This moist and tender sweet potato cornbread is a delicious twist on a classic cornbread recipe without any buttermilk needed. Whipped up with butter and honey, the sweet flavor of roasted caramelized sweet potatoes is taken up several notches with brown sugar and warm spices. It's a fabulous must have with your fall dinners and holiday meals!
As pumpkin is fall for most of the states, sweet potato is fall for me, friends. When I have a slice of sweet potato pie, a piece of this amazing sweet potato corn bread, or am simply eating a baked sweet potato loaded with cinnamon butter, I'm in the 'Ber months in my mind.
Nothing beats this buttery cornbread, honey. It's perfectly moist and delicious, and packed with lovely sweet potato flavor. I would say it's a few steps away from being a cake, honestly! Between the richness of the sour cream, the sweet honey and brown sugar, the buttery cakey texture, and all those fall spices? This cornbread is definitely toeing the line here.
But since it pairs surprisingly well with collard greens, I'll keep it as a side dish. P.S. I'm used to eating it with traditional cornbread, but the flavor this one brings to those savory greens?! I was stunned! It's a must-try.
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Soft, Moist, and Simple Sweet Potato Cornbread!
If you're a beginner baker, you're in luck! This sweet potato cornbread recipe is incredibly simple to make and you can make this recipe into cornbread muffins if that's your fancy.
The texture of this cornbread is so, so tender with a great crumb, and super moist thanks to all the sweet potato puree, honey, and sour cream in the recipe. We were putting this baby ah-way while recipe testing, it was just so good!
Ingredients for this Recipe
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Mashed Sweet Potato - I prefer the flavor of roasted sweet potatoes more than any other method of cooking them because it allows the sugars to really caramelize and the flavor to deepen.
- Cornmeal and All Purpose Flour - you can use white or yellow cornmeal for this recipe.
- Sour Cream - sour cream makes this cornbread moist, rich, gives it tang, it's a superhero ingredient, honestly!
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Brown Sugar - the molasses in brown sugar gives more richness, more sweetness, and more moisture!
- Melted Butter
- Honey
- Spices - I'm using mostly cinnamon with hits of cloves, ginger, and nutmeg but you can keep it just cinnamon as well.
- Eggs - you want them room temperature so they don't cause the cornbread batter to take longer to bake.
How to Make Sweet Potato Cornbread
Step 1 | Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and soda, and spices.
Step 2 | In a separate large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
Step 3 | Use a spatula to stir the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just until the flour is finished incorporating into the sweet potato mixture.
Step 4 | Smooth the sweet potato cornbread batter into a prepared baking pan or cast iron skillet and bake until golden brown for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Step 5 | Allow the cornbread to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Rub that sucker down with plenty of additional butter on top and serve them sliced warm with extra butter and honey.
Pro Tips for the Best Cornbread
- Roast whole sweet potatoes - do this in advance. It may take an extra hour, but roasting the potatoes is the best way to prep them for any type of baking. Do not boil them, which will water log them and won't allow their sweetness to come through.
- Gluten-Free Cornbread - You'll want to swap that AP flour for a 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour!
- Make Ahead Tips - roast and rice the sweet potatoes a day or two ahead of time, that way it's just mix and bake!
Storage Instructions
Store your sweet potato cornbread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days! It can also be stored overnight on the counter as well, but for no more than one or two days.
Equipment
- Potato Ricer - this is a must have for anything sweet potato, in my opinion! Sweet potatoes are stringy on the inside so ricing them removes those pesky strings easily.
- Baking Dish or Cast Iron Skillet
FAQs
Because sweet potato cornbread is so moist, it goes bad quickly on the counter top. I suggest keeping it in the fridge for up to 5 days, but it can be left out overnight without a problem.
Yes you can used canned sweet potato puree, but it does have more liquid and less flavor in it than roasted fresh sweet potatoes since they were most likely boiled.
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Simple and Moist Sweet Potato Cornbread
Equipment
- 9x9 Baking Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal, fine ground
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves, optional
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 cup roasted sweet potato puree, about 1-2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1½ cups sour cream, full-fat
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- pat of butter, for after baking
- honey, for serving
Instructions
- Prepare your 9x9 inch baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper or with baking spray or cake release. Preheat the oven to 400℉.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and soda, and spices. Set aside.1 cup cornmeal, 1 cup all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, honey, sweet potato puree, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter until well combined.⅓ cup brown sugar, 1 cup roasted sweet potato puree, 1½ cups sour cream, 2 large eggs, 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, ¼ cup honey
- Use a baking spatula to gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring until the dry ingredients are just combined.
- Pour the sweet potato cornbread batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean with maybe a few crumbs.
- Pull the cornbread from the oven to cool and rub the pat of butter all over the top of it. Let cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the pan and slicing.pat of butter
- Serve the sweet potato cornbread warm with honey, if desired.honey
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