Sweet Potato and Pancetta Gratin

Easy and delicious. I cut out the pancetta because my friends don’t eat pork. The tartlettes turned out wonderfully in the muffin tins. I had frozen a sliced raw sweet potato a few weeks ago, and this was the perfect use for the slices.

I let the slices thaw almost all the way before cutting them from 1/4 to 1/8 inch (remarkably easy) then put them in the muffin tin. Note that they needed about ten minutes less cooking time but still turned out crisp around the edges. As the recipe called for, I left the foil cover on for 20 minutes, but then cut the cooking time after removing the foil cover to about 10 to 15 minutes. When I make this again, I think I will intentionally freeze the slices in advance.

They were a hit!

This was so easy and delicious. I ended up using Raclette cheese and baked the sweet potatoes in a big oval dish. It was perfect.

The edges charred horribly when I tried to make them in muffin tins (maybe a much shorter cooking time would have worked?) but turned out amazing when I used the leftover ingredients to make a small casserole.

From other reviewer's suggestions, I rendered the pancetta first, used half the cream, and went really light on the salt

Since Thanksgiving is just days away has anyone reheated these since I have to bring them to a potluck? I'd sure appreciate know how long and what temp

thank you

Made this in a large casserole dish and it was absolutely fantastic!

I just love this recipe and with Thanksgiving coming up it would be perfect. Has anyone reheated it when they bring it to a potluck? If so please let me know if it's just as good and what temp?
Thank you

Used sweet potato cubes and sliced them into thinnish pieces, then assembled in an oval casserole dish, just like I would do scalloped potatoes. Easy and delicious! It did take significantly longer in the oven than indicated, no doubt because of the format. It was more like 40 mins under foil and another 40 uncovered.

I know this is an oldie, but it is really a goodie. I made it for a book group tonight and we all loved it. I do think that next time I will skip the muffin tins and make this in a larger pan then cut into appetizer sized squares. (I made half with pancetta and half without for those in my group that do not eat pork.)

I have made these before but it's been a while. Question: When the recipe says, "repeat twice" does that mean to stack another layer of sweet potato, pancetta, and cheese in the SAME muffin tin? It seems I didn't do that last time. Also, I used smoked salmon for some instead of pancetta. Thank you. I want to make this again for my Christmas gathering.

This was a total hit amongst my friends this Thanksgiving. Probably the favorite out of everything I made! Thanks for the great idea! I ended up using a gruyere/cheddar cheese from Trader Joe's, omitted the salt, used black pepper of white, used closer to a tsp of cream, and greased the tin with olive oil. So yummy. Great flavor combos.

I am surprised the recipe calls for salt as well as pancetta? Pancetta is pretty salty as well as the Gruyere cheese? Just seems like lots of soduim.

Made these as a Thanksgiving side dish for a family that doesn't prefer truly sweet, sweet potatoes. They were great! I used smaller sweet potatoes (they almost looked like fingerlings) so I had to make overlapping rounds which made the preparation a little more tedious but was actually quite cute at the end, like tiny Pommes Anna. I also used a hard sharp white Dubliner cheese (I waited until the day before Thanksgiving and my local store didn't have Gruyere in stock) which worked great - it caramelized and gave a nice brown savory glaze. Because we have one small oven, I actually arranged the layers of potatoes, pancetta (which I did render first in a pan) and cheese 2 days in advance and kept them in the fridge covered with foil. On the night before Thanksgiving, I added the cream and baked off and removed from the muffin tins as directed. I stored in an airtight container overnight and reheated on a baking tray for about 8 minutes on Thanksgiving day in the oven after the turkey came out, which worked well.

This is one of the easiest, most perfect sides to serve. Its a crowd pleaser and very easy to edit for vegetarians. It is my go-to in a pinch.

