This is one of those recipes I’ve been meaning to share for years now. I’ve always had the idea floating around and on my to-do list, but I somehow kept it to myself. Until now!
Say hello to the most incredible salted maple bourbon sweet potato pie with my best-ever homemade pie crust. It’s the twin sister of my famous pumpkin pie, and she knows how to bring the party.
I’ve taken traditional sweet potato pie, lightened it up a bit with a few simple ingredients, and then infused it with the most amazing maple bourbon flavor. The flavors are deep, rich, and perfectly sweet, and you know I had to top it with some flaky sea salt for the perfect combo.
I included simple ways to prep the pie ahead of time so there’s zero stress on Thanksgiving day! This would be a fantastic dessert to bring as a guest and wow everyone, too. I hope you love it!
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What makes this sweet potato pie healthier?
We’re skipping the sweetened condensed milk and giving this homemade sweet potato pie a little lightened-up makeover. It tastes just as indulgent and delicious, promise! This healthy sweet potato pie is:
- Dairy free: you’ll just need some dairy free milk instead of sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. I typically use unsweetened almond milk!
- Naturally sweetened: many sweet potato pies also use brown sugar, but we’re using pure maple syrup to give it plenty of sweetness.
- Packed with nutrients: thanks to hearty, delicious sweet potatoes! They pack the pie with fiber, antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin C, and plenty of natural sweetness.
Ingredients in the best sweet potato pie
You’re going to LOVE how easy it is to make this incredible maple bourbon sweet potato pie. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- Sweet potato: we’re roasting up some delicious sweet potatoes and mashing them for the filling.
- Maple syrup: as I mentioned, this healthy sweet potato pie is naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup!
- Eggs: you’ll need 3 eggs to give the filling the right consistency and texture.
- Cozy flavors: the pie gets plenty of cozy flavor from vanilla extract and lovely spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and a little salt.
- Optional special ingredient: I love to add just a splash of bourbon to really deepen the flavor in the pie! It’s optional but seriously SO GOOD.
- For topping: I love to sprinkle on a little fancy sea salt, plus homemade whipped cream and some cinnamon!
Let’s talk crust
My homemade all butter pie crust is truly the best you’ll ever have, plus it’s incredibly easy to make with just a few simple ingredients!
If you don’t feel like making your own crust you can absolutely use a store-bought pie crust. The pie will still be delicious.
How to make the best sweet potato pie
- Bake your sweet potatoes. Start by poking holes in your sweet potatoes and roasting them until they’re very fork tender. See below for a way to do this ahead of time!
- Make the pie crust. While your sweet potatoes are cooling, make your pie dough and add it to a pie dish. You’ll want to then do a blind bake before adding the filling.
- Make the filling. Remove the skins from your sweet potatoes, mash them up, and mix them in an electric mixer or food processor with the maple syrup and milk. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and whisk in the rest of the filling ingredients until they’re well combined.
- Assemble & bake. Pour the filling into your pie crust and bake it up until the filling and center of the pie is set.
- Cool & serve. Let the pie cool for 1-2 hours, then sprinkle with fancy sea salt and serve with whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream, or pecan butter ice cream!
What’s a blind bake?
A “blind bake” simply means you’ll bake the pie crust a little bit until you add the filling and bake the full pie. It’s not 100% necessary in this recipe, but I do recommend it.
You’ll want to place parchment paper over the pie crust, fill it with dried beans, dried rice, or pie weights to help weigh it down, and bake for 10 minutes. Then remove parchment paper with the dried beans/rice or pie weights and bake the crust for 5 more minutes. Set it aside while you make the filling.
Prevent your crust from burning
If it looks like the edges of your crust are getting a little too dark but the filling is not yet set, simply cover the crust with aluminum foil or a pie shield!
Prep the pie ahead of time
A great way to save time is to either roast your sweet potatoes a few days ahead of time or make the full filling 4-5 days before adding it to your pie crust and baking it! Simply mix the sweet potato pie filling together and place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to assemble the pie, pour it into your pie crust and bake as directed.
Store this homemade sweet potato pie
- In the fridge: once your sweet potato pie is completely cooled, wrap it or place slices into airtight containers and store it in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Enjoy straight from the fridge with some whipped cream, of course!
- To freeze: let the pie cool completely, wrap it up well and freeze it for up to 1 month. Before serving let the pie thaw in the refrigerator overnight. I might also suggest baking it in an aluminum pie dish so that you don’t have to freeze your nice pie pan.
More Thanksgiving desserts you’ll love
- The Best Tart Cherry Pie You’ll Ever Eat
- Vegan & Paleo Pecan Pie Bars
- World’s Best Banana Cream Pie (with peanut butter cookie crust!)
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Best Ever Healthy Pumpkin Pie
- Tony’s Very Favorite Dutch Apple Pie
Get all of my Thanksgiving recipes here!
