Cornbread is given an extra boost of fall flavors with roasted sweet potatoes. This Sweet Potato Cornbread is nutritious and a holiday-perfect dish!
When I was in college, a bunch of us girls often got together for potluck events. College style. Meaning low budget comfort food that could go a long way.
One of my friends quickly became known as the queen of cornbread. Her cornbread made her famous, as it was fluffy, sweet, and moist. And we college kids were perpetually hungry.
I don’t know if she got her recipe from her grandma, mom, or a box. She guarded her secret well. Nobody cared. They just inhaled.
Ever since then, which is now too many eons ago, I’ve baked countless variations of cornbread. Some more savory, some sweeter, some more dry, some superbly moist.
After some fails, some goods, and some greats, I have a very happy stash of cornbread favorites in my collection.
I’m here to share 😊
My all time favorite cornbread is this ultra moist, tall, sweet, and corny version that I use with all the best chunky chili one can eat. Those are classic, fail proof recipes anytime I want great go-to meals.
But I do love shaking things up according to the seasons. Whether it’s haircuts or recipes, change is my constant.
That being said, I currently have a surplus of sweet potatoes because fall is like that. It makes you hoard things like potatoes and pumpkins.
Though sweet potatoes are delicious au natural, roasted straight from the oven, I’ve been finding new ways to hook them up with fall classics.
This Sweet Potato Cornbread is one of those winning combinations. It’s fluffy, moist, sweet, and glorious with melty butter soaking into the just-baked top. Melty real butter = must. 😍
We incorporate whole grains anytime we can get away with it. The use of dry creamy wheat (i.e., dry Cream of Wheat) gives this cornbread an extra moist crumb, while providing a nutritional boost.
Here’s to food so good that we still remember it eons from now.
Enjoy.
PrintSweet Potato Cornbread
Cornbread is given an extra boost of fall flavors with roasted sweet potatoes. This Sweet Potato Cornbread is nutritious and a holiday-perfect dish! Sweet potatoes can be roasted and mashed ahead of time, for ease of preparation.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 8
- Category: side
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato (yielding 1.5 cups mashed; roasting instructions below)
- 1 cup whole grain cornmeal
- 1/2 cup dry creamy wheat (i.e., Cream of Wheat)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 TB baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1/2 cup whole Greek yogurt, plain
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 TB olive oil
- 4-5 pats real butter
Instructions
- Do ahead: Wrap sweet potato in heavy foil and roast 1.5 hours at 425F in oven or toaster oven. Once it can easily be pierced with fork, it’s done. Carefully unwrap (it’s hot!) and let cool enough to handle. Mash sweet potato. Measure out 1.5 cups for use in this recipe.
- Spray a 10 inch cast iron skillet with oil and set in oven on lower middle rack. Preheat oven to 425F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, dry creamy wheat, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine mashed roasted sweet potato, eggs, yogurt, milk, and olive oil. whisk to combine well. Mixture should be smooth and thick.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold sweet potato mixture with the cornmeal mixture just until no dry streaks of flour remain. Do not over-mix.
- Place preheated/greased skillet on a heat-safe surface. Scrape batter into skillet, evening out the top into the edges. Bake 25-30 minutes or until top is puffy and golden brown. There should be cracks visible around edges of cornbread. Place cornbread on wire rack. Immediately place 4-5 pats of butter on top, letting butter melt into the cornbread. slice and serve with additional butter, if desired. Cornbread is best when served hot and fresh, while top is slightly crisp and butter has just melted into it!
Notes
Do not leave leftover cornbread in the cast iron skillet, as it will take on an iron hue and flavor. Rather, serve the cornbread immediately and quickly transfer extra slices into a separate container.
Source: Chew Out Loud
These recipes are corny, but fabulous:
- Sweet Honey Cornbread. Honey gives this cornbread a delicious flavor, and allows you to minimize the refined sugar.
2. Sweet Cornbread Muffins, Moist’ n Tender. This is my tried and true, all time favorite cornbread/muffin recipe. Just works beautifully every time.
3. Easy Skillet Tamale Pie. A simple yet delish meal in one. With cornbread, of course.
I made this for my family tonight for New Year’s Eve dinner. It was amazing and devoured by young and old. A drizzle of honey or sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and it’s almost like a dessert. I will be sharing this one for sure!!
Aww, that is super nice to hear, Michelle! Thanks so much for coming over to let us know you all loved it. So glad you’ll be sharing this recipe again 🙂 Yay! Hope you continue to find recipes you love here 🙂
Hello
Can boil the sweet potatoes instead of baking them??
Essie
Yes, Essie, you definitely can boil them instead. I roast them because I like the deep roasted flavor. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks for coming over today and hope you continue finding recipes you like here 🙂
What can you substitute for the yogurt?
Whole sour cream will work 🙂 Happy baking!
I did it and we loved it!!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
For the cream of wheat do you use regular or instant?
Good question, Jennelle… I use just the regular, 2-3 minute cooking one. Enjoy and thanks for being here today! 🙂
I made this last night and it was amazing!
I didn’t think to check for my iron skillet before throwing all of the ingredients together, and of course I couldn’t find it (probably buried in the basement somewhere), so I used two 9×5 loaf pans and only baked it for 15 min. It came out really well!
Thank you for the recipe!
Yay, so glad you liked it, Christine! 🙂 Thanks for the loaf pan info…useful for those who don’t have cast iron skillets! Thanks for taking time to come over and let us know you guys enjoyed it 🙂
I was so happy to see this because I started too, and realized my cast iron skillet is at our “home away from home”. I found I had to bake them at close to the 30 minutes though. Is that because I didn’t preheat the pans (which are pyrex)?
Outcome was delicious though!
Yes, that’s probably the reason it took longer, but so happy you guys enjoyed it 🙂 Thanks for being here today!
Yummy!! This looks amazing!
Good Morning –
Looking to make this soon – and we always have Oikos 0% Plain Greek yogurt on hand in our house, but there’s no fat in it (which is why I assume the recipe calls for whole Greek yogurt) – could I add a bit of olive oil into the recipe instead along with our fat free yogurt? I like to try and avoid buying items that I know will go uneaten outside of what the recipe calls for..
Thank you!
Sarah, I think you can definitely try that; I’d love to hear how it turns out 🙂 Enjoy, and happy fall!
Two questions: Do you use an orange sweet potato? I used white, and it’s might lighter in color than your picture. Do you prepare the cream of wheat, or simply add it dry? THANK YOU!
Meg, I use orange sweet potatoes. White ones are great, too (they’re lighter in color, but flavor is great.) I do not prepare the cream of wheat; just use it as I would cornmeal. Enjoy! 🙂
Absolutely DELICIOUS!!! I made it with sour cream, but next time I will try with yogurt. Was a bit hard for me cause I measured everything in grams, not cups and I had 3 small sweet potatoes, but I addapt the quantities in such way that came out something amazing 🙂 And I think it works really well with some ice cream on the side 🙂
Yay, sounds fantastic! So glad you all enjoyed this 🙂
Hi I couldn’t find whole wheat cornmeal. Can I substitute yellow cornmeal?