Incredibly delicious, pillowy soft and tender, and beaming with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom flavor; these sweet potato buttermilk biscuits are such an absolute treat any time of day!

three sweet potato biscuits stacked on top of each other

If you ask me, biscuits truly do make the world go ’round. I love biscuits, y’all. Whether they’re plain buttermilk biscuits or savory biscuits like these cheddar scallion biscuits…just gimme all the biscuits. They’re also the perfect accompaniment to almost every Southern or soul food meal and great to sop up delicious gravy or the collard greens pot liquor/likker, yumm. Biscuits, to me, are more than just flour, butter, and buttermilk- they’re love. The history of biscuit-making as it relates to Black culture, especially, is what I love most. Such simple and widely accessible ingredients help make this cherished staple.

sweet potato biscuits on marbled surface

Sweet Potato Biscuits Ingredients

  • white lily self-rising flour
  • baking powder
  • kosher salt
  • unsalted butter
  • whole buttermilk
  • dark brown sugar
  • mashed sweet potato
  • cinnamon
  • nutmeg
  • cardamom

Let’s Talk About Flour

When it comes to biscuits, I am a huge fan of the White Lily brand. I use this particular flour almost exclusively whenever I want the best biscuits. Their flour is milled from soft winter wheat that is finer in texture; which produces a light, airy, super tender crumb in baked goods. Additionally, this is a brand that is found more regionally in Southern states. However, you may be able to find this specific flour online too.

My sweet potato biscuits recipe calls for self-rising flour. This type of flour has a leavening agent and salt already built in. In addition to that, I find that still adding in baking powder helps produce more volume and lighter textured biscuits. While I highly recommend making this recipe as written, you can surely still make these sweet potato biscuits using standard all-purpose flour as well.

sweet potato biscuits on gold baking sheet

The Best Sweet Potato Biscuits

Seriously, what makes these sweet potato buttermilk biscuits so amazing? They’re spiced and full of flavor! All of the signature warm and inviting spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom give these biscuits some oomph and depth. Dark brown sugar adds a touch of sweetness and a beautiful molasses vibe that takes them up a notch! And the main star, mashed sweet potato, y’all! I recommend finding you some garnet yams, specifically. Don’t let the name fool you; garnet yams are still sweet potatoes but have more of a richer orange interior than standard sweet potatoes. And of course, those are also still okay to use too.

Biscuit-Making 101

  • Make sure the butter and buttermilk are super cold.
  • Work quickly and efficiently.
  • Try not to overwork biscuit dough.
  • Don’t overthink it- making biscuits is easy!

Yup, that’s it. A lot of folks see making homemade biscuits as this huge task but they really are easy to make. The butter needs to be solid cold when grated into mixture so that when it enters the hot oven; it creates butter pockets within the biscuits. Working super efficiently and quickly so as to not let ingredients get too warm, helps a ton. Overworking the biscuit dough will yield tough and super dense biscuits, so be mindful when kneading the dough. All in all, making these sweet potato biscuits (or any biscuits) is not to be feared!

sweet potato biscuits leaning on each other on marbled surface

How To Enjoy These Sweet Potato Biscuits

I’ve particularly enjoyed these biscuits on the weekends with some salty country ham and scrambled eggs, pure heaven. Although, don’t let that fool you- these sweet potato biscuits can surely accommodate other hearty fixin’s like fried chicken, bacon, and pork chops. For example, making a sandwich situation out of them is also an option. Alternatively, you can just enjoy them as is and slathered with butter and/or jelly. No matter what adventure you choose with these biscuits, they’re sure to give you a damn good time.

How To Cook Sweet Potatoes

  1. Boil: Peel off skin and cut sweet potatoes into quarters. In a large pot/dutch oven over medium heat, bring enough water to cover sweet potatoes to a boil. Let cook until sweet potatoes are fork tender; a fork should be able to cleanly pierce through sweet potato flesh, about 20 minutes. Then drain and mash together the sweet potatoes. Allow flesh to cool down completely before using.
  2. Roast: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and drizzle a little olive oil. Take a fork and prick the sweet potatoes all over a few times. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until fork is easily inserted into the flesh. Then scoop out sweet potato flesh, mash together, and discard the skins. Allow flesh to cool down completely before using.

Other Great Recipes To Try

black hand holding sweet potato biscuit on marble surface

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UNTIL NEXT TIME…LOVE AND BUTTER,

Q.

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three sweet potato biscuits stacked on top of each other

Spiced Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits

★★★★★ 5 from 8 reviews
  • Author: Quin Liburd
  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 15m
  • Total Time: 25m
  • Yield: 24 1x
  • Category: Breakfast, Brunch, Appetizer
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American, Southern
Print Recipe

Description

Incredibly delicious, pillowy soft and tender, and beaming with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom flavor; these sweet potato buttermilk biscuits are such an absolute treat any time of day!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato, garnet yams preferred
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups whole buttermilk
  • 4 1/2 cups White Lily self-rising flour, plus more for work surface
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, grated- plus more for topping

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl; combine mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together. Stir mixture together until fully combined. Then pour in buttermilk and stir again until well combined and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well to break up any larger sugar pieces. Use a box grater to grate butter directly into flour mixture. Then use your fingers to work butter into flour mixture by pinching your fingers into mixture creating pea-sized bits of butter throughout.
  4. Pour sweet potato mixture into flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to mix until just combined.
  5. Empty dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Coat your hands in a little flour to handle dough and gently knead dough together. Fold dough onto itself about 2-3 times and then use a rolling pin to roll out dough into a rough rectangle (about 2 inches thick). Add a touch more flour to rolling pin to prevent sticking, only if necessary.
  6. Use a medium-sized biscuit cutter (or a glass cup) to stamp out biscuits but DO NOT twist cutter/glass when stamping dough. Simply stamp out biscuits (punching down and out) and place onto prepared baking sheet. Make sure biscuits are touching as it helps them to rise tall when placed together. Re-roll any remaining dough scraps to make more biscuits.
  7. Bake biscuits for 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown in color.
  8. Immediately brush biscuits with more melted butter and enjoy warm.

Notes

  1. Biscuits will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Keywords: sweet potato, biscuits, buttermilk, breakfast, brunch