There is a lot of hype for Patti La Belle’s Sweet Potato Pies that are sold at Walmart for $3.48. How good can a $3.48 pie taste? In fact this pie is so popular that instead of being a seasonal offer it’s being offered all year long and other Patty La Belle desserts will be offered too. So sometime last month I decided to give the Patti La Belle Sweet potato pie a try.

I don’t eat sweet potato pies very often but have tried them out at restaurants. I also don’t eat pumpkin pies very often either at the most only two slices a year at holiday time.  I am comparing this store purchased Sweet Potato Pie to store purchased pumpkin pies that I try at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The pie is a little hard to get out if the box. You’d never expect some sort of high quality glue holding the box together from Walmart. I almost couldn’t get the forking pie out of the box.

Part of the crust is crimped and some of the crust is just smooth on the ends. It says on the box for a fresh baked taste to heat the pie up at 300 degrees F for 10-20 minutes so I give it a try that way.

I taste it warmed up.

I think the most different thing about the pie is the texture of the sweet potato filling. It’s not as custardy something like a boxed Mrs Smith’s Pumpkin Pie or a Costco boxed pumpkin pie. The filling is softer and lighter. The crust is flaky and taste sort of floury. The main flavor in the filling taste like maybe fresh grated nutmeg and then you get one other spice in the background like possibly cinnamon. You don’t get that warm clove taste or snappy ginger taste like in some but not all pumpkin pies. I thought the pie was good but it did leave a really sweet taffy kind of taste as the finish in my mouth.

So I tried it a second time but room temperature this time. This time I got the more custardy feel that I’m used to. I thought the nutmeg flavor came out more for me at room temperature and I didn’t get that sweet after taste this time. I thought the crust lacked a natural butter taste that I prefer in pie crust but was still flaky and not like wet cardboard like most store purchased pies. I preferred the pie at room temperature.

The Forking Truth is that It’s a pretty good pie for $3.48 comparing it to other machine made store purchased pies.

The Forking Truth