Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sweet Potato Biscuits are light and fluffy, yet filled with the subtle flavor and sweetness of sweet potato puree. They are a southern recipe that are perfect to serve plain, as the base of a savory breakfast sandwich, or on the side of a hearty soup.  

While there is nothing quite like a homemade biscuit, these Sweet Potato Biscuits are a delicious spin-off on the classic. They are super light, super tender, and pack a slightly sweet flavor and a hefty dose of vitamin A thanks to the sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Puree in biscuit dough is an unexpected, yet heavenly twist.

While the flavor of the sweet potato puree is not prominent in these biscuits, the sweet potato keeps these biscuits moist and tender and cuts down on the amount of butter needed in the dough. The puree also helps to add a hint of sweetness to the dough.

Key Ingredients

• Flour: Use whole wheat, whole white wheat, or all-purpose flour for the biscuit dough.
• Baking Powder: Be sure your baking powder is not expired so that your biscuits rise. Another tips is to use aluminum-free baking powder for the best taste.
• Sweet Potato Puree: You need about 1 medium sweet potato to equal ¾ cup sweet potato puree. Use Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes or an oven-baked sweet potato and then remove the flesh and mash. Allow cooling completely before using to prepare biscuits. You can use canned pumpkin puree in place of the sweet potato but will need to make adjustments to the measurements--see recipe card for details.
• Butter: You need cubed or grated COLD butter. The butter will melt as it bakes, forming air pockets in the biscuits, which keeps them super tender and light. I love grating my butter on a cheese grater and then pop the butter in the freezer for 5 minutes to get it really cold.
• Buttermilk: If you don't have buttermilk, use any dairy or non-dairy milk you have or you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk and let sit for 5 minutes before using.
• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup helps to bring out the flavor of the sweet potato and lends to the sweetness of these biscuits, but feel free to omit.

How to Make Sweet Potato Biscuits

• In a food processor fitted with a dough hook, pulse together the flour and baking soda.
• Add in the cold butter and pulse a couple of times until the butter is broken down into small pea-size pieces.
• Mix together the buttermilk, syrup, and sweet potato until well combined.
• Add the mixture to flour and pulse to bring the dough together. If needed, add in additional buttermilk in tablespoon measurements if the dough appears too dry.

• Turn out the biscuit dough onto a well-floured surface.
• Using your hands, lightly pat the dough into a ball.
• Pat the dough down into a 1-inch thick oval.
• Using a floured circle cookie cutter or opening of a glass,  cut biscuit dough into circles. Alternatively, you can cut into rectangles or squares.
• Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Brush the biscuits with the extra buttermilk.
• Bake biscuits at 400 degrees until puffed up and set.

Pro-Tips

• It is really important that the butter, buttermilk, and sweet potato puree are very cold in order for the biscuits to stay light and fluffy.
• If you don't have a food processor, you can make these biscuits by hand, using 2 forks or a pastry cutter to mix in the butter into the flour. Just be careful to not over mix.
• Feel free to shape these biscuits into any shape you like. You can cut into squares, use a pumpkin cooking cutter, or any cookie cutter you like.
• Extra dough can be patted back together once to produce more biscuits. Using scraps more than once can result in a biscuit that is heavy or dense because the dough will become overworked and warm if handled too much.

Serving and Storage Suggestions

Cooled Sweet Potato Biscuits can be stored at room temperature for 24 hours and in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Any leftover biscuits can be frozen for up to 3 months and left to defrost in the fridge overnight or in the microwave for 1 minute.

These sweet potato biscuits are PERFECT served in a variety of ways.

• Dust Sweet Potato Biscuits with cinnamon sugar after baking and serve with butter.
• Serve with pumpkin butter or apple butter. 
• Make a savory breakfast biscuit sandwich with a poached egg and a slice of cheese.
• Use Sweet Potato Biscuits as the base for a ham sandwich. I recommend adding sliced apples with sharp cheese and Dijon mustard as well--YUM!
• Serve biscuits with Instant Pot Chili or  Black Bean Chili.

More Sweet Potato Recipes

• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Sweet Potato Pancakes 
• Sweet Potato Smoothie
• Sweet Potato Oatmeal

If you gave these sweet potato biscuits a try, I would love for you to leave a comment below.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Light and fluffy biscuits made with sweet potato puree, for slightly sweet tender moist biscuit.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

Servings: 9

Calories: 126kcal

Author: Kristen Chidsey

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ cup flour
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 6 tablespoons cold butter cubed
• ▢ ⅓-2/3 cup buttermilk
• ▢ ¾ cup mashed cooked sweet potato
• ▢ 1 tablespoon maple syrup

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Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Fit the food processor with the dough blade (the dull blade). Pulse together the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add in the butter and pulse until it lookd like peas (see photo).
• Mix together ⅓ cup buttermilk, maple syrup, and sweet potato together.
• Add to dough and pulse until dough just comes together.
• Pour dough onto a floured work surface and gently knead the dough together into a disk. Pat down to 1 inch thickness using your hands. Use a 2-¾ inch circle cookie cutter to cut into biscuits.
• Place onto the baking sheet and brush with additional buttermilk if desired for a golden exterior.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, until browned.

Equipment Needed

• Parchment Paper
• 2-¾ inch biscuit cutter
• Food Processor

Notes

• ¾ sweet potato puree is equal to the flesh of 1 medium sweet potato. 
• In place of sweet potato puree, use ⅔ cup canned pumpkin puree. 
• Use whole wheat, whole white wheat, or all-purpose flour in this recipe. 
• To keep these Sweet Potato Biscuits lighter, replace 3 tablespoons of the butter with 3 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt.
• Store leftover biscuits at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 3 days. 
• Freeze biscuits for up to 1 month if desired. 

Nutrition

Calories: 126kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 310mg | Potassium: 268mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1705IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 0.9mg

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This post was originally shared in 2016 but was updated in 2020 with new pictures and tips.