Slightly sweet, buttery, and perfectly spiced, these fluffy sweet potato biscuits are simply irresistible! These biscuits have roasted and mashed sweet potato baked right in and are flavored with brown sugar, honey, and warm spices. Serve them warm with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey.
If there's one thing we love in the South, it's a warm, fluffy homemade biscuit. These extra-special sweet potato biscuits are one of my favorite fall recipes and combine warm, cozy flavors with flaky buttermilk biscuits.
For more tasty biscuit recipes, check out our Southern Buttermilk Biscuits and Strawberry Biscuits next!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love These Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Packed with cozy flavors! Roasted sweet potato, cinnamon, and nutmeg make these biscuits the perfect cozy fall recipe.
- Easy to make! I love making biscuits because they are one of the easiest baking projects to tackle. No chill time, rise time, or fancy pastry-making skills required.
- An excellent meal prep recipe! I typically make a batch of biscuits for the week and store them in the fridge for an easy grab-and-go breakfast, snack, or for making sandwiches.
Important Ingredient Notes
A complete list of ingredients with measurements along with detailed recipe instructions can be found in the recipe card located at the bottom of this post.
- Flour. I recommend either pastry flour or all-purpose flour for the best biscuits. Pastry flour makes very tender biscuits because of its low protein content and is always my go-to. Less protein means less gluten formation, which means soft, tender biscuits! If you do not have pastry flour, good-quality all-purpose flour is also excellent for making biscuits.
- Brown sugar. I use light brown sugar for this batch of sweet potato biscuits, but dark brown or granulated sugar also works great.
- Spices. Cinnamon and nutmeg are used to give these biscuits a warm, nutty flavor. Feel free to try different spices such as ginger, cloves, cardamom, or allspice.
- Butter. You must use very cold butter for the flakiest biscuits! I recommend cutting the butter into cubes and popping it in the freezer while you prepare the other ingredients. Omit any additional salt if using salted butter.
- Sweet potato. You will need 1 cup of roasted and mashed sweet potato for this recipe, which equals about 1 medium sweet potato. Be sure to use a sweet potato with orange flesh such as the Jewel or Garnet varieties. To roast a sweet potato, scrub it clean, pierce it all over with a fork, and bake at 450°F for about one hour until it can easily be pierced with a fork. Be sure to allow it to cool for making your biscuits! Check out our spiced sweet potato bread with pecans next!
- Buttermilk. I make ALL my biscuits with buttermilk for the most tender texture and delicious subtle tanginess! You can also use regular whole milk or half and half.
How To Make Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.
- Mix the sweet potato and wet ingredients. Whisk the sweet potato together with the buttermilk, honey, and vanilla.
- Cut in the butter. Add very cold butter to the flour mixture and rub it in with your fingers until it resembles coarse (not small) crumbs. Some big pieces are a good thing!
- Combine all the ingredients. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in the sweet potato mixture, and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.
- Cut out the biscuits and bake. Turn the dough out on a floured surface, pat it into a rectangle, fold it over itself a few times to create layers, then pat it into a disk about ½ inch thick. Use a 2 ½ to 3-inch biscuit cutter to cut out 8 biscuits, place them on a lined baking sheet, and bake them at 400°F for 18 to 23 minutes until golden brown.
Pro Tips For the Best Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Make sure your sweet potato has cooled to room temperature before mixing it with the other ingredients. Adding warm sweet potato to biscuit dough with cold dairy can mess up the texture of your biscuits. Chilled sweet potato is even better if time allows.
- Use very cold butter and buttermilk. Cold dairy is key for making tender, flaky biscuits. The cold butter releases steam when baked, creating flaky air pockets in the biscuits!
- Do not overwork the dough. Overworking the dough can activate the gluten in the flour, causing your biscuits to turn out chewy instead of tender and fluffy. I recommended patting the dough out with floured hands instead of rolling it out to avoid overworking.
Frequently Asked Questions
To get fluffy biscuits, first, make sure your dairy (butter and milk) is very cold. Cold lumps of butter will melt while baking and release steam, which creates air-filled pockets in your biscuits.
You also want to use soft wheat flour, which has a lower protein content than other flour. Either soft wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour are the best options for fluffy biscuits.
