My love of all things sweet potato is well documented here on Black Girls Who Brunch. I’ve stuffed it in cinnamon rolls, put in muffins, added it to ice cream, even made a pudding out of it. But the one quintessential sweet potato dish was missing, a Sweet Potato Pie. Some years ago, I had the idea to go with a graham cracker crust rather than the traditional pastry crust. It took some tries and Thanksgiving experiments to get it right, but I think I have finallllly mastered a Graham Cracker Crust Sweet Potato Pie. This recipe plays on my family’s sweet potato pie recipe (yes Auntie Barbie), with a few changes. Check it out below!
Graham Cracker Crust Sweet Potato Pie
A traditional sweet potato pie filling with a graham cracker and sweet potato pie crust!
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 12 Sheets of Graham Crackers
- 1/4 Cup Chopped Pecans
- 6 Tbsp Unsalted Melted Butter
- 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
Sweet Potato Filling
- 3-4 Medium Sized Sweet Potatoes
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
- 2/3 Cup Milk
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Tsp Cinnamon
- 2 Tsp Nutmeg
- 2 Eggs
Instructions
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For the sweet potatoes, roast them on a baking sheet at 425 for at least an hour. When they are ready, you should be able to pinch the sweet potato with your thumb and index finger. After cooling, remove the skin and blend the sweet potatoes in a blender or food processor. Blend until the sweet potatoes are creamy. Place in the fridge to cool.
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Next, crunch up the graham crackers until they are crumbs. Combine the chopped pecans, butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir until combined.
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Add a layer of parchment paper to the bottom of your 9 inch springform pan.
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Pack the graham crackers in the bottom of the pan spreading evenly and using your hands to pack firmly. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5-6 minutes or until the crust becomes fragrant. Set aside to cool.
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While the pie crust is cooling, prepare your pie filling. Add your sweet potatoes to your stand mixer. Slowly add in heavy cream, butter, two eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Last add in milk a little bit at a time until the mixture is on the soupier side. Add less or more as needed.
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Add the filling to your cooled pie crust. Bake at 325 for 60 minutes. The edges of the pie will set, but the middle may still be a bit jiggly.
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Allow the pie to complete cool so that it can set. This may also require putting it in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Serve after completely cooling.
A Few Notes
- Can I use a regular pie pan? Yes, but be mindful the graham cracker crust goes from perfect to burned REAL QUICK. This is part of why I used a springform pan so the crust is only at the bottom and will not burn when the pie is baking.
- Do I really need to use a blender or food processor? I know your grandmother and aunties likely did not use a blender for their sweet potato pie. Mine surely don’t! But this is the easiest way to get the lumps out.
- How many cups of graham cracker does this recipe make? It ends up being about 2 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs for this recipe.
- Does it really need to cook for an hour? Yes!
- My pie did not set. While I love a slice of warm pie, the best option is to let it cool completely perhaps even putting it in the fridge. Cut it while cold, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and enjoy it warm that way.
- Good quality sweet potatoes are essential! My favorite sweet potatoes are from Randall’s Grocery store in Houston. For me, the best sweet potatoes have less strings. Half of the sweet potatoes I used for this recipe were drier and cooked up more like a Russet Potato. As such, I had to add more liquid. If you find that your sweet potatoes are softer and have more juice in them once cooked, add less cream and milk to your mixture.
- If you are looking for a video of how to do this, check out the “Swt Potato” highlight on my instagram.
Go ahead and bookmark this, or pin this so it is ready come Thanksgiving!
Hi Erika,
Thank you for the recipe! I’ve been making my sweet potato pies with using store bought graham crusts for a few years because no one likes to eat the edges of regular pie crusts. I look forward to using this recipe during the Fall and holidays.
I can’t wait to try this can I buy premade gram cracker crust?
I would recommend making a homemade graham cracker crust. The sweet potato pie has to cook for so long that it burns the sides of the crust. This is why I used the springform pan so that the crust is only at the bottom and will not burn.
Does it matter if I used dark or light brown sugar to make the graham cracker crust?
Hi Adele! Either one works.
Hi, I would like to make a Graham cracker crust but I don’t know how to. Do you have a recipe? Your recipe looks good and I’m going to make this
Hello, the recipe includes directions for the graham cracker crust.
Would you have an idea of how many raw sweet potatoes to start with by weight?
Sorry, I never pay attention at the grocery store when they weigh them. If your potatoes are on the smaller side I would recommend grabbing an extra one. This season the sweet potatoes in my grocery store (I’m in Houston) have been really large so 3 max would be all that I would need for this recipe.
Is there any reason you chose to roast the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them?
It’s a personal preference, but I am unsure if the recipe will work the same if you boil them.
My fiance just made this for me and it is delicious thank you u so much
Yay! Glad you all enjoyed it.
I have store bought crust what can I do to keep from burning the crust while the 🥧 is baking
I’ve heard people try to add foil to cover the sides of the graham cracker, but I cannot guarantee that will work.