I have been making these as appetizers using mini muffin tins for several years. Quality ingredients make the difference. I found New Seasons pancetta to be the best and has wonderful flavor. I do render the pancetta before assembling. Use fine shredder for cheese. The only ingredient I added to the recipe above is sauteed shallots and did omit adding the salt. Although white sweet potatoes work best, I sometimes add a layer or two of yams for color. Since I slice potato thin, I usually get four layers in mini tins. These are smaller than original recipe so cooking time will be less and I drop cooking temp a little. As a note: I found my Calphalon mini tins do not stick like others.
I assemble these early in the day (or night before) and keep covered in refrigerator...just before baking I add the heavy cream. This is my most requested appetizer. You may need to experiment a little to get the amount of each ingredient to match desired flavor. Great recipe!

Yum! Took these to a neighborhood gathering and they barely survived getting from the door to the table! Made some with chorizo, some with a smoky pepper bacon/pancetta combo.
Made some in a muffin tin, others in a mini-loaf tin. (8 mini loafs to the pan.) I liked the ones in the mini-loaf tin: were easy to flip out with a spatula, then I cut them in half to make the more bite sized for appetizers.
I (also) don't do the "non-stick spray thing", so put a piece of parchment paper on top of each pan, then foil over that. Worked fine.
I browned the meats a bit first. Mostly I wanted to render some of the fat from the bacon and ensure it got cooked. Also didn't add salt since my meats were salty and strongly seasoned. Was fine.
My pans are non-stick and heavy. I didn't spray or oil them and didn't have any trouble with sticking, but there was a lot of grease from the cheese & cream. (dabbed it off with a paper towel/ poured it off).
Folks asked for the recipe, so I've forwarded this link on. I'll definitely make these again & will play with the proportions, depending on what I want at the time. (more/less sweet potato or cheese or meat).
I'll probably try this in a small gratin pan, then cut them into bite- or single-serving sizes. (I think keeping the pan size smallish will help ensure there's 'enough' crispiness.)
This definitely goes into my rotation of standards!!

Do you think these would work with shredded sweet potatoes? Maybe in mini-muffin tins?

I made these without pancetta, using one yam and one sweet potato. Amazing! (No problem getting them out of the tins. They did cook down as the cream was absorbed, so I will stack a bit higher next time and see how that goes.)

I'm making these for the second time! I use the white sweet potato instead of the orange and I found that after the first 20 minutes they were already tender and ready to enjoy. Thank goodness because I had misread the directions and my chicken was already done! Even reheated the next day the last couple were yummy. Would love to try with smokey bacon some time.

I made these for a shower. The flavor was DELICIOUS but they got super oily while they cooked and ended up charring the sides of the tins. Any thoughts on why this happened? The flavor combination was delicious (and frankly people still ate them, albeit with a spoon out of the charred pan.) Should I have cooked the pancetta first? Too much cream??

My husband and I made several variations of this for Christmas dinner. We have lactose intolerant and vegetarian family members and we easily adapted this dish for them. The original dish is amazing and we had so many compliments. The best part is that this dish is so easy to throw together. We all loved it and will be making it again.

I made these with sharp white cheddar, bacon, and half & half because it's what was in the house. Plus I buttered the pan because I don't do the cooking spray thing. They were amazing! My fiancé ate almost the entire pan by himself....

I have made these 3 times for different potlucks and they have always been huge hits! Without fail, someone asks me for the recipe. (One friend even said she wouldn't be giving away the recipe if she had "discovered" it first!) Major thanks to cnevertz for posting this and giving us all automatic wins at our parties and special occasions.

I just made these for a hip fall potluck and they were a success. Scared by stories of the potato sticking to the muffin tin, i overloaded on oil, so they got a little crispier than i wanted, but they didn't stick! I didn't have much of an issue with shrinkage either. It seemed to me the muffin pan only came into play when adding the heavy cream, not sure how essential that was though. I also had to sub the pancetta for Guanciale, smoked bacon-esque meat from the cheek of the pig. Sounds gross, totally delicious though. Would recommend this one.

I chose several items from food52 site for my mother-in-law's wedding reception menu. This was the biggest hit by far! We made it in a big pan instead of in muffin tin for individual size. We still served it as starter by cutting into small bite size squares and placed them on a nice slate board. It saved baking time and worked really well.

