Sweet Potato Biscuits
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Perfectly fluffy with just the right touch of sweetness, these buttery sweet potato biscuits from Paula Deen are an instant favorite at any table.
A few years back, when I was up to my elbows in turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving day, I realized I had forgotten to buy bread to serve with our dinner. It was way too late to send my husband to the store, so as soon as my sister walked through the door, I handed her a stack of cookbooks and said, “Quick, find an easy biscuit recipe!” Wisely, she settled on these fluffy sweet potato biscuits adapted from Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible. They were an absolute hit—so much so, my family begged me to make them again for breakfast the next day. And for a special treat, try them with the optional honey butter—it’s a heavenly match!
“Man, these were sooooo good! I make biscuits/scones all the time but the sweet potato and honey butter combo were out of this world!!”
What You’ll Need To Make Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Mashed sweet potatoes – Add natural sweetness and moisture to the biscuits, giving them a tender, soft texture. See recipe note for quick instructions to make mashed sweet potatoes; you can also use leftover peeled baked sweet potatoes.
- Whole milk – Helps create a light, fluffy dough while adding richness.
- All-purpose flour – Provides the structure for the biscuits.
- Cornstarch – Contributes to a tender, delicate crumb by softening the flour’s protein.
- Sugar – Adds a touch of sweetness to balance the savory flavors.
- Baking powder – The leavening agent that gives the biscuits their light, airy rise.
- Salt – Enhances the flavors and balances the sweetness.
- Cold unsalted butter – The key to flaky, tender biscuits; cold butter creates layers as it melts in the oven.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
You’ll need 1 cup of mashed sweet potatoes for this recipe. To make them, peel a medium sweet potato and chop it into cubes. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato and cook until very tender, 13 to 15 minutes.
Drain.
Then mash with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed sweet potatoes and milk. Set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder and salt; process for a few seconds to mix.
Add the chunks of cold butter.
Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size chunks of butter within. (Alternatively, this can be done by hand using a pastry cutter or your fingers.)
Transfer the flour mixture to the bowl with the sweet potato mixture.
Fold until the mixture is just moistened and holds together; do not overwork the dough.
Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a clean work surface, and turn the dough out onto the surface.
Knead lightly 3 or 4 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together into a smooth ball.
Pat the dough into a rectangle about ¾ inch thick.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into thirds.
Stack the pieces on top of one another.
Pat out into a rectangle about ¾ in thick again, flouring the surface lightly as needed to prevent the dough from sticking. Cut the dough into thirds again, and stack the pieces on top of one another. Pat into a rectangle with a final thickness of about ¾ inch.
Dust the blade of a sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into twelve even squares (they will seem small). Transfer the squares to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden on top and golden on the bottom.
The biscuits are best served warm out of the oven (though a few minutes in the oven will revive slightly older biscuits).
“Great easy recipe and so tasty! Love that touch of sweetness and the honey butter is a must!”
You May Also Like
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Perfectly fluffy with just the right touch of sweetness, these buttery sweet potato biscuits from Paula Deen are an instant favorite at any table.
Ingredients
For the Biscuits
- 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes (from 1 medium sweet potato; see note)
- ½ cup whole milk, plus 2 more tablespoons as needed
- 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (½ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
For the Honey Butter (Optional)
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
For the Biscuits
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed sweet potatoes and ½ cup milk. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour, corn starch, sugar, baking powder and salt; process for a few seconds to mix. Add the chunks of cold butter, then pulse a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size chunks of butter within. (Alternatively, this can be done by hand using a pastry cutter or your fingers.)
- Transfer the flour mixture to the bowl with the sweet potato mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold until the mixture is just moistened and holds together, adding up to 2 more tablespoons of milk if needed; do not overwork the dough.
- Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a clean work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and knead lightly 3 or 4 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together into a smooth ball. Pat the dough into a rectangle about ¾ inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into thirds. Stack the pieces on top of one another and pat out into a rectangle about ¾ in thick again, flouring the surface lightly as needed to prevent the dough from sticking. Cut the dough into thirds again, and stack the pieces on top of one another. Pat into another rectangle with a final thickness of about ¾ inch. Dust the blade of a sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into twelve even squares (they will seem small). Transfer the squares to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden on top and golden on the bottom. The biscuits are best served warm out of the oven (though a few minutes in the oven will revive slightly older biscuits).
For the Optional Honey Butter
- In a small bowl, beat together the butter, honey and cinnamon. Serve at room temperature.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The biscuits can be baked and then frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, wrap them in aluminum foil and warm in a 350°F oven until hot.
- Note: To prepare mashed sweet potatoes, peel one sweet potato and chop into cubes. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato and cook until very tender, 13 to 15 minutes. Drain and mash with a fork.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Serving size: 1 biscuit
- Calories: 157
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 125 mg
- Cholesterol: 19 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Hi! Do you think the your special technique of cutting dough into thirds and stacking would work for this recipe?
Hi MJ – This dough might be too wet to handle that much, but you could certainly give it a shot. I’d love to know how it turns out.
I made this exactly as written, and they turned out great. Normally, I don’t like to try out new recipes if I’m hosting a dinner, but knowing this was a “Jen” recipe, I was willing to take a risk. Thanks Jen for creating recipes that always work!
Jenn – Which is your absolute favorite biscuit with rolled turkey roast? Thanks, Cindi
Hi Cindy, I think these biscuits or my buttermilk biscuits would be great paired with turkey.
Love these! Have you tried freezing the biscuits before baking? If so, was wondering your recommendations for cooking from frozen. I saw your instructions after baking and freezing but didn’t want to have to wrap individually
Hi Sarah, I haven’t frozen these unbaked, but I think you could. Please LMK how they turn out if you try it!
I measured everything and the dough was very sticky. Probably didn’t need the extra milk. They came out fine but I couldn’t detect much sweet potato taste. I used large potato and measured out 3/4 cup mashed. Disappointed in flavor but will serve anyway because it’s still a good biscuit. I’m a novice when it comes to baking.
This recipe is a winner! Biscuits were so fluffy-the flavor of the sweet potato really shines.
If I want to make the biscuits tea sized, would the oven baking time be shorter?
Yes, Mimi – I’m guessing about 10 min.
Ten minutes was perfect. The recipe made 28 tea biscuits. They are excellent which surprised me because I missed the UNSALTED butter and had already added the dry ingredients. Since salt was the last ingredient added before pulsing I was able to get some out. I did add about 1/2 teaspoon extra sugar and I guess it worked because they are wonderful!
These were so good! Easy to make in the food processor. Are just as good for dessert as for a side.
can you use spelt flour?
Hi Monika, I’ve never used spelt flour before so I can’t say for sure, but looking online, it appears to be doable. See more info here. I’d love to hear how these turn out if you go that route!
Jenn – do you have the nutrition info for these biscuits?
I just added them– hope you enjoy!
Thank you. Just discovered your site recently and now spend most of my free time printing your recipes. Sure will be glad when your cookbook comes out!
5 STARS!!!
Thankyou x never have I had a recipe so easy to produce and deliver perfect biscuits! Transported my husband and I to biscuit heaven x
These are wonderful! I made them as a side dish for a family dinner but could have just eaten the biscuits and forgot about everything else. They were no leftovers.
I never keep whole milk in the fridge. We only have 2%, half and half and buttermilk. Would either of these work instead of the whole milk?
Rochelle, the 2% milk will work just fine. Enjoy!
Just tried these this morning at my B & B with smoked pork hash and got all thumbs up. Much easier than making baking powder biscuits that you have to roll out several times. For some reason, I only got 7 biscuits with the 2 1/2 cookie cutter.