I made your recipe for my 1st attempt to bake a sweet potato pie, it turned out great! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Yay! Thank you for coming back and rating it! I’m about to make mine too 🙂
It came out so beautifully! I used walnuts in the crust since that’s what I had on hand. Thanks
I am celiac. I looked for a recipe with a graham cracker crust because I had a gluten free graham cracker crust. Used your sweet potato pie recipe and it came out delicious. Putting the nuts on the crust made it different and interesting. I was skeptical because of the amount of nutmeg, however, it was just perfect. Instead of regular milk I used coconut milk. Thanks again! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for coming back and rating the recipe! Glad you enjoyed it.
So if you’re wondering if it matters if you just buy a store bought graham cracker pie crust vs making the one in this recipe …. IT DOES! I didn’t have any graham crackers so I had to use what I had which was the already made graham cracker pie crust. The sweet potato pie was good but because I didn’t make the homemade crust it did get a little burnt on the bottom. But it was still good.
Thank you for coming back and making that note about the crust. With the homemade crust and the springform pan it won’t burn. Glad you were still able to enjoy some of it though 🙂
I wanted to prepare a sweet potato pie as an adopted Southern contribution to my group of transplants to Maryland, and I prefer graham cracker crusts to pastry crusts. This was excellent. It was the first sweet potato pie for one member of the group, an excellent baker himself, and he liked it. Mine was darker than your photos, probably because I used dark brown sugar. It will look oranger the next time when I use light brown sugar. Thank you!
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it. I used a dark brown sugar as well. The color difference is likely related to the color of your sweet potatoes. The color can vary a lot and grocery stories don’t always label them correctly.
Hi, I’m in Australia where we do not have graham crackers. I can substitute a similar cookie but was wondering if you knew the amount of graham crackers in cups? Thanks!
You can try a homemade recipe or biscoff cookies or gingersnaps. These are probably a bit sweeter than graham crackers so I would recommend putting less sugar in the sweet potato if you do this.
Thanks but I was wondering what the amount of graham cracker crumbs was in Cups measurement so I could substitute?
i am diabetic and looking for a sweet potato pie where there is no sweet. Do you what I can use in place of the sugar?
Hi, I’ve never made it with anything other than sugar. I would recommend honey or perhaps no sugar at all because sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness to them.
I made this last Thanksgiving and my boyfriend asked me to make it again. It’s a hit!
I can’t wait to try this! It’s simple enough!
I love sweet potato pie but I’ve always been dissatisfied with pies I purchase or make because the crust never matches the wonderful flavor of the sweet potato filling. I like graham cracker crust and I didn’t expect that I could make one for a sweet potato pie. I made this pie last night for Thanksgiving and had a piece of pie for breakfast. I am amazed! And from now on, every time I make a sweet potato pie, I will use this recipe. The pie says “Wow!” It is full of flavor and holds nothing back. It is an incredible, wonderful pie. It’s a 15 out of 10. Tips: I don’t have a spring form pan so I used my regular pie pan. I don’t have parchment paper so I used a tradition substitute – I cut tin foil to fit the bottom of the pan, shiny side down, and sprayed it with nonstick cooking spray. I piled the crust into the pan but did not build it up on the sides of the pan so it was just a bottom layer…..thick layer, too. Yes! As for the filling, I was afraid it would turn out runny so I only added 1/2 cup of milk instead of 2/3…..everything else was the same as the original recipe. I cooked the pie per the recipe. I left it on the back porch, which is cool, all night. As I said, it was my breakfast. It cut well into pie pieces. The tin foil bunched up as I cut it so it was easy to remove. Thank you, Black Girls Who Brunch! You have made the world a better place with your Sweet Potato Pie Recipe! Happy Thanksgiving!
Yay! Glad you loved it 🙂
This is an amazing recipe!
I used gluten free graham cracker crumbs and it turned out great!! My family wants this every year for Thanksgiving now 😁
Best dang pie I’ve ever made. (Old white dude)
I tried this recipe! It was Awesome! Thank you. Do you know if you can freeze the remaining pie?
I loved this recipe I needed help how to make the pie crust. Combined with my half of recipe , thanks so much for the help. Will be following your recipes bc I love to brunch too . Was a bi brunches in past ,
How many cups of sweet potato purée?
It’s not an exact amount, but the number of sweet potatoes noted in the recipe should be enough.
Thank you Erika! Made this today and it was amazing. Everyone loved the crust and how thick the crust was. I made the recipe exact but did add a pecan sugar streusel topping with about 25 minutes left in the baking time. It was like having a pie between two crusts. Amazing recipe, thanks for sharing.
Glad you loved it! And that pecan sugar streusel sounds delicious.
Good morning! I have a tip, although it’s labor intensive. Before putting your spuds in a processor, push them through a strainer to get rid of any strings. It’s a lot of work, but oh my!
Thank you for sharing! I’m obsessed with getting strings out of my sweet potatoes so I just might try this myself as well!
Made this recipe yesterday. I used store bought graham cracker crust. Mine did not burn. Absolutely great recipe, the family loves it. I baked 2 pies and only have half of a pie left. Thank you so much for sharing! Will definitely be my go to recipe from now on.
I made this again this year. Everyone loved it.