Sweet Potato Cornbread
This subtly sweet, tender sweet potato cornbread is everything you love about the classic side with a fun Fall twist. Drizzle with butter and honey and serve with your favorite chili!
What Makes This Recipe Great
What is better than a cozy bowl of chili served with warm, crumbly cornbread? This Fall, I’m upping my chili game with a new winning side: Sweet Potato Cornbread!
This recipe features everything you love about Southern Cornbread: subtly sweet flavor, tender middle with crispy edges, complete with a festive Autumn vibe. In typical Mary’s Whole Life fashion, it combines healthier, better-for-you ingredients, but tastes just like the real thing!
Recipe Highlights
- Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Refined Sugar-Free!
- Delicious Fall flavors
- Easy, healthier recipe
- Kid-Friendly!
- Pairs well with these recipes: No Bean Chili, Classic Slow Cooker Turkey Chili, Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili, & Instant Pot Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Ingredient Notes
Canned Sweet Potato Puree: When picking a can, the only ingredients should be sweet potato without any added spices or sugar. If you prefer, you can boil fresh sweet potatoes, remove the skin, and puree them in a blender.
Almond Milk: I prefer dairy-free milk like almond milk, but you can use your milk of choice.
Pure Maple Syrup: This gives a deep flavor and sweetness without needing refined sugar!
Coconut Sugar: This sweetener bakes in a flavor similar to brown sugar which adds delicious flavor to this sweet potato cornbread.
Eggs: I have not attempted to sub the egg for chia egg, but if you want to make this vegan, you might try that. Let me know in the comments how it turns out!
Gluten-Free Cornmeal: I like Bob’s Red Mill brand!
1:1 Gluten-Free Flour: My favorite 1:1 gluten-free flour replacement is King Arthur.
Vegan Butter: You can also use ghee or regular butter, whatever works best for you!
Pantry Staples: Baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves.
Recipe Step by Step
- Spray a 10″ cast iron skillet with avocado oil and place into the oven. Preheat the oven to 425. Let the pan heat up while you prep the batter.
- Combine the sweet potato puree, almond milk, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and eggs in a bowl and whisk well.
- In a separate bowl, combine with corn meal, gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves.
- Stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir gently.
- Pour in the melted butter and continue to stir until combined and smooth.
- Carefully remove the pan from the oven using oven mits, and add the batter to the pan. Use a spatula to spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes, then slice it into 16 pieces. Enjoy!
Mary’s Tips & Tricks
Serving: This delicious cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to a variety of soups, chili, proteins, and even Thanksgiving Dinner!
Storage: Store your leftover sweet potato cornbread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Warm in the microwave and serve with your favorite butter.
Dairy: While this recipe is dairy-free as it is written, if you prefer to use dairy, you can substitute regular milk and butter if you prefer.
Vegan: Unfortunately, this sweet potato cornbread recipe is not vegan because it does contain eggs. I haven’t tried this recipe with chia eggs, but if you do use an egg substitution, please let me know in the comments!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! I recommend wrapping leftovers in plastic wrap, then storing it in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw before serving.
You can top it with butter, honey butter, plain honey, crushed pecans, or a mix of all of these! You can also just serve it plain. It’s delicious any way you serve it!
Insert a toothpick into the center of the cornbread. If it comes out clean, it is done! If the toothpick doesn’t come out clean, but the edges are getting too dark, drape a layer of foil over the pan to keep it from browning further on top.
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned sweet potato puree, Only ingredients should be sweet potato!
- ¾ cup almond milk, or milk of choice
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¼ cups gluten free cornmeal, I like Bob's Red Mill brand!
- 1 cup 1:1 gluten free flour , I like King Arthur brand
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 3 tbsp vegan butter or ghee, or regular butter, whatever works best for you!
Equipment
Instructions
- Spray a 10" cast iron skillet with avocado oil and place into the oven. Preheat the oven to 425. Let the pan heat up while you prep the batter.
- Combine the sweet potato puree, almond milk, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and eggs in a bowl and whisk well.
- In a separate bowl, combine with corn meal, gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves.
- Stir to combine.Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir gently.
- Pour in the melted butter and continue to stir until combined and smooth.
- Carefully remove the pan from the oven using mits, and add the batter to the pan. Use a spatula to spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let it cool for 15-20 minutes, then slice into 16 pieces. Enjoy!
20 Comments on “Sweet Potato Cornbread”
Can you use almond flour instead of regular gf flour?
Hi! I haven’t tested it so can’t be sure, but I think it should work!
This was so fantastic! I was nervous to try it as I’ve been trying to cook healthier foods for my family and sometimes they are resistant and don’t like my new recipes (especially if they know I’ve tried something new). Our whole family raved over this recipe. I never even told them it was gluten free. I opted to use just pumpkin pie spice as I had some I felt needed to be used up. I used 1.5 tsp. The flavor is delicious. The cornbread was moist inside and perfectly crusty on the outside. I can’t wait to make this again. Thanks, Mary! Your recipes are never disappointing! I’ve shared your website/cookbook with so many friends!
Thank you Angie!! I appreciate you!
I had this for thanksgiving this year and wow was it a hit! I had extra puréed sweet potatoes so I gave it a whirl. I used vegan butter. So I made it dairy free and gluten free. My family LOVED it. It is going to be a thanksgiving/fall staple.
Thank you Valerie, so glad you all enjoyed it!
Ver my delicious! We don’t have any allergies in our family but still enjoyed very much with some honey butter on top. Nice fall twist and came out great!
Yay! Thanks Nicole!
This is so good! Big and fluffy, warm winter spices. Perfect compliment to chili. Thank you, Mary!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!
This was so good, a new family favorite! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour. We slathered our