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Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

I’m emotional. This bourbon sweet potato pumpkin pie is so good, I’m legit emotional. It’s been a good year since I’ve made this pie, I’ve been very busy. But I was hellbent on not only making it for Thanksgiving this time around, but also sharing the recipe. For all of you who love sweet potato pie, and pumpkin pie, just wait until you combine them. You’re not ready. This is an insanely delicious pie, and that’s that on that. Sweet potato walks into a bar, meets Pumpkin, and the two share a shot of bourbon. The rest is history.

Sweet potatoes and pumpkin are such an incredible duo. The combined texture of both gives you an amazing mouthfeel. Creamy, smooth, with a back note of boozy from the bourbon. Whew! I know some of you are giving me the side-eye here, but don’t knock it til you try it! The all-butter buttermilk crust is flaky, tender, with a slight tang from the buttermilk. It pairs very well with this custardy, perfectly sweet, beautifully spiced pie.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Keep all ingredients for the dough as cold as possible. If your kitchen is uncontrollably warm, freeze the butter to keep it as cold as possible. And after rolling out the dough, pop it back in the freezer until you’re ready to bake it.

To keep the filling smooth and devoid of long strings from the sweet potato (which is natural), use a hand-held electric mixer. The strings tend to wrap themselves around the beaters, so that’s a plus. Honestly though, a big ass sturdy whisk does the trick.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

How to make All-Butter Buttermilk Pie Dough

This video shows you how to make the pie dough. Watch if you’re a visual learner. This is the dough we’re using for this particular pie.

How to Make Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

blind baking crust

Once you get your crust in the pie plate, fill it with dried beans. Easiest way to do this is crumple up a sheet of parchment paper so it fits inside the crust better and more gently, then pour in the beans. Press them VERY gently to ensure there are no gaps. We want to prevent the crust from shrinking and sliding down as much as possible. Pop this into a preheated 375 F oven for 25 minutes.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie filling ingredients

Meanwhile, dump all of your filling ingredients in a large bowl.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Pour in the evaporated milk.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the mixture on the lowest speed to incorporate.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Gradually increase speed to make sure it’s all smooth.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

I almost forgot the vanilla beans and vanilla extract! You of course, will add this in the beginning.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Blending the vanilla stuff in.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Done. Wait for your pie crust to finish with the first half of the blind bake.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

After 25 minutes, here’s what my crust is lookin like.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Protect the edges! Wrap them gently but loosely in foil to keep them from getting too dark too fast. Pop this back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Done blind baking. I let out some of the air pockets with a fork, but you can just press it down if it puffs up. Reduce the oven temp to 325 degrees.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Pour in the filling. Bake for about an hour, or until the center jiggles ever so slightly when you nudge the pie plate.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

It’s done. The edges will puff up but they’ll also flatten as the pie cools.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Another view. Let this pie cool on a baking rack for several hours at room temperature before putting in the fridge.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

It’s flattened out. It’s cooled completely.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

This goddamn pie is good as hell.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

I couldn’t wait.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin PieBourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

It’s a damn shame this pie is as good as it is. I’m literally beside myself, everything came out so perfect. And if you’ve ever baked a few pies in your life, you know how amazing it feels to have one come out way better than you expect. My pie crust was perfectly crisp, absolutely no sogginess to it at all due to the elite level blind baking. Yes…I’m emotional.

I hope you enjoy this bourbon sweet potato pie. It’s very special to me, and even if you mess it up, keep trying. You’ll get it, and be so proud of yourself.

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Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie


  • Author: Chef Resha
  • Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 10 - 12 servings

Description

The best of both pie worlds. Sweet potato meets Pumpkin at a bar, and the two share a shot of bourbon for this incredibly delicious holiday pie. Made with an all butter buttermilk crust, and speckled with juicy vanilla beans. So good.

Used some blind baking tips from Once Upon a Chef.


Ingredients

Units

For the crust

  • 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 1/2 cup cold whole buttermilk, plus more if needed

For the filling

  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 cup sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed (SEE NOTE)
  • 1 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 2 1/23 tablespoons good quality bourbon
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 vanilla bean, optional
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (SEE NOTE)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar (SEE NOTE)
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 slightly heaping teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • tiny pinch of cayenne pepper
  • Flaky sea salt, for finishing (optional)

Instructions

This recipe is intended for one deep dish pie. If you’re making a smaller pie, simply divide the finished dough into two discs. You may find that the blind baking step takes fewer minutes with a thinner, smaller circumference of dough. Use your best judgement here.

Equipment needed: 9.5-inch deep dish pie plate, parchment paper, 2 bags of dried beans for blind baking, hand-held electric mixer or whisk, aluminum foil.

For the dough

See video in post above to learn how this dough is made.

  1. Cut butter into cubes and freeze at least 20 minutes. Place buttermilk in freezer for about 10 minutes to get nice and cold. Process the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor until combined.
  2. Add frozen butter, coat butter with flour mixture and spread out into an even layer. This helps the butter process more evenly. Pulse until butter breaks down into pea-sized pieces, about 7 pulses. Some pieces will be smaller or larger, that’s fine. Don’t over-pulse it.
  3. Add 1/2 cup of cold buttermilk, and pulse for about 5 seconds or until dough is visibly moistened. It will be crumbly! Test it out — dough is ready when you’re able to press it together and it stays together. If it’s not quite there yet, add an additional 1-2 tablespoons of buttermilk until it holds together when you clump it in your fist.
  4. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently knead/press into either 1 large dough ball or 2 dough balls. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Dough can be made 48 hours in advance and frozen until ready to use. 
  5. When ready to roll, remove from fridge or freezer and let come to room temperature for 10 minutes just so it’s easier to roll. Lightly flour surface and rolling pin and roll out into desired circumference. If you like thinner dough, or thicker dough – depends on you!
  6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  7. Gently place dough into pie plate and remove any air pockets, trim and/or crimp/flute the edges against the rim of the pie plate. Ball up a sheet of parchment paper, then open it up and gently place it into your pie crust. Pour in the dried beans, making sure they’re gently yet firmly pressed along the sides of the pie dough to help keep the dough from shrinking and sliding down during the blind baking process.
  8. Bake 25 minutes, then remove from oven. Carefully take out the parchment and beans. Gently and loosely wrap aluminum foil around the edges of the pie crust to prevent it from browning too fast. Put the crust back into the oven for an additional 20 minutes to bake it fully.
  9. Meanwhile…