Another important tip is to make sure you do not overwork your dough, which can activate the gluten in the flour and cause your biscuits to turn out dense instead of fluffy.
My top milk recommendation for making homemade biscuits is buttermilk! Buttermilk yields extra tender biscuits with a subtle delicious tanginess. The acidity in buttermilk reacts with baking soda, causing biscuits to rise tall, and the low fat content makes buttermilk perfect for incorporating with any kind of fat.
Yes, you can but there are some extra steps I recommend taking if using canned sweet potato. Canned sweet potato contains much more liquid than a fresh roasted sweet potato so you will need to strain it through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth before adding it to your dough.
What To Serve with Sweet Potato Biscuits
Tender, fluffy sweet potato biscuits make an excellent addition to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can even enjoy them on their own for a tasty snack or grab-and-go breakfast. Serve sweet potato biscuits with some of the following delicious dishes:
- Hot Honey Chicken Thighs
- Easy Brown Sugar Glazed Chicken
- New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
- Cranberry Meatballs
- Southern Fried Catfish
- Louisiana Red Beans and Rice
- Southern Smothered Chicken
- Southern Salmon Croquettes
- Southern Fried Chicken
- Southern Squash Casserole
- Southern Green Beans
- Southern Collard Greens
- Southern Baked Mac and Cheese
Make-Ahead and Storing Instructions
Sweet potato biscuit dough can be made a day or two ahead of time, shaped into a disc, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to bake. You can also wrap the cut-out biscuits and store them in the refrigerator.
Leftover sweet potato biscuits can be stored at room temperature for 1 to 2 days or in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
More Fall Recipes You Will Love!
- Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
- Southern Homemade Chicken and Dumplings
- New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
- Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
- Cajun Shrimp and Grits
- Sweet Potato Cornbread
- Southern Candied Yams
- Southern Cornbread Dressing
- Southern Sweet Potato Casserole
- Southern Sweet Potato Pie
- Old Fashioned Buttermilk Pie
- Classic Southern Pecan Pie
- The Best Bread Pudding
- Apple Cider Donut Cake
- Pumpkin Bread Pudding
- Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
📖 Recipe
Fluffy Sweet Potato Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups pastry flour - or all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, see note
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar - or dark brown or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup roasted and mashed sweet potato - about 1 large sweet potato, see note
- ½ - ¾ cup buttermilk - cold
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter - very cold, cubed
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Set the bowl aside. In a separate medium mixing bowl, mix the mashed sweet potato with ½ cup buttermilk, honey, and vanilla with a fork until well combined. Set the bowl aside.
- Add the cubed butter to the flour, toss it to coat the butter in flour, and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. You may also use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. Some remaining larger chunks of butter are totally fine!
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and scoop the sweet potato mixture into the well. Use a wooden spoon to mix the dough until all of the flour is moistened and the dough starts to clump together. Use your hands to continue mixing the dough, working it around the bowl to scrape up all the dry flour from the bottom. If the dough is very crumbly and will not hold together add 1 to 2 more tablespoons of buttermilk. The dough should not be sticky but should hold together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rectangle. Fold the top third of the dough over itself, then the bottom third. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, pat it back out into a rectangle, and repeat the process two more times. This gives you those lovely flaky layers and is gentler than kneading the dough.
- Gently pat the dough into a ½-inch thick disc and use a 2 ½ to 3-inch biscuit cutter to cut out 8 biscuits. Gently rework the scraps as needed, folding and patting them back into a disc, until you have 8 biscuits.
- Place the biscuits closely together on the lined baking sheet and brush the tops with buttermilk. Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 18-23 minutes until golden brown. Allow the biscuits to cool slightly and enjoy!
Notes
- Soft wheat pastry or all-purpose flour is best for biscuits due to its low protein content. Lower protein means less gluten formation, which results in soft, fluffy biscuits.
- To prepare the sweet potato, scrub it clean, prick it all over with a fork, and bake it at 400°F for about one hour until it can be easily pierced with a fork. Allow the sweet potato to cool completely and remove the skin before adding it to the dough. You can also bake the sweet potato the night before and chill it in the refrigerator.
- Leftover sweet potato biscuits can be stored at room temperature for 1 to 2 days or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
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