A high altitude tested recipe for the best sweet potato pie, made with flaky, buttery pie dough, lightly spiced sweet potato filling and pecan brown sugar crumble topping. This sweet potato pecan crumble pie is a wonderful alternative to a traditional pumpkin pie for your Thanksgiving dessert table.
You might also love these recipes for pecan pie, homemade cranberry raspberry sauce, and baked gingerbread donuts.
This site contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links. This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services. All opinions expressed on this site are my own.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Perfectly Baked. For a perfectly baked pie, I pre-bake the pie crust for a few minutes first, and then let it finish baking with the filling. This ensures that the crust is never soggy or under-baked, but perfectly flaky and golden brown.
Perfect for the Holidays. While pumpkin pie is a traditional choice for Thanksgiving dessert, I prefer the sweet potatoes. This sweet potato pie is so similar to sweet potato casserole, with the smooth and creamy filling, the cozy winter spices, and the crumbly pecan topping.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- All Butter Pie Dough. Since you only need a single pie crust, you can either make half the pie dough recipe, or wrap and freeze the other half of the dough for another pie.
- Sweet Potatoes. Before making the filling, you’ll need to roast the sweet potatoes in their skin, which concentrates their sweetness and flavor.
- Heavy Whipping Cream. The high fat content of the cream makes a thick, luxurious pie filling.
- Brown Sugar. You’ll need light brown sugar for both the pie filling and the crumb topping.
- Eggs. Helps to thicken and set the filling as it bakes.
- Spices. You’ll need vanilla extract and salt, as well as ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice, for flavor and warmth.
- Flour. All purpose flour gives structure to the crumb topping.
- Butter. Melted butter moistens the topping and binds it together.
- Pecans.
Instructions
Roast the Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Wash the potatoes, but don’t peel them. Rub the skin with the olive oil, then wrap the potatoes individually in aluminum foil. Roast for 90 minutes, until very soft and tender.
- Set aside to cool until cool enough to touch, remove the skins, and scoop the potato flesh into a food processor. Puree until smooth.
- Measure out 2 cups or 18 ounces of pureed sweet potatoes for the filling. You can make the roasted sweet potatoes several days in advance, keeping them refrigerated until needed for the filling.
Make the Pie Crust
- Prepare 1/2 of the All Butter Pie Dough Recipe for a single pie crust.
- Roll out the dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a deep-dish pie pan or 9 inch metal tart pan, fold the edges under and crimp the edges. Use a fork to lightly prick the bottom of the crust all over (this is called docking the crust, and will help prevent it from puffing up too much during the pre-bake). Freeze the crust in the pan for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet.
- Lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust at 400 for 20 minutes. Carefully, remove the paper and the beans/weights, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 10-15 minutes. The crust should be mostly baked, but you’ll still see a few under-baked patches of dough, since it will finish baking with the filling.
- Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.
Make the Filling
- In a bowl, whisk together the pureed sweet potatoes with the cream, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, spices and salt, until smooth.
- Spread the filling into the pre-baked crust.
Add the Topping
- In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Add the melted butter and stir together until crumbly and moist.
- Sprinkle the topping over the filling, then arrange a few extra pecan halves on top for decoration.
Bake
- Bake the pie for about 40-45 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. The center will still be slightly jiggly and soft, but should be mostly set.
- Cool the pie completely, at least 3-4 hours, before slicing and serving.
- The pie can be baked up to one day in advance, and refrigerated until ready to serve.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use store bought pie dough and follow the same baking instructions.
The answer isn’t all that straightforward. My grocery store has bins labeled as sweet potatoes and yams, but it’s actually uncommon for them to carry true yams. Most often, the tubers available are either firm sweet potatoes or soft sweet potatoes, but not yams.
Yams. A yam has a dark brown or blackish peel that’s rough and bark-like. Inside, the potato flesh can range from white, purple or red. They are starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.
Firm Sweet Potatoes. Firm sweet potatoes have golden colored peel with a pale yellow or white potato flesh. They are firmer and starchier than soft sweet potatoes.
Soft Sweet Potatoes. Soft sweet potatoes have copper colored peel with a deep orange potato flesh. They become extremely soft and sweet when cooked, with a caramelized flavor when they’re roasted in their skin.
If you want a sweet, soft mashable sweet potato for roasting and eating, or for pureeing into a casserole filling, then you should look for the soft sweet potatoes (which your grocery store might label as yams). Even though they’re not yams. Look at the color of the peel, and look for any nicks or breaks to see the color of the flesh inside (deep orange, not white) to identify the correct ones.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Sweet Potato Pecan Crumble Pie
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 9 Inch Deep Dish Pie Pan or Tart Pan
- Food Processor
Ingredients
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp olive oil
Crust
- ½ recipe All Butter Pie Dough
Filling
- 18 oz (2 cups) pureed roasted sweet potatoes
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup chopped pecans, plus a few extra for decorating
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Roast the Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Wash the potatoes, but don't peel them. Rub the skin with the olive oil, then wrap the potatoes individually in aluminum foil. Roast for 90 minutes, until very soft and tender.
- Set aside to cool until cool enough to touch, remove the skins, and scoop the potato flesh into a food processor. Puree until smooth.
- Measure out 2 cups or 18 ounces of pureed sweet potatoes for the filling. You can make the roasted sweet potatoes several days in advance, keeping them refrigerated until needed for the filling.
Make the Pie Crust
- Prepare 1/2 of the All Butter Pie Dough Recipe for a single pie crust.
- Roll out the dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. Fit the dough into a deep-dish pie pan or 9 inch metal tart pan, fold the edges under and crimp the edges. Use a fork to lightly prick the bottom of the crust all over (this is called docking the crust, and will help prevent it from puffing up too much during the pre-bake). Freeze the crust in the pan for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet.
- Lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust at 400 for 20 minutes. Carefully, remove the paper and the beans/weights, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 10-15 minutes. The crust should be mostly baked, but you'll still see a few under-baked patches of dough, since it will finish baking with the filling.
- Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.
Make the Filling
- In a bowl, whisk together the pureed sweet potatoes with the cream, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, spices and salt, until smooth.
- Spread the filling into the pre-baked crust.
Add the Topping
- In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Add the melted butter and stir together until crumbly and moist.
- Sprinkle the topping over the filling, then arrange a few extra pecan halves on top for decoration.
Bake
- Bake the pie for about 40-45 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. The center will still be slightly jiggly and soft, but should be mostly set.
- Cool the pie completely, at least 3-4 hours, before slicing and serving.
- The pie can be baked up to one day in advance, and refrigerated until ready to serve.
Leave a Reply