Instant Pot Sweet Potato Pie The Soul Food Way
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If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that sweet potato pie is sacred in Black homes. But what if I told you that you could honor that tradition and save time in the kitchen? Enter the Instant Pot. My Instant Pot Black folks’ sweet potato pie recipe delivers all the rich, cinnamon-spiced flavor you love, with a modern twist that makes prep faster and easier!
By pressure-cooking the sweet potatoes, you cut down kitchen time without cutting corners on flavor. It’s the same soul food classic, now made with even more ease because tradition deserves a seat at the table, even on your busiest days.
Can you make Southern sweet potato pie in the Instant Pot?
My go-to method is to use the pressure cooker instead of roasting the potatoes in the oven. So, yes, I’m cooking the most significant ingredient of the pie, the sweet potatoes, in an Instant Pot, transforming what could be a daunting task into a simple pleasure.
Then, I turn to Instant Pot’s modern convection oven, the Instant Pot Omni Plus Oven, to bake the pie. This countertop convenience appliance delights home cooks by speeding up cooking times by at least 20%! These modern methods ensure that holiday desserts are not just about the outcome but also the joyous, stress-free process of making them!
How long does it take to make a pie in the Instant Pot?
Cooking the entire pie directly in the Instant Pot would actually take longer than baking it in the oven. However, using the Instant Pot to pressure cook the sweet potatoes cuts that step down to just 12 minutes instead of the usual 40.
You can save even more time by baking the pie in the Instant Pot Omni Plus Oven, which shaves an additional 5 minutes off the bake time. During the busy holiday season, saving over 30 minutes in the kitchen feels absolutely priceless!
Ingredients for this Instant Pot recipe
This recipe delivers all the classic flavor of the traditional oven-roasted potatoes version, with the added convenience of Instant Pot ease. The key ingredients in my signature Black folks’ sweet potato pie remain the same in this variation. You’ll just need water to pressure cook.
This recipe features the same iconic blend of soulful spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and brown sugar. The result? Just the right sweetness and a pie bursting with rich, comforting flavor in every bite!
How to make an Instant Pot sweet potato pie
With today’s modern cooking appliances, you may be surprised to learn that old-fashioned sweet potato pie is now an easy-to-make soul food Southern dessert. I’ve found that pressure cooking in an Instant Pot is the fastest and most recommended way to cook and peel sweet potatoes easily, reducing the cooking time from 40 minutes to under 15!
Here’s a quick overview of how to make this.
- Use the Instant Pot to pressure cook the sweet potatoes.
- Make the pie filling by gathering the sweet potato flesh and mixing it with the spices and all the other ingredients.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust.
- Bake, then let the pie cool for 4 hours, serve, and enjoy!
Instant Pot mashed sweet potatoes
There’s simplicity in making sweet potato pie with Instant Pot appliances, mainly because cooking the sweet potatoes becomes a drop-in-the-pot-and-walk-away convenience, saving you about half an hour in time.
The potatoes turn out soft and ready to peel and be mashed. It’s almost too effortless and efficient to be real!
How to know when a sweet potato pie is done in the Instant Pot
Another benefit of the Instant Pot oven is precise cooking times. Still, you’ll know the pie is done when it starts puffing in the center, the same way you would know when cooking in a regular large-appliance oven.
How to top your sweet potato pie
Most Southern cooks don’t offer sweet potato pie toppings because this classic dessert holds its own, especially if seasoned the soul food way!
So, there are fewer than a handful of acceptable toppings, including a dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or sweet potato pie topped with a decadent layer of homemade cream cheese frosting!
Storing and reheating leftovers
Sweet potato pie should be refrigerated for storage, lasting up to 5 days in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve it again, warm a slice up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, or reheat your entire pie in the oven on warm for about 30 minutes.
