A sheet conveying apparatus includes an abutment member against which a leading end of a sheet conveyed by a conveying roller abuts, a phase determiner that determines a rotation phase of a rotor of a motor driving the conveying roller, a controller that controls the motor by controlling the value of a torque current component and the value of an excitation current component so that a difference between an instruction phase and the rotation phase is decreased, and a torque determiner that determines load torque exerted on the rotor. The controller continues driving of the motor if the load torque is lower than predetermined torque in a state in which the leading end of the sheet abuts against the abutment member to deflect the sheet and stops the driving of the motor if the load torque is higher than or equal to the predetermined torque.