This past week, I had an overabundance of sweet potatoes in the kitchen. I typically buy them 5-10 pounds at a time. This time, not only did I buy a 10 lb bag, but then I forgot that I bought that bag and bought a second 10 pound bag a few days later.
So, we had a sweet potato hash for breakfast, simply mashed sweet potatoes with our dinner a couple of nights and I still had a good 10-15 pounds of potatoes in the basket.
I’ve had sweet potato breads on my mind for a while now. So, this was the perfect chance to try that out. I wanted something similar to a hearty cornbread, but still very moist like a muffin.
These came out exactly like I’d hoped. This is not a sweet muffin, this is a bread barely sweetened with a touch of honey. If you prefer it a bit sweeter, top it with butter and a drizzle of honey. I enjoyed mine with just a smear of butter on top.
This recipe can be baked in a 9×13 pan, a full size (10″) cast iron skillet or 18-24 muffin cups (depending on size). I found that the muffin cups rose very little, while still turning out light and fluffy.
Roasted Sweet Potato and Spice Cornbread
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes roasted, peeled and mashed, about 1¼ cups worth
- 4 eggs
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup light flavored olive oil
- 1¼ cups cornmeal
- ¾ cup oat flour additional cornmeal may be substituted for the oat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
*Gluten-Free Alternative
- ⅔ cup brown rice flour
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Wash and pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork. Set them on a baking sheet and then roast in the oven for 45 – 60 minutes. When they are tender, remove from the oven and let rest until cool enough to handle. Cut them open and remove the peel. Place the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl and mash them with a potato masher. Add the eggs, milk, honey, and oil to the potatoes and whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Generously grease the baking pan of your choice and pour the cornbread mixture into it. Bake until the top of the bread is barely browning around the edges and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- For the muffins, this was about 15 minutes. For the skillet or a 9×13 pan, it should take between 30-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool. Allow the cornbread to cool in the pan, if you make a full size version instead of muffins. Serve warm or allow the cornbread to cool before slicing. Enjoy!
Magnolia Verandah says
Never made cornbread – really must give it a go.
Anonymous says
Lol, you've never made cornbread & yet your username is Magnolia Verandah? (sorry, too funny). Let me just say…you don't know what you're missing! In our neck o'the woods, a meal is not complete without cornbread:)
Big Dude says
Mary – You're too young to be having those senior moments :-). Sounds good and I would have never thought of putting sweet potatoes in cornbread.
Jenn says
Genius!! I can't wait until you drop some of that bread off at my house 🙂
Seriously, though, I just made cornbread over the weekend… I wish I had had this recipe….. I'm with Big Dude, I would have never thought to use sweet potatoes in cornbread!
Tricia @ saving room for dessert says
Time for a pot of chili with those beautiful muffins around. Too many sweet potatoes – what are you going to do? Enjoy!
Sue/the view from great island says
If I had only had some of this last night to go with my soup, I would have been in heaven! I love how it looks all puffed up in the skillet, just beautiful.
Athena @ Lifes Abundant Adventures says
That's really creative! I would have never thought to add sweet potatoes to cornbread. I LOVE cornbread, so I'm going to have to try this recipe. 🙂
Carole says
Hi there. Food on Friday: Corn on Carole's Chatter is now open for entries. This looks like a good one! I do hope you link it in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links. Have a great week.
Anna says
Love this!! I have extra sweet potatoes kicking around this week too, this looks like a perfect use for them 🙂
Anonymous says
What do you mean by full size cast iron skillet? An 8? A 10? Something else? Thanks.
Mary Younkin says
I'll correct the recipe to note a 10" cast iron skillet. Thanks for catching that. The skillet in the photo is a small 6" one that I used, in addition to making muffins with the rest of the batter.
MicheleKaplan says
The recipe looks great! Have you ever made the muffins and frozen them? It seems that it would be just as yummy…
Linda says
This was the best gluten free baked good that I’ve ever made. You could not tell it was gluten free. Go good. Thanks.
Alene says
When I wasn’t gluten free, for Thanksgiving, I made sweet potato rolls that were divine. I believe it was a recipe from Gourmet Magazine. I would love to eat them again, but I could never convert the recipe. Hopefully, this cornbread will suffice.
Mary Younkin says
I hope you love it, Alene. I haven’t found a GF sweet potato roll either! But I will keep trying.
Cheryl says
Perfect with the turkey chili tonight. We both loved it and saving leftovers for breakfast. Made half recipe and dialed back on spices a little bit they add so much flavor and aroma.
Cheryl says
This was the best cornbread I’ve ever eaten! I didn’t use the oat flour, just cornmeal and a/p flour, and the rest just as written. Wow, with a bowl of turkey chili, it was awesome, just the right sweet vs. heat. Just said it took me so long to find it. 🙂
Mary Younkin says
I’m so happy that you like it, Cheryl!!