Sweet Potato Pie Bars - Handle the Heat
Filed Under: Bar Dessert | Dessert | Fall

Sweet Potato Pie Bars

By Tessa Arias
  |  
October 2nd, 2015
4.50 from 4 votes
4.50 from 4 votes

Sweet Potato Pie Bars with a thick graham cracker crust, fresh sweet potato filling, and tall toasted homemade marshmallow topping. Perfect fall treat!

Yield: 9 large or 16 small bars

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Sweet without being overpoweringly so. There’s only a 1/4 cup sugar in the sweet potato filling because we’re relying on the natural sweetness of the potatoes. You can even leave the sugar out if you’d prefer, the marshmallow topping is plenty sweet as it is.
Texture: My favorite part! Crust is thick (there’s nothing I hate more than a measly thin crust!) and buttery, filling is ultra smooth and creamy, and the marshmallow topping is sticky yet light as a cloud. MMM.
Ease: As long as you follow the recipe instructions your sweet potato pie bars should turn out beautiful!
Appearance: Gotta love the contrast of layers and especially the toasted marshmallow on top!
Pros: Fun twist on a classic pie / casserole.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? 100% yes. Sweet potatoes + marshmallow = ideal comfort food.

Serious question.

Are you a marshmallow or pecan topping kind of person when it comes to your sweet potato casserole? We always did the brown sugar pecan topping (which I would gladly eat by itself!) so it always seemed weird to me to have marshmallows on something at the dinner table. Not that the pecan topping has less sugar but marshmallows are so obviously a dessert food.

And you want to know something weird? I do NOT believe in dessert first. Maybe it’s what was instilled in me as a child that has survived adulthood. As a kid I almost always followed the rules so marshmallows still just seem wrong.

Sweet Potato Pie Bars with a thick graham cracker crust, fresh sweet potato filling, and tall toasted homemade marshmallow topping. Perfect fall treat!

That’s why this fall I knew I had to create a proper dessert highlighting the combination of sweet potato and marshmallows, because there’s no doubt it’s a great one. I have an love for bar desserts and all things homemade so Sweet Potato Pie Bars with a scratch made marshmallow topping just felt right. I hope you’ll try the recipe out because it’s a good one!!

Sweet Potato Pie Bars with a thick graham cracker crust, fresh sweet potato filling, and tall toasted homemade marshmallow topping. Perfect fall treat!

4.50 from 4 votes

How to make
Sweet Potato Pie Bars

Yield: 9 large or 16 small bars
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Inactive Time 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Sweet Potato Pie Bars with a thick graham cracker crust, fresh sweet potato filling, and tall toasted homemade marshmallow topping. Perfect fall treat!

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 18 full graham crackers
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

  • 2 cups (16 ounces) sweet potato puree
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon bourbon (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Topping:

  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

For the crust:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with foil.
  2. Place the graham crackers, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture is moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Keep oven at 350°F.

For the filling:

  1. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat all the sweet potato filling ingredients until well combined. Pour over the graham cracker crust and bake for 40 minutes, or until set but still slightly wiggly in the middle. Let cool to room temperature.

For the marshmallow topping:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
  2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook until a candy thermometer registers exactly 240°F. Immediately remove from heat. Turn the mixture on low speed and carefully and gradually drizzle the syrup into the egg whites. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy and looks like marshmallow fluff, about 7 minutes longer. Add in the vanilla and beat until combined.
  3. Spread the marshmallow topping evenly over the sweet potato layer. Use a kitchen torch to gently torch the marshmallow layer until lightly golden. Alternatively, place the pan under the broiler and broil for 1 minute, or until lightly golden. Don't step away - the broiler can go from toasted to burnt FAST!
  4. Refrigerate the pan for at least 1 hour before cutting into squares and serving. The squares can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, though they are best served soon after the marshmallow is made.

Recipe Notes

Feel free to leave the sugar out of the sweet potato filling if you prefer things less sweet.
Course : Dessert
Cuisine : American
Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    Marcie — October 6, 2022 at 3:27 pm

    I, like other bakers found that the marshmallow fell off the sweet potato.
    The marshmallow itself was hard to make. I did exactly what the recipe said and it burnt to a crisp before it reached 240 degrees.
    I made it again on medium and it still burnt.

  2. #
    Elisa — December 28, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    Delicious…. And the Marshmallow fluff.. perfection!

  3. #
    Keri — November 22, 2020 at 6:41 am

    Could you use marshmallow fluff on top?

    • #
      Tessa — November 23, 2020 at 4:29 pm

      That should work!

  4. #
    Lu — October 14, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    Just made these and they are amazing! Not too sweet and a fairly easy recipe. I got rave reviews from the coworkers & will be bringing them to a small family gathering. Thanks for the recipe!

  5. #
    Pamela Anderson — November 27, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    This recipe looks really good and I would love to make it, however, I am gluten free. They do make gluten free graham crackers but they are not the same size as the regular ones. Please tell me how many cups of the graham cracker crumbs you need for the crust.

    Thank you.

  6. #
    SaraAnn — November 22, 2019 at 6:56 pm

    Do you use prepared sweet potato puree or make it? If you use prepared can you tell me what it is and if you make it can you share the recipe please? Thank you.

  7. #
    Karen — November 28, 2017 at 12:00 am

    Just made these for Thanksgiving. They were good, however, I want to know in what universe does it take only 30 minutes to make? Took me 4 hours!! Also, I followed the directions strictly and the marshmallow topping did not turn out, flopped miserably! Using already made fluff or mini marshmallows would be fine.

