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Tender and lightly sweet, these sweet potato biscuits are a wonderful side to go along with your favorite soups or roasts. They’re equally delicious for brunch as they are for Thanksgiving dinner.
A must-have in my house when it comes to soups, stews, and chili, is some kind of bread for dunking into the broth. Sometimes it’s a slice of French bread, sometimes it’s corn muffins, and sometimes it’s these flaky sweet potato biscuits.
If you’ve made my sweet potato cornbread you know how soft it is, with just a touch of sweetness. These biscuits are just like that, but with the added flaky goodness of a biscuit.
While sweet potato biscuits do require a little more work than classic buttermilk biscuits, you can save time the day of by cooking and purรฉeing the sweet potato ahead of time.ย
Ready to give them a try? Let’s get cooking!
Ingredients for sweet potato biscuits
Full list of ingredients including quantities is located in the recipe card.
You’ll need:
- Sweet potato
- All-purpose flour
- Light brown sugar – While other biscuits use granulated sugar, the brown sugar adds a deeper flavor that pairs well with the sweet potato.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Unsalted butter – Make sure it is cold! We’ll also need a bit of melted butter for the tops of the biscuits.
- Buttermilk – I recommend buttermilk over regular milk for biscuits. It adds a rich, tangy taste. If you use regular milk, you might need to reduce the amount, as buttermilk is much thicker.
- Maple syrup – Use pure maple syrup if you can!
seasonal spotlight: sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes are planted in the spring, but harvest begins in late August, continuing through November. After harvesting, sweet potatoes go through a curing process to develop their signature sweet flavor and texture. Fall and winter are the prime time to enjoy these wonderfully versatile potatoes!
how to make this recipe
First, we’ll need to cook the sweet potato. I highly recommend doing this in advance, as you’ll need to wait for it to cool before working it into the biscuit dough.
Peel and dice your potato add to a large saucepan. Cover with water, then bring to a boil. Cook until fork-tender. This will take about 15 minutes.
Drain well (you don’t want excess moisture in the purรฉe), then transfer to a food processor. Blitz until completely purรฉed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups, cover, and chill. Save the rest for another use.
Move your oven rack to the lower shelf and preheat oven to 425ยฐF. Line 1-2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make sure to break up any lumps in the brown sugar.
Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers, cut in the cold butter until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Make sure to leave some larger, pea-sized bits of butter.
In another bowl, whisk together the chilled sweet potato purรฉe, buttermilk, and maple syrup until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined and starting to form a shaggy dough.
Use your hands to continue mixing and kneading together, then turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be slightly tacky. If it’s too sticky to work with, knead in more flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
Pat or roll the dough into a large rectangle about 1-inch thick. Cut biscuits using a 3-inch round cutter and transfer to the lined baking sheet. Gather scraps and reroll as needed.
Brush biscuits with the melted butter, then bake for 12-15 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Let cool briefly before serving.
Storage tips
Sweet potato biscuits are best the day they are made, so keep in mind you can always halve this recipe if you aren’t having a big group over. (Simply hit the 1/2x button in the recipe card to change the ingredient quantities!)
Leftover biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 days. Warm individual biscuits for just 10 seconds or so in the microwave, or warm multiple biscuits in the oven at 350ยฐF until heated through.
If you would like to freeze these biscuits, I recommend freezing them after shaping, but before baking. Then, bake from frozen at 425ยฐF, adding a few minutes to the baking time. Frozen biscuits are best when used within 3 months.
Have extra sweet potato purรฉe? Make a batch of my sweet potato waffles to serve up with eggs, bacon, and these fluffy sweet potato biscuits for weekend brunch!
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It means so much when you enjoy my recipes, so let me know how it goes and leave a comment if you have any questions.
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 19 ounces, plus more as needed
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 6 ounces unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 2/3 cup cold buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons cold maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Instructions
- Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well, then puree in a food processor. Measure out 1 1/2 cups puree (discard any leftover or save for a different use). Place the puree in a small bowl, cover and chill in the refrigerator until chilled. (See notes)
- Place an oven rack on the lower shelf and preheat to 425ยฐF. Line a large baking sheet (or 2 standard baking sheets) with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a pastry blender or clean fingers, cut the butter in until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with some pea-sized lumps of butter remaining.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sweet potato puree, buttermilk and maple syrup. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined. Switch to kneading the dough to finish bringing it together.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be sticky but workable. If the dough is too sticky, kneed in an additional 1-2 tablespoons of flour. Pat or roll the dough until itโs approximately 1-inch thick. Cut the biscuits using a 3-inch cutter. Re-roll the scraps as needed to cut the remaining biscuits.
- Place the biscuits on the prepared sheet pan and brush with melted butter. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until fluffy and golden brown.
Notes
- Save time by cooking and pureeing the sweet potatoes the day beforehand, so there’s no waiting for them to cool.
- Makes 15-17 3-inch biscuits.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.
About Megan
I learned how to cook by exploring seasonal ingredients, and you can too! Meal time shouldn’t be stressful or complicated, and with fresh ingredients and easy methods, Iโm here to help you enjoy the time spent in the kitchen.ย Read moreโฆ
