessert recipes but don't think I'd try this one again.

Though I enjoyed Yearwood's sweet-potato pie and the crispy pecan topping on Brown's version, Hall's dessert was my favorite. Even my partner, who has pretty discerning tastes (my polite way to say he can be a bit picky), said he loved Hall's pie.

The only thing I might add to Hall's pie is the sugar-topping trick I picked up from Yearwood. I think a slightly crisp, sugary topping on the sweet-potato pie I made using Hall's recipe would make it even more delicious.

This story was originally published on October 24, 2023, and most recently updated on October 29, 2024.