Equipment
- Instant Pot electric pressure cooker
- Hand-held or stand electric mixer
- Instant Pot Omni Plus oven (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound sweet potatoes washed, scrubbed, and unpeeled (equals about 3 cups when mashed)
- water filled to the halfway mark of the stainless steel inner pot to pressure-cook the sweet potatoes
- 12 oz evaporated milk 1 can
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons butter unsalted butter, melted (or vegan butter)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Grease a 9-inch pie pan and set it aside.
- Open the Instant Pot lid and fill the stainless-steel inner pot with water to the halfway mark.
- Add the scrubbed sweet potatoes to the pot of water.
- Close the Instant Pot lid (make sure the valve is up – in the position for sealing) and pressure cook on high for 12 minutes to loosen the potato skin.
- When the cooking time is finished, allow a natural pressure release for at least 12 minutes.
- To open the Instant Pot lid, move the valve to ‘venting’ and manually release any remaining pressure, if applicable.
- Pour the water and sweet potatoes into a colander in the sink to drain the hot water from the potatoes.
- Once the sweet potatoes are cool to the touch, peel and discard the skin.
- Gather 3 cups of sweet potato flesh.
- Add the sweet potato flesh, evaporated milk, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, vanilla extract, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt to a large bowl to use an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand).
- Mix until the ingredients are combined and smooth.
- Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pie crust.
- Bake the sweet potato pie at 350 degrees F in the Instant Pot Omni Plus oven for 24-26 minutes, or until the pie is puffed and firm in the center. In a regular conventional oven, bake for 28-30 minutes. (Remember that cooking appliance times and oven temperatures will vary.)
- Allow the sweet potato pie to cool for at least 4 hours before garnishing or slicing.
- Garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkled on top.
- Serve this Instant Pot sweet potato pie recipe warm and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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Thank you. Now that you’ve showed me this is the only way I make my sweet potato pie using Instant Pot to cook the potatoes.
I was worried about this method as you call for so much water in the pressure cooker. I use the pressure cooker quite a bit for making meals, so I was alarmed to fill it to the 1/2 mark and then let ‘er rip for 12 minutes on High but I went ahead and did it. Cooked those potatoes right on out (I used Beauregard sweet potatoes). Peeled almost all the way in the cooking process and then I did a double pass with the electric mixer to get the fibers out and they were good to go in my mix.
I did the Black Folks Recipe with the exception of not having minced ginger (cut it to a 1/2 teaspoon of the dry) and added back some of my Dr. Pepper reduction (1:4 using Diet Dr. Pepper boiled off in a saucepan on the stove and then cooled) to make up for the potential loss of flavor and moisture. Taste test of the batter for the pie was a 10 out of 10 – great flavor profile (wow!!!). Threw it in a 9″ deep dish crust (had approximately 10% overage which I will use next week as I have another dozen of these to bake for the holiday) and it was ready for oven games. Baked it at 400F for 30 minutes even though being a deep dish I thought to myself this pie has to go an hour. I remembered it would need a pie collar, so at the 30-minute mark I put one on it (where I found it was essentially way too soupy – telling me it had a good 20 to maybe 30 minutes to go and the crust browned as far as I would want it to be browned so the collar was a must!). Then added 20 minutes in baking time before checking the center again for jiggle. This was also a fail, so we went to 5-minute increments and – sure enough – it was a full one-hour bake for this deep dish 9″ pie. Placed it on the cooling rack and let it be for the mandated 4 hours. Gave it a shake of cinnamon dust and then it was ready to serve (with fingers crossed).
Shaunda, this is a great recipe. I need to tell you it is good but the cloves make it too clove forward I would say, so I am dropping them moving forward. It’s an efficient one as well that I expect will scale without problems and I can make money on this recipe because it is just as efficient as doing my homemade pumpkin pies (I have a total of 26 pies on order this year from customers!). This one is a centerpiece item to be sure. Well done.
Bravo! I’m in awe of your level of expertise. Thanks for coming back to share your results here, and may your pies sell exceedingly and abundantly beyond your wildest expectations!