5 Sweet Potato Pie Recipes You’ll Love This Fall

If you’re already planning for Thanksgiving, then sweet potato pie is likely on the list. That’s understandable, since it’s such a holiday staple. While many people choose the traditional recipe, that’s not your only option–especially if you’re working on managing your weight. In that case, it may be a good idea to try healthier versions of the sweet potato pie recipes you’re used to.

Why The Typical Sweet Potato Pie Recipe May Pack an Unhealthy Punch

Given that sweet potatoes are usually associated with healthy food, it can be hard to wrap your mind around the pie being an unhealthy choice. Sweet potatoes can indeed benefit your health. According to a 2022 literature review, sweet potatoes are considered to be an excellent source of dietary carotenoids and polysaccharides. Those nutrients are typically linked to beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective activity. They may also offer cardiovascular protection, anticancer properties, and improved neurological and memory function, as well as benefits for metabolic disorders and intestinal barrier function.

Of course, researchers note that the effects cooking techniques can have on nutrients in sweet potatoes need further study. Even so, it certainly suggests that sweet potatoes can be good for your health. 

The issue is all the other ingredients that can be included in a typical sweet potato pie recipe. For a regular slice–considered to be 150g–the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that you could consume 404 calories. That slice would also have almost 15g of fat and close to 38g of total sugar. If you reach for a large slice that clocks in at 250g, then you could be looking at 672 calories, 24.4g of fat, and 62.9g of total sugar. 

With the right recipes, though, those numbers could look a lot different. When you know what you’re dealing with, you can choose the recipes that work best.

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5 Healthy Sweet Potato Pie Recipes For You

1. A Lighter Sweet Potato Pie

Servings: 

Calories: 245

Fat: 9g

Sugar: 15g

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup milk of choice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 9-inch pie crust, store-bought or homemade

Method:

1. Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven or air-fryer at 400F for 20-30 minutes until tender. Let cool and remove the skin. You can cook the sweet potatoes up to 2 days in advance.
2. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a 9″ pie plate with a single pie crust. Crimp the edges as desired and set aside.
3. Add the cooked sweet potatoes, cottage cheese, eggs, maple syrup, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla to a blender. Blend until smooth and combined.
4. Transfer the sweet potato mixture into the pie plate. Bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is set.

2. Quick Wholewheat Sweet Potato Pie

Servings: 8

Calories: 316

Fat: 19g

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Sugar: 17g

Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) sweet potato
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (9-inch) unbaked whole wheat pie crust

Method:

1. Boil sweet potato whole in skin in a small pot until done, 40 to 50 minutes. Drain, cool sweet potato with cold water, and remove skin.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Break sweet potato apart in a large bowl. Mix in butter and beat well with an electric mixer. Beat in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake in preheated oven until knife inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Pie will puff up like a soufflé, then sink as it cools.

3. Wholewheat Sweet Potato Pie From Scratch

Servings: 8

Calories: 329

Fat: 19.6g

Sugar: 11.3g

Ingredients

For The Whole Wheat Pie Crust:

• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon coconut sugar
• 6-8 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

For The Sweet Potato Filling:

• 2 ½ cups (approx. 2 large) mashed sweet potatoes, mashed and peeled
• ½ cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons raw pecans, finely chopped

For The Coconut Whipped Cream (Optional):

• 1 13.5 oz. can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

To Make The Whole Wheat Pie Crust:

1. To get the coconut oil solid so we can break it into pieces, spread out the coconut oil into an even layer over a sheet of parchment paper and then place it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to fully harden.
2. In a food processor, combine the whole wheat pastry flour, sea salt and coconut sugar. (You could also combine in a large bowl and mix with your hands.)
3. Pulse the food processor a few times to mix.
4. Break the hardened coconut oil into small chunks using your hands.
5. Add the pieces of hardened coconut oil to the flour mixture in the food processor, pulsing just as much as necessary to break the pieces into even pea-size lumps.
6. Add ice-cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between, until the dough sticks to itself when pinched. (I always need more water, but I start with just 3-4 tbsp. to be safe.)
7. Remove flour mixture from the food processor and place onto a clean, dry, flat surface, then gently shape into a disk.
8. If the dough is too crumbly and refuses to cooperate, you can add more water, tablespoon by tablespoon, as needed.
9. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 10 minutes to harden it.
10. Remove the chilled disk from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for a couple minutes to make it easier to roll out.
11. Flour your surface with more of the whole wheat pastry flour.
12. Using a rolling pin on your well-floured surface, roll out dough to form an approximate 12-inch circle. Be sure to continue to flip the dough over and generously flour each side so as not to have the rolled-out dough stick to the surface. (If it doesn’t cooperate, despite heavy flouring, roll it back up into a ball and start again.)
13. Place the rolled-out dough onto a 9-inch pie plate.
14. Gently press the pie dough down so that it meets the bottom and sides of the pie dish.
15. Using a knife, carefully trim the dough around the top edge of the pie dish as needed, leaving about a ¼-inch to ½-inch overlap.
16. Fold the edge of the over and under the edge of itself, pressing together.
17. You could leave the edge as is, or to style it more, you can either crimp the edges using your thumb and forefinger or press with a fork.