I hope you love this maple bourbon sweet potato pie! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Salted Maple Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust*
- 1 ¾ cup mashed sweet potato (from about 2-3 medium sweet potatoes*)
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup dairy free milk of choice
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon bourbon (optional, but so good!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For garnish:
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the sweet potatoes: Line a small baking pan with parchment paper. Use a fork to poke holes in your sweet potatoes, then place on the baking sheet and bake for 1 hour or until sweet potatoes are very fork tender. Set sweet potatoes aside until cool enough to handle. Keep heat in the oven. Note: If you’d like, you can also do this step ahead of time and store your sweet potatoes in the fridge for a few days until you are ready to make the filling.
- Prepare pie crust: Make pie crust as directed. Feel free to use my recipe, your favorite, or a store bought crust. Blind bake pie crust for 10 minutes, this isn’t necessary but I do recommend. To blind bake your pie crust (which simply means baking it a little bit before the filling goes in), simply place parchment paper over pie crust and fill with dried beans/rice or dried rice and bake for 10 minutes. Remove parchment paper with dried beans/rice or pie weights and bake crust for 5 more minutes. Once done baking, set pie crust aside.
- Make the filling: add the mashed sweet potato (make sure to measure out and remove the skin!), pure maple syrup, almond milk to the bowl of an electric mixer, or alternatively to a blender or food processor. Blend/mix ingredients together on high until well combined and no large lumps of sweet potato remain. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt until well combined and smooth. Pour into the pie crust.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes until filling is no longer jiggly in the middle. Check the pie after every 20 minutes to make sure the crust isn't burning. If it is getting a little too golden brown, simply cover pie edges with foil or a pie shield. Allow the pie to cool for at least an hour or two before serving.
- Serve. Before serving, sprinkle with Maldon salt for that sweet and salty flavor, then cut into 9 slices. Serve with whipped cream, vanilla bean ice cream or a pecan butter ice cream. Pie should be kept in the fridge once completely cool. Store pie in the fridge. Serves 9.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
23 comments
Cant wait to make this soon for me will skip bourbon as I dont use bourbon at home I never had sweet potato pie before perfect for my after office snacks love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
Yay. Can’t wait to hear how this recipe turns out for you!
OMG IT’S DAIRY FREE?!? AND COULD BE GLUTEN FREE W/ THE RIGHT PIE CRUST? SHUT UP!!! I CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE THIS!
YESS! So happy to hear how excited you are for this recipe. Can’t wait to hear how it works out for you!
LOVED IT!
Any idea how to replace or cut down on the eggs? I try to keep everything I make at home vegan.
This sounds amazing! Any chance this could be made vegan without the eggs?
I would definitely not leave out the eggs in this recipe as they make the filling really creamy. You could possibly try flax eggs, but I haven’t tested this recipe with them and I am not sure the consistency would come out the same.
Could I microwave the sweet potatoes?
Microwaving the sweet potatoes might change the “roasted” flavor of the sweet potatoes. You can definitely try, but I think it might change the flavor a bit.
Do you have a GF pie crust??
Nope, not at this time, but maybe in the future 🙂
So so good!!! Brought it to a gathering and everyone loved it. Thank you for the recipe, will definitely make again!
Looks sooo delicious! What types of cow’s milk can I use if I don’t have dairy free milk on hand?
Any type of milk should work for this recipe!
My husband was raving about this pie after dessert last night and had 2 pieces for breakfast this morning haha. The texture is perfect and I love the deep rich flavor that the bourbon adds.
Yay! So happy to hear it came out great! ❤️🙂
Wow!! This pie is so simple and so delicious. I used peanut butter whiskey and the flavor was excellent. I also used a pecan crust and it worked really well. Everyone kept raving about how delicious the pie was! I always go to AK when I want a recipe to impress everyone and I’m never disappointed!
This pie turned out delicious! I used puff pastry for the crust in a pinch and also reduced the maple syrup by about a quarter, which I found was a perfect level of sweetness. Really nice depth of flavour from the roasted sweet potatoes which was complemented perfectly by the spices and maple.
Can’t wait to try it again with a proper pie crust!
AH love this so much, glad you found this recipe and are enjoying it!
This pie was phenomenal! I will be making it for many years to come!! I made your famous butter crust with Bob Red Mill’s one-to-one GF flour and salted butter for a salty crust to complement the sweet filling. I also used purple sweet potato instead because of the added nutritional benefits. After doing the blind bake, I layered the bottom of the pie with a granny smith apple. This was was a crowd pleaser!! Everyone at dinner table asked me for the recipe! Thank you for sharing a yummy and healthy take on a classic pie! 10/10!!!!
YUM! I am so glad you gave this a try and it turned out fabulous for you ❤️
This pie was absolutely delicious! I will be making an appearance on the Thanksgiving dinner table for many years to come! I made your famous butter crust but used Bob’s Red Mill GF flour and salted butter. Wanted the crust a little salty to complement the sweet filling. I also used purple sweet potato instead for the additional nutritional benefits. It gave it a beautiful color! After the blind bake, I layered a granny smith apple on the base of the pie and then poured the filling on top. This was a crowd pleaser!!! Everyone wanted the recipe. Thank you for sharing a healthy spin on this traditional pie!! Love your recipes!!
Aww this is SO great, Lulu. I am happy you and the family are loving this recipe and it turned out amazing for you!