The Best Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pie

This southern style Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pie is silky smooth with a toasted marshmallow meringue. It's the underdog of Thanksgiving pies.

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pie was originally posted on November 01, 2019 and has been updated with new photos, a new meringue recipe, and a new video.

Some of the items linked in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission.

I'm technically from the south, but sweet potato pie was never on our radar growing up. Probably because my mom is from Minnesota and sweet potatoes were never a thing for us back then. Because of my dad being in the navy, we were always so far away from family so our Thanksgivings were almost always spent with our neighbors. The food was set up buffet style. If sweet potatoes were on the menu, I either don't remember them or skipped over them.

Our Thanksgiving pies always consisted of pumpkin, apple, or pecan, and always chocolate chess pie (from our neighbors, the Hons). I never skipped over the chocolate chess pie. Back then it was my favorite.

When I grew up and saw a recipe for sweet potato pie though, I really wanted to make it for Thanksgiving. I thought it looked a little plain so I added a marshmallow-y meringue on top. And, because I can't leave well enough alone, I torched it. One of our favorite pies ever was born and all we could wonder was why it took us so long to try sweet potato pie.

here's what you'll need to make this pie

• Gluten free pie crust -- a half recipe of my gluten free pie crust or your favorite pie crust.
• Sweet potatoes -- I have a method for getting ahead with sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. More on that below.
• Eggs and egg yolks -- whole eggs and extra egg yolks for the filling, and egg whites for the meringue.
• Nutmeg -- nice warm spice that goes great with the sweet potatoes without overpowering.
• Milk -- whole milk, but if you're dairy free whole fat canned coconut milk would work fabulously.

let's make sweet potato pie!

While there are three parts to this pie, they're all fairly easy and I'll walk you through it each step of the way.

make the pie crust

• In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the cubed butter and pulse a few times until butter is the size of large chunks.
• Combine vinegar and beaten egg with a few tablespoons of the ice cold water and slowly stream in while pulsing the food processor a few times.
• Begin streaming the rest of the ice water on low until the pastry comes together.
• Divide dough between two sheets of plastic wrap; shape into a disk, wrap well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out pie crust into a large round, transfer to pie pan, trim excess and crimp edges; freeze for 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove pie crust from freezer, line with parchment and fill with pie weights. Parbake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is lightly golden on the edges. Remove from oven, remove parchment with pie weights, and reduce the oven temperature to 350 F.

blend the filling and bake

1. Combine all filling ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.
2. Pour into parbaked pie crust.
3. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the center is still slightly jiggly.
4. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24.

make the italian meringue

1. Add water and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. DO NOT STIR.
2. Clip on a candy thermometer and cook the syrup until it reaches 235 degrees F.
3. At this time, begin whisking egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer at medium high speed until stiff peaks form.
4. Syrup should have reached 245 degrees F at the same time. Remove from the heat and slowly and carefully pour hot syrup into the egg whites while whipping at high speed. Continue to whip the meringue until the sides of the bowl are cool to the touch (5-10 minutes).
5. Add vanilla (paste, seeds, or extract) and whisk to combine.
6. Dollop onto top of cooled pie.
7. Use a kitchen blow torchhttps://amzn.to/3FRpf1Z (affiliate link) to toast the meringue.

Rather Watch?

how to prep sweet potatoes to get ahead

Every Thanksgiving, the sweet potatoes are my responsibility. My family will revolt if I don't at least make my Gluten Free Sweet Potato Casserole, which has been a favorite for many, many years. And then there are my Gluten Free Sweet Potato Biscuits and my Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pancakes (a Disney copycat recipe). That being said, I know I'll need a hefty amount of mashed sweet potatoes for the season.

Every year, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, I buy several pounds of sweet potatoes and prep them ahead of time. Sometimes I'll peel them, cut them into chunks, and boil them until soft. Other times, I'll poke them with a fork, place them on a baking sheet, and bake them at 400 for one hour. When cool enough, the skins will peel right off.

Whichever way you choose to prep them, from here you can mash them until smooth and keep them in an airtight container in the freezer until you're ready to bake. You can also divide them into pre-measured amounts for each of your recipes, label them, and just thaw and dump!

sweet potato pie FAQs

more gluten free pies to enjoy

• Gluten Free French Silk Pie
• Best Ever Gluten Free Sweet Cherry Pie
• Gluten Free Chocolate Pecan Pie
• Gluten Free Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie
• Gluten Free Apple Crumb Pie
• Best Ever Gluten Free Pecan Pie
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe
• Amazing Gluten Free Apple Pie
• The Best Gluten Free Key Lime Pie
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pie
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chess Pie

If you've never had sweet potato pie, you don't know what you're missing! I have faith that once you make this recipe, you'll be a sweet potato pie lover for life 🥧

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Sweet Potato Pie recipe.

Italian meringue recipe from Fantastical Cakes by Gesine Pradohttps://amzn.to/3QPPZpI.