This Best Sweet Potato Pie recipe is an award-winning creation. It won best overall pie at the 2016 Iowa State Fair. One taste and you will know why it won. Recipe credit goes to Tanya Hardy. The pie is an all-time favorite of ours, locked forever in our memory because of its creamy consistency and fantastic flavor. Seriously, soooooooo creamy!
The recipe calls for a pound of sweet potatoes, equating to about 2 cups mashed. Butter, sugar, milk and eggs account for its creamy deliciousness. The flavor comes from nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and vanilla.
The crust recipe calls for solid vegetable shortening as the fat and makes for a nice flaky crust. You can certainly make your own personal favorite crust recipe. Use pre-made dough or a pre-baked crust if that’s your thing. No judgement here.
You top and decorate the pie with homemade whipped cream and pecan halves or chopped pecans. Either way is delightful.
Tanya won her bragging rights from the fair, as well as the pie division sponsors: Machine Shed Restaurants, Gold Medal Flour, and us, the Blue Ribbon Group, as one of the recipe contest organizers. Her recipe is unforgettable and quite easy to make. We had ours on the table within 3 hours, start to finish.
Best Sweet Potato Pie Recipe – Baking Tips
- Plan for an hour for prep and three hours, start to finish.
- Peel the potatoes right before you’re going to boil them.
- Prepare the crust while the potatoes are boiling.
- You can also boil the sweet potatoes ahead of time if desired.
Need a new recipe to help celebrate the holidays? Give this award-winning pie a try. And if you are looking for a pumpkin pie, be sure to also try this award-winning one. We hope you love both of these pies as much as we do!
Cyndi