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Soul Food Sweet Potato Cornbread

This Homemade Sweet Potato Cornbread is made using a classic recipe with buttermilk, roasted sweet potatoes and drizzled in either maple butter or cinnamon honey butter. This is a must for any spread including Sunday Dinners, holidays, and Thanksgiving.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Southern
Keyword homemade sweet potato cornbread, sweet potato cornbread
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
cooling 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 16 slices
Calories 131kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Add the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar or sweetener, and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
  • Next add in the eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter, buttermilk, and sweet potatoes. Stir to combine.
    Be sure not to over-mix the batter. Over-mixing will lead to large cracks in the crust and a lot of crumble. Only mix well enough to combine the ingredients.
  • Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet on medium heat (alternatively you can use any baking dish you wish and skip this step). Add 2 tablespoons of butter. Allow it to melt and then grease the entire skillet including the edges.
  • While the skillet is hot, pour the mixture into the cast iron skillet.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and return clean.
  • I like to cool the cornbread completely prior to slicing and let it cool for at least 20 minutes.

Video

Notes

  • For a smooth batter, puree your sweet potatoes using a hand blender. I like to serve this cornbread with small chunks of sweet potatoes throughout, so I mash the sweet potatoes by hand instead. This will result in a thick batter that sometimes has bulges at the top of the crust. If you puree the sweet potatoes first, the batter will be more smooth.
  • You can substitute brown sugar or sweetener for regular sugar if you wish.
  • The taste of this cornbread isn't overly sweet. I love to serve it with Maple Butter or honey which adds sweet flavor. If you want really sweet cornbread, add additional sweetener or sugar.
  • Self-rising cornmeal can be used in this recipe because it is already mixed with self-rising all-purpose flour (which produces AMAZING cornbread). You will need 2 cups to replace the corn meal, flour, and baking powder used. I recommend you purchase your own, it's available here on Amazon. You can make your own by combining 2 cups of cornmeal, 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt. 
  • You can use any oil instead of butter if you wish.
  • To get a really crispy crust, be sure to add your batter to a piping hot, buttered skillet.
  • Every oven cooks at varying speeds. I often have to rotate the placement of foods in my oven halfway through the cooking process because the area facing the back of the oven cooks at a faster pace.
  • You can substitute/make your own buttermilk if you wish by combining milk and vinegar (or lemon). Get instructions on How to Make a Buttermilk Substitute here. Buttermilk is a soured product so will be more acidic than milk. This will react with any rising agent such as baking powder used in the recipe and give a better rise to the product.
  • Do not simply substitute milk alone in this recipe. Milk is used in baking recipes for thinning the batter. That's not what we want here. Milk does not lower the pH of the cornbread and is therefore very different from buttermilk.
  • Be sure not to over mix the batter when you combine the dry and wet ingredients. This is a common baking rule of thumb. Over-mixing will lead to large cracks in the crust and a lot of crumble. Only mix well enough to combine the ingredients. If your cornbread does not hold or falls apart, this is where you went wrong.
  • You can still use this recipe without a cast iron. You will likely need less than 1/4 cup of butter to oil your pan. Use your judgment. You can use an 8x8 baking dish/cake pan. You may have to adjust your cook time. Keep a watchful eye and test using a toothpick.
  • Cornbread is best served hot and fresh, but can be made up to 8 hours ahead of time.
  • Macros assume zero calorie monkfruit is used. Feel free to use the macros calculator of your choice to calculate accurate macros utilizing the branded ingredients you use in the recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 131kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g