Sweet Potato Slab Pie
Easy and creamy, this Sweet Potato Slab Pie is a great variation on your traditional pie recipe that will feed all of your guests!
A TWIST ON A DELICIOUS PIE
If you love sweet potato (or even pumpkin) pie, then you’ll definitely want to try my Sweet Potato Slab Pie! I love making slab pies. They make more than regular pies, serving is easier and it’s easy to control the portion sizes. When I may not feel like making a regular pie, I turn to a slab pie and people really love it! If you like pumpkin desserts then you are sure to love this one. If you are looking for a new way to serve pie this year, I highly recommend trying my Sweet Potato Slab Pie recipe!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Sweet Potato Slab Pie is a sweet custard pie made with cooked and mashed sweet potatoes. The mashed sweet potatoes are combined with sugar, half and half and warm spices then baked in a pie crust that has been pressed into a large baking pan. The taste and texture is very similar to pumpkin pie.
In America, we use the words yam and sweet potato to describe sweet potatoes. Nearly all canned yams are actually sweet potatoes in America. However, a true yam has a dark brown skin and a light interior – almost like a russet potato. Sweet Potatoes have a lighter, reddish skin and the interior is orange in color. Sweet Potatoes are native to North America. Yams have a lot more starch than sweet potatoes as well. True yams are actually a little harder to find in the United States than are sweet potatoes.
I do not recommend using canned yams in this particular recipe. I love to use canned yams/sweet potatoes but because we have a pie crust in this recipe, even when drained, the yams will contain too much water and the outcome of the crust and filling will not set up as thick as we’d like.
Absolutely! If you aren’t a fan of refrigerated pie crusts you can make your own favorite recipe. If you do make your own crust, you will need to ensure you make enough to cover the entire sheet pan.
We like to microwave them for this recipe as it is the quickest and less messy method but you could also bake them or boil them. To boil, I peel the potatoes, cut them up in chunks and boil in water until fork tender. Some people think the best way to make sweet potatoes is to bake them. I’ve tried it all different ways and they all taste the same way to me so the preparation is up to you.
When the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Another way to tell is when the top looks set and isn’t liquid. There will be just the slightest jiggle in the middle (but not a lot). Pull it out and it will continue to set up as it cools.
Yes definitely. Cool the pie completely. Wrap the pie pan in plastic wrap and then a layer of foil. If you can, place slices in a large freezer bag, separated with parchment paper and place in the freezer where it will keep for up to 2 months. To defrost, place in your refrigerator overnight.
Yes. This is a custard type pie so it does need to be kept refrigerated. Just wrap the pie in plastic wrap and it will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- refrigerated pie crusts
- mashed sweet potatoes
- brown sugar
- eggs
- half and half
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon
- ginger
HOW TO MAKE A SWEET POTATO SLAB PIE:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a half sheet (18×13-inches) pan with nonstick cooking spray.
On a lightly floured surface, unroll 3 pie crusts and place the crusts end to end and roll out to a 19 x 14-inch rectangle.
Fit the crust into the prepared pan. Fold extra crust underneath and crimp if desired. Poke bottom and sides of crust with a fork (this keeps it from puffing up too much). Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 375F degrees.
Using a blender, hand mixer, food processor (or by hand), combine the mashed sweet potatoes, brown sugar, eggs, half-and-half, vanilla extract, cinnamon and ginger until smooth as possible. There may be a few little lumps and thats okay.
Pour filling mixture into pan. Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until the center of filling is set, remove from the oven.
Cool on the cooling rack until cool then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the crust for decoration. Remove the last pie crust from the refrigerator and roll it out. Using different size round cookie cutters cut out shapes. This step is optional.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 11-15 minutes until lightly golden, arrange on the pie.
Cut and serve!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Sweet Potato Slab Pie
Ingredients
- 4 refrigerated pie crusts (2 boxes – each box has 2 pie crusts)
- 2 cups mashed sweet potato
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups half-and-half
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450F degrees. Spray a half sheet pan (18×13-inches)with nonstick cooking spray.
- On a lightly floured surface, unroll 3 of the 4 refrigerated pie crusts (after they've softened for a few minutes to make them easier to unroll) and place the crusts end to end and roll out to a 19 x 14-inch rectangle. The crusts may need to overlap slightly.
- Fit the crust into the prepared sheet pan. Fold extra crust underneath and crimp if desired. Poke bottom and sides of crust with fork. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 375F degrees.
- Using a blender, food processor, stand mixer or by hand, combine 2 cups mashed sweet potato, 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 ½ cups half-and-half, 1 teaspoons vanilla extract, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger until smooth. Note: there may be a few little lumps in the battered that's okay.
- Pour filling mixture on top of pie crust in baking dish. Bake 25 to 28 minutes or until the center of filling is set, remove from the oven.
- Cool on the cooling rack until cool then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, prepare the final crust for decoration. Remove pie crust from the refrigerator and let it sit out for a few minutes to make it easier to roll out. Using different size round cookie cutters, cut out shapes.
- Bake the pie crusts shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet for 11-15 minutes until lightly golden. Arrange them on your cooled pie and serve!
Notes
- This can be frozen, see my tips above.
- This recipe works great for leftover baked sweet potatoes.
- Do not use canned yams for this, they are too watery.
- See my FAQ’s above for how best to prepare the sweet potatoes.
- If you can find the Steam and mash sweet potatoes in the frozen section. You can use those. Just prepare them as written on the back of the package then allow to cool after mashing and continue with this recipe as written.
- The topping decorations are optional but fun.
- You can use your own homemade pie crust recipe, make sure that it makes 4 crusts.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