To Make The Sweet Potato Filling:

18. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
19. In a large mixing bowl, add the mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, pure maple syrup, melted coconut oil, pure vanilla extract, whole wheat pastry flour, unsweetened almond milk, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and sea salt. Stir together until evenly mixed.
20. Carefully pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and smooth out with a spoon.
21. Place in the oven and bake for 45-65 minutes, or until the center is set. You will know it is set because it doesn’t giggle nearly at all when gently shaken.
22. Once set, remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

To Make The Coconut Whipped Cream (Optional):

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23. Before getting started, make sure you have refrigerated the coconut milk until completely chilled (overnight is best).
24. Scoop out the thick cream at the top of the can, leaving the looser coconut water for another use.
25. Add the coconut cream to a large mixing bowl, followed by the maple syrup and vanilla extract.
26. Beat on high speed using an immersion blender, hand mixer, or stand mixer, until the cream is fluffy and stiff ridges have formed.  

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4. Dairy-Free Sweet Potato Pie

Servings: 8

Calories: 313

Fat: 13g

Sugar: 25g

Ingredients

• 2-3 medium/large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and washed
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 1 cup canned coconut cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 unbaked 9″ pie crust, use store-bought or make your own
• Coconut whipped cream, for topping

Method:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork several times and place sweet potatoes on baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes or until tender. Let cool, then remove skin from the sweet potatoes and discard. Place flesh into medium bowl, mash with a fork, and measure 3 cups. Save any extra for another use.
2. Meanwhile, place pie crust in a 9″ pie pan and pre-bake according to package/recipe instructions.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
4. Combine filling ingredients in a stand mixer using the flat beater or in a high-powered blender or food processor. If the volume is too much for your blender, you can blend the sweet potato in batches, transfer to a bowl, and then mix in the rest of the filling ingredients. I combined everything in my Vitamix.
5. Transfer filling into the baked pie shell. Cover the crust with aluminum foil or use pie protectors to keep the edges of the crust from getting too brown.
6. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until pie has set.
7. Allow to cool and then transfer to the fridge to set and chill for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Serve chilled with whipped topping.

5. Low-Calorie Sweet Potato Pie

Servings: 10

Calories: 127

Ingredients

FOR THE CRUST

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour 
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (very cold and cubed)
• 2 tsp nonfat milk (cold)
• 1 tsp pure maple syrup (cold)
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp ice-cold water

FOR THE FILLING

• 1 ¾ cups cooked & mashed sweet potato or yams
• ¼ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 6 tbsp confectioners’ style erythritol
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup nonfat milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ tsp liquid stevia
• 3 large egg whites, room temperature & lightly beaten
• Optional: whipped cream, for serving

Method:

1. To prepare the crust, whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter (recommended!) or the back of a fork until the mixture resembles crumbs.
2. Whisk together the milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of water, and drizzle over the flour mixture. Mix until all of those liquid ingredients have been incorporated. Continue to add water ½ teaspoon at a time, mixing until completely incorporated until the mixture forms a dough. 
3. Transfer the dough to the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap, and shape into a 4”-wide circle. Cover the top with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
4. While the dough chills, prepare the filling. Beat together the sweet potato and Greek yogurt in a large bowl. Sprinkle the erythritol, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt over the mixture. Beat until fully incorporated. Pour in the milk, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Beat until fully incorporated. Gradually beat in the egg whites until fully incorporated.
5. Preheat the oven to 375°F, and coat a standard 9”-round pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.
6. Leaving the dough between the sheets of plastic wrap, roll it out into an 11”-wide circle. Peel off the top layer of plastic wrap, and turn it out into the prepared pie plate. Peel off the other layer of plastic wrap. Gently press the dough into the pie plate, and trim the overhang.
7. Line the center of the pie with foil (see Notes!), ensuring that the foil is fully touching the dough all the way around the steep sides of the pie plate, and pour pie weights (or uncooked rice, dry beans, or popcorn kernels) into the center. Bake the crust at 375°F for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights.
8. Spread the filling into the center of the parbaked crust. Bake the pie at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until the center barely jiggles when lightly shaken. Cool completely to room temperature; then chill the pie for an additional 8 hours before serving.

You may be wondering whether you can still have sweet potato pie on a weight management journey. The good news is that several healthy alternatives offer the same great taste without the huge number of calories. Try the recipes here, and you just might find a new favorite!