Make the filling

  1. Place all filling ingredients in a large bowl, and blend until completely smooth using a hand-held electric mixture or sturdy whisk. Scrape the inside of a vanilla bean (if using) into the mixture, blending again until smooth.
  2. When the pie crust is done blind baking, remove it from the oven.
  3. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
  4. Gently press down the bottom of the pie crust if it puffed up. Pour the pie filling into the crust. Bake for 55-60 minutes. If making smaller, more shallow pies, you’ll need to adjust baking times. The custard is ready when it jiggles ever so slightly in the middle and the edges have puffed and look somewhat dry.
  5. Cool the finished pie completely to room temperature for several hours. You can eat it like this, or let it set up in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.
  6. Slice and enjoy!

Notes

You can steam, boil, or bake your sweet potato prior to mashing it. I baked mine at 350 degrees for 2 hours, it really concentrated the flavor.

If you want to make this an all sweet potato pie, use 2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes. Do the same if you want this to be an all pumpkin pie.

Vanilla is ridiculously expensive these days, so if you need to leave the extract and vanilla bean out, I don’t blame you. This pie will still be fire.

Taste the filling to check salt and sugar levels. If you need it a bit sweeter, add one full tablespoon more of granulated and light brown sugar.

  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Category: pies, thanksgiving
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: bourbon sweet potato pumpkin pie, pies, thanksgiving

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Recipe rating

  1. Racquel says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    MAKE THIS! This is the BEST sweet potato pie I’ve ever had! It’s even better the next day!! ★★★★★
  2. Tiffany says:

    THE BEST sweet potato pie you will ever taste. The pumpkin and sweet potato blend together so well – CRACK. Absolute crack. People love it every year and just about fall out when I tell them the secret ingredient is pumpkin!! Is so damn good yall. Pattie Labelle who?

  3. Raquel says:

    As a card carrying member of “I eat sweet potato and pumpkin pie” delegation, combining them is the first step to justice. Ive this recipe twice – once to test the waters and the second time for Thanksgiving 2023. I called it the “surprise, [nword] pie” and everyone loved it. Even the “I don’t eat pumpkin pie” people. The filling is so easy to make and silky smooth. I used the homemade pie crust for the first attempt and store bought the second time – do yourself a favor and just make the crust – it’s much better.

  4. Chinenye says:

    I had been eyeing this recipe for some years now. I left out the bourbon, nutmeg and cloves. I waited to the last minute to go to store and missed these ingredients. But the pie still came out fire!!!!! And I consumed this entire pie by my damn self in less than a week. I’m not ashamed ? ??‍♀️. Thanks girl!!

  5. Jenny says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    What if you have a pre made pie crust for a smaller pie. Do you still bake it first before you put the custard in?
  6. Ella says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    Thank you for the recipe! I’ve tried it twice now but can’t get the center to solidify without the outer filling being too hard or the crust drying out! Any ideas?
  7. Stacy says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    Do you have any substitute for maple syrup if I don’t have it on hand? Or do the pie taste change if alternative use? Or can I leave out?
  8. Kelsey says:

    I made this recipe today in order to test it out for thanksgiving… I must say it is soooo GOOD!! I wasn’t ambitious enough to make my own pie crust but I’m going to give it a try this week!! Thank you Chef Resha!!!

  9. Dominique says:

    Do you have a pumpkin purée you recommend?

  10. A Hungry Leo says:

    Making this tonight and had to leave a review. One of my favorite recipes!

  11. Fletcher says:

    Wow, so gooood!! I used almond milk with a tsp of corn starch instead of the evaporated milk (didn’t want to go back to the store), also substituted Monk fruit sugar instead of the table sugar. The cayenne pepper is a great touch1 my new fave pie, thank you!!

  12. Shelly says:

    Hi if I want to make pie without bourbon what would change in measurements ?

  13. Danyale says:

    What if you have a pre made pie crust for a smaller pie. Do you still bake it first before you put the custard in ? Also can you use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk?

  14. Brando says:

    Love your website. You’ve made me the man at home! Question though. When are are you gonna do a piecaken recipe??? I don’t trust those… fairer chefs’ recipes. Only your’s. I was hoping you’d come out with a new recipe in time for Thanksgiving so that the extended family will be in awe of my… co-opted chef skills! Mwahahaha! This recipe is amazing though. Thank you for making cooking fun again.

  15. Raya says:

    Can I use my stand mixer with one of the attachments (paddle or whisk idk Which) or do I have to use a hand mixer?

    • Chef Resha says:

      You can use any kind of mixer you want, I just mentioned the hand-mixer because more people have that rather than the large stand mixer. Do what works best for you as long as it mixes well.

  16. Lisa says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    If you don’t have the time to make crust can you use the filling in a frozen pie crust? How would you adjust the cooking time if you did?
  17. Nichelle Bigbee says:

    What temperature should we be baking the pie crust on?
    Thank you! 😉