Healthy Vegan & Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Pie (Naturally Sweetened).
Written by Hali Tsotetsi
I have shared recently that I lost 30 pounds, and since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about what actually made that change sustainable for me.
It wasn’t about giving up every food I love or trying to make every meal perfectly “healthy.” A big part of it was learning how to rethink some of my favorite foods and make them with ingredients that fit better into the way I eat now.
And I definitely wasn’t interested in giving up dessert.
Sweet potato pie is already built around an ingredient that is naturally sweet, creamy and delicious, so I wanted to see how simple I could make it without losing what makes a good sweet potato pie so comforting.
This version is vegan, gluten-free and made without refined sugar. Instead, the sweetness comes from the sweet potatoes themselves and pure maple syrup, with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla bringing in those classic warm flavors.
The result is a creamy, rich sweet potato pie that still feels like an actual dessert—not a “healthy” substitute you have to convince yourself to enjoy.
Here is my healthy vegan and gluten-free sweet potato pie.
Healthy Vegan & Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Pie
Prep time: 25 minutes
Bake time: 50–60 minutes
Cooling time: 2–3 hours
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the Gluten-Free Crust
1½ cups almond flour
½ cup certified gluten-free oat flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
¼ cup melted coconut oil
1–2 tablespoons cold water, if needed
For the Sweet Potato Filling
2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potato
¾ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
⅓ cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot starch
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
Small pinch of ground cloves, optional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Start by preparing the crust. Add the almond flour, oat flour, salt and cinnamon to a mixing bowl and stir until combined.
Pour in the maple syrup and melted coconut oil. Mix until the ingredients begin to form a soft, slightly crumbly dough. If the mixture feels too dry to hold together when pressed, add cold water one tablespoon at a time.
Press the crust evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish.
Bake the crust for 8–10 minutes, just until it begins to look lightly golden around the edges. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool slightly while you prepare the filling.
For the filling, add the mashed sweet potato, coconut milk, maple syrup, cornstarch or arrowroot starch, coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and cloves to a blender or food processor.
Blend until completely smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as necessary.
Pour the filling into the prepared crust and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until the edges are set and the center still has a very slight jiggle.
Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool completely at room temperature.
Transfer the pie to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before slicing. This is important because the filling will continue to set as it cools.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Optional Toppings
For an extra-special finish, top each slice with coconut whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon or a few chopped pecans.
You can also drizzle a small amount of pure maple syrup over the top if you prefer a sweeter dessert.
A Healthier Dessert That Still Feels Like Dessert
I don’t believe a healthier lifestyle has to revolve around constantly telling yourself what you cannot have.
For me, it has been much more sustainable to look at the foods I genuinely enjoy and find ways to make them work with the way I want to eat now.
This sweet potato pie is a perfect example.
It is creamy, naturally sweet and filled with the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla flavors that make sweet potato pie so comforting in the first place. It just happens to be vegan, gluten-free and made without refined sugar.
Sometimes eating well is not about removing dessert from the table.
It is about changing what goes into it.
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