    • #
      Stephanie — November 7, 2020 at 3:31 pm

      LOL Karen.

  8. #
    Robin — November 23, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    J…. I did the recipe as directed and the same thing happen to me… it still tasted great. I’m going to try it again next weekend for Thanksgiving #2, going to try and let the marshmallow/egg mixture cool a little before pouring on to the sweet potato pie part. Would still love to know if the original baker knows a secret!!!

  9. #
    J — November 23, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    My pie never fully set even though I added 20 minutes to baking time. I let it overnight and went to slice it but it wasn’t firm enough. What did I do wrong?

  10. #
    J — November 23, 2017 at 7:13 am

    Help!

    I made a double recipe last night for Thanksgiving. I took both out today to slice before hitting the road and the marshmellow/egg whites are literally sliding off the sweet potato mixture! Will anything help or is it a goner?

  11. #
    Aisha — November 12, 2017 at 6:48 am

    I live in France and had to substitute honey for corn syrup and speculoos cookies for graham crackers but it turned out delish. The honey I used changed the flavor of the whipped topping but it was still delish.

    • #
      Tessa — November 12, 2017 at 1:41 pm

      Yay! Glad you were able to make it work. The speculoos cookies in the crust sound amazing 🙂

  12. #
    Soraya — October 31, 2017 at 7:01 am

    I maide it, double size for work, looks great, same as yours. I will let you know my coworkers opinion…

  13. #
    Tayler — October 4, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    That crust looks amazing!! Could I sub canned pumpkin for the sweet potato purée?

    • #
      Tessa — October 5, 2017 at 7:57 am

      I haven’t tried that myself, but if you give it a shot let us know how it goes!

    • #
      John Guarino — November 27, 2019 at 9:06 am

      Made these with canned pumpkin purée. Enjoy! FYI – Took about an hour and twenty to set. Actually, made them for my wife’s coworkers so
      I didn’t get to try them, but I was told they were a big hit.

  14. #
    Sabrina B. — June 22, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    love that this is mostly naturally sweet! And sweetened with sweet potatoes! Thank you for this recipe, love the topping too, really all of the layers!

  15. #
    Jerri — April 4, 2017 at 10:08 am

    Could I take a short cut using “Fluff” marshmallow topping? I know, I know, but would that work okay?

    • #
      Tessa — April 5, 2017 at 3:55 pm

      I’ve never tried!

  16. #
    Prim — November 27, 2016 at 10:21 am

    why don’t I just eat a gallon of butter

  17. #
    Rebecca soares — November 10, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Incredible! Just fantastic!! Loveeeee tô recipes!!

  18. #
    Krista — November 29, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    Will leaving out the cream of tartar have any significant negative effects? I don’t want to buy some for one recipe and then never use it again :).

  19. #
    Nan — November 25, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    These are delicious!
    Joyce — Puree is a fancy word for processing a cooked food in a blender until creamy.
    Ibambi — I used 8 oz of crushed graham cracker crumbs. That was half of the 16 oz box that I purchased. Depending on the brand, graham crackers usually come in squares that can be split in to 2 pieces or rectangles that can be split into 4 pieces, but you can also find them in various shapes or already crushed.

  20. #
    Joyce — October 15, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    What is the sweet potato puree ?

  21. #
    Quinton @ Southern Food Lovin’ — October 6, 2015 at 9:11 am

    Well I am a marshmallow fan for sweet potato casserole, but seeing these bars makes me want to toss the casserole out. Looking forward to making these. WOW!

  22. #
    Gaby Dalkin — October 5, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    These look incredible! Already has me thinking about Thanksgiving… there I said it!

  23. #
    Joan Hayes — October 5, 2015 at 1:10 pm

    These look incredible Tessa, how clever! They’re like sweet potato casserole meets s’mores. I will most DEFINITELY be making these! 😀

  24. #
    Melanie @ Gather for Bread — October 5, 2015 at 9:20 am

    What an amazing idea! Gotta get start with the sweet potato baking ASAP!
    Pinned.

  25. #
    ibambi — October 4, 2015 at 9:12 pm

    Hi Tessa,
    Love your blog. How many graham crackers by weight? I have mini individual crackers to use up.
    Looks like an amazing recipe, I’ll be making it tomorrow night. ?
    Thanks, B.

  26. #
    June @ How to Philosophize with Cake — October 3, 2015 at 6:08 am

    Wow those look incredible! I just love that layer of fluffy toasted meringues 😀 I’ve never even tried sweet potato pie, but I really ought to, it sounds amazing–especially in bar form!

  27. #
    Neeli @ Neeli’s Unique Creations — October 2, 2015 at 8:58 am

    Tessa, these pie bars look so good. Sweet potatoes have always been a favorite root vegetable of mine. I prefer sweet potato pie over pumpkin pie any day. Have you ever tried Jersey white sweet potatoes? They are just as good as regular sweet potatoes but a little milder in taste.

    • #
      Tessa — October 2, 2015 at 11:00 am

      I’ve never seen those. Will have to keep an eye out – thanks for the tip!

  28. #
    Kristina — October 2, 2015 at 6:10 am

    Waw, just waw. These sound amazing. So fluffy and creamy. Oh my. There is not one thing that I don’t like in this bars.

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