Sweet Potato Pie with Canned Yams

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Make homemade Sweet Potato Pie with canned yams and other simple ingredients using this easy recipe. Perfect when you want to save time by not roasting or boiling fresh sweet potatoes or when you need a pie recipe using canned sweet potato chunks or sweet potato puree. Add this to your dessert table during the holiday season or any day.

a slice of Sweet Potato Pie with Canned Yams on a plate

Why Make Sweet Potato Pie with Canned Yams

There are a lot of reasons to love this easy sweet potato pie recipe. Here are my top three:

Simple and delicious: Making classic sweet potato pie with canned yams is simple. You just add your drained potatoes to a food processor with the remaining filling ingredients, mix, pour in a pie crust, and bake.
No boiling or roasting potatoes: old-fashioned sweet potato pie with fresh yams or fresh sweet potatoes is ideal because it has the most sweet potato flavor. But, what happens when they aren’t available or you don’t have the time? Fortunately, canned sweet potatoes come already cooked, saving much needed time when making a holiday meal.
Can use a homemade or store-bought crust: If you lack the time or confidence to make your own pie crust from scratch, the store-bought option is equally as good.

Ingredients Needed

Making the homemade sweet potato pie is quite easy. Be sure to get the full ingredient amounts and step-by-step instructions from the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Pie crust: I used a frozen unbaked pie crust from the grocery store. Do not thaw it before baking.
Canned Sweet Potatoes: I’m using canned yams. These come with just the sweet potato flesh (cut into large chunks) in a light, water-based simple syrup. I drain this liquid completely since it doesn’t add flavor to the pie.
Butter: salted, melted
Brown sugar and White Sugar: using both types of sugar adds a richer flavor since brown sugar also includes molasses. If you’re in a pinch and only have one type, then use what you have.
Evaporated milk
Eggs
Ground Cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
vanilla extract

ingredients needed to make canned yams sweet potato pie like: frozen pie crust in an aluminum pie plate, canned sweet potatoes, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, evaporated milk eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract in separate containers

How to Make Sweet Potato Pie with Canned Yams

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Make the sweet potato pie filling: Add the drained canned yams to food processor, blender, hand mixer, or other electric mixer with the melted butter and remaining ingredients. Mix until incorporated.
Pour the sweet potato mixture into the crust.
Bake uncovered at an oven temperature of 350 degrees for a cooking time of 50-60 minutes (or until you can poke a toothpick into the center of the pie and it comes out clean). Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Top Cooking Tips & FAQs

You can use your favorite flaky pie crust recipe or a pre-made pie shell (frozen) like I do to save time.
For best results, allow the cooked pie to cool on a wire rack (cools faster than just on a countertop).
Optional Variations: You can add orange zest or orange extract to compliment the warm spices. You can also substitute pumpkin spice (in place of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg)
Allow the ingredients (not the pie crust) to come to room temperature before baking.
Keep the pie crust frozen: by baking it from frozen, the pie crust can thaw and cook without burning or the need for things like foil strips or other pie edge covers.

Using Unsweetened Sweet Potato Puree

You can substitute canned sweet potato puree in this sweet potato pie filling if you wish. But, there are some adjustments that you’ll need to make like:

Use a 15 oz can of sweet potato puree instead
Adjust the white sweetener to 1/3 cup (but up to 1/2 cup, depending on how sweet you want your pie). You can use the tip below for how to sweeten a pie to taste.

Pie Toppings

You can enjoy this delicious pie as is, but here are some ideas to add to the top of the pie (if you wish):

Whipped Heavy Cream or Cool Whip
Vanilla Ice Cream
Butter Pecan Ice Cream

How to Sweeten a Pie to Taste

Depending on the canned yams that you use (ex: some canned yams come unsweetened as a puree and others come with a syrup that includes corn syrup), your sweet potato pie with canned yams might need more or less sweetener.

If you want to adjust the amount of sugar and sweeten this to taste, you can add the eggs to the filling last.

Storage and Leftovers

Store your leftover pie in the refrigerator covered with foil or plastic wrap. I keep mine for up to five days.

You can also freeze individual slices for up to 4 months. When you’re ready to eat them, simply thaw them out overnight in the refrigerator.

Are canned yams and sweet potatoes the same?

Canned yams and sweet potatoes are the same for the purpose of making candied yams and sweet potato pie. Unlike my sweet potato pie with condensed milk or sweet potato pie with graham cracker crust, canned yams come peeled, cut, softened and in a syrup.

Can I substitute canned yams for canned sweet potatoes?

Yes. Canned yams and canned sweet potatoes work for this recipe.

Are canned yams already cooked?

Yes, canned yams come already softened and in a syrup.

Do you rinse canned yams?

I recommend that you drain canned yams and rinse them before using.

Recipes to Enjoy This With

In my family, sweet potato pie is a staple during holiday dinners. Here are some recipe collections that you can use to make a menu:

You can also pair this pie with these other Southern classics:

More Southern Sweet Potato Pie Recipes

If you love sweet potato pie, then there are a lot of delicious recipes across the site.

Here are some of our other popular sweet potato pie recipes, perfect when you want to cook whole sweet potatoes on your own:

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