Sweet Potato Biscuits
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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!”
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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
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- 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.
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Do you think, in a time crunch, the sweet potato could be substituted for canned pumpkin puree?
Definitely!
These biscuits are delicious…a special treat with the honey butter!
Using a sharp biscuit or cookie cutter rather than a glass allows them to rise higher as the glass kind of compresses and seals the edges making them stick together and not allowing the full rise to happen. With that much baking powder they get nice and fluffy and you can see the flaky layers if using a thin metal cutter.
They also worked well but molding the dough into a circle and cutting into triangles with a sharp knife.
Thank you for another fantastic recipe Jenn!!!!
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!!
Delicious!
Some of the best!!! I’m a foodie and love to cook. I will definitely use this biscuit and honey recipe over and over again.
Pretty good biscuit. A good use for leftover sweet potato, but probably not worth mashing some sweet potato for it. It was tender, but generally didn’t have the rise or fluffiness I expect from a biscuit. It’d be nice if the recipe specified kosher or table salt. Likewise if it specified cassia or verum cinnamon, I strongly suspect it’s cassia.
HI Jenn,
I made these tonight because I had a sweet potato and wanted to use it with my fish dinner. I used a large one and the dough came out really sticky. I kept adding flour until I could work with the dough..probably a cup or more extra flour. After they were cooked they tasted like too much flour. I probably should have measured the sweet potato, correct? I liked the honey butter!
Yes, Theresa, because the ratios are so important to getting good results when baking, I would suggest measuring the sweet potato if you try these again. 🙂
These sweet potato biscuits are the bomb. Serious Question, Have you ever really eaten a biscuit in your life? How do you stay so fit making all theses amazing recipes?!?Asking for a friend.
LOL — glad you like them! Yes, I do eat biscuits periodically. 🙂
On days that I am testing recipes, I really don’t eat regular meals. That part is actually not that hard…you know how when you’re cooking all day for a holiday or something, and you lose your appetite by the time you sit down to eat? That’s exactly how I feel when I’m working in the kitchen all day.
On all other days, I do have regular meals but I try to have small portions and do my best to avoid refined carbs and sweets unless it’s a special occasion.
Delicious! I made the biscuits and froze the dough and baked them at a later time per the directions. They turned out perfect! Thanks for the recipe.
I’m thinking of freezing them ahead of time too for Thanksgiving. Did you thaw them before baking them off or put them in frozen? Thanks!
I’m always nervous when making biscuits or any recipe with a dough really so I was quite surprised that these worked out so nicely! I made them to serve with your chicken chili with white beans & my hubby couldn’t get enough of them or the honey butter. He was still talking about them the next day so definitely a winner in my house! Thanks for making it so easy with the pictures & step by step…helped a lot! I purchased your book….just waiting to receive it….can’t wait!!!!
So glad you and your hubby enjoyed these – I hope you enjoy the cookbook just a much! ❤️
Great easy recipe and so tasty! Love that touch of sweetness and the honey butter is a must! Thanks Jennifer!