My experience was much like housepanther's. The little pucks that could be chiseled out of the muffin tin were more trouble than they were worth. I like the combination of ingredients, but will combine them as a casserole in the future.

My guests raved over this dish tonight. I used diced prosciutto instead of pancetta and it was savory, rich, even a bit mysterious. I dipped paper towel in olive oil and wiped the non-stick muffin tin cups. Removing the "cupcakes" was easy. Next time I plan to slice the yams lengthwise and do the layers in a small oval baking dish.

Just a thought, since I haven't made this yet, but I would think those parchment paper cupcake liners would work nicely here, especially for those folks who are having sticking problems and/or who don't like to use cooking spray (me!).

I made these again last night using the large muffin pan (6 muffins). I used swiss cheese, as well as skim milk (instead of butter or cream). In addition, I used reconstituted porcini mushrooms, cut up into small pieces. These were absolutely superb!

This is really good & such a clever idea! I made this tonight, but with a few changes. First, sautéed 5 shallots & 1 large clove of garlic (all minced); I omitted the pancetta. Second, I used a parmesan/asiago blend of cheese instead of the gruyere. Third, I put a handful of sliced almonds in with the shallots & garlic mixture. Fourth, since I forgot to buy cream or milk to drizzle over the top, I used melted butter.

The result: We really liked these but I would do a few things differently next time. Next time, I would use the suggested gruyere or swiss cheese instead of the parmesan/asiago blend because the saltiness of this cheese overpowered the natural taste of the sweet potato. I also would be sure to have milk or cream on hand, as drizzling butter over the top made them really greasy. I also may consider making these in a large muffin tin (6 muffins) since I would be able to add lots of layers to make they thicker. When using the small muffin tin (12 muffins), these little things shrunk to half their size, so there wasn't a lot of substance to them. Overall, delicious - awesome idea. We will make these a lot!

I used the shallot suggestion instead of pancetta. Instead of using muffin tins, I simply sliced the sweet potatoes into rounds, cooked for 25 minutes, added the sauteed shallots and gruyere and cooked another 5 minutes. They're wonderful!

I just made this with blue cheese instead of gruyere. A muffin pan wasn't handy so I made it in a small shallow pan. Really delicious and will make it again.

SOOO delicious!! Made it tonight and it was a huge hit with the family - thanks for sharing!!

I made these for Christmas dinner. They were AMAZING. Be sure and spray the muffin tins very thoroughly . A bit labor intensive - but well worth it and a very nice "potion " serving size- looks nice on a platter. will for sure make again. Yum.

I also made these for Thanksgiving and everyone loved them! What a nice change of pace for sweet potatoes. My husband usually takes our Thanksgiving leftovers to hunting camp but I asked him to leave the leftover sweet potatoes for me. :-) Yum!

Made these for thanksgiving and everyone went nuts for them! Great recipe!

Anyone try making this in a larger casserole dish instead of single servings? I'm trying it for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but wanted to see if anyone else had given this a shot.

Anyone try making this in a larger casserole dish instead of single servings? I'm trying it for Thanksgiving tomorrow, but wanted to see if anyone else had given this a shot.

This is soooo delicious and easy! Great for entertaining. I substitute shallots for the pancetta to make it vegetarian. Thanks for sharing!

Great recipe! Made these for a Super Bowl Snack and they were great!

Wonderful recipe. I made for Christmas dinner as a side to roasted game hens, and it was a big hit. Do you typically saute the pancetta to crisp it up before you assemble the gratin? I wasn't sure, so I did, but if it's not necessary, I'll save the step next time.

Can these be made ahead and reheated?

Agree, great Wildcard pick...Congratulations!

Congrats on the wildcard win! Sounds yummy! Wow, you really really like sweet potatoes, don't you? ;-)

Congrats. Such a clever and delicious recipe!

Congrats on the Wildcard win! These look delicious.

Great Wildcard pick! Congrats!

Great recipe, one I will definitely try. Love using the muffin tins!

What a wonderful idea! Congratulations on the Wildcard win!

Brilliant idea! and just in time to solve my sidedish dilemna for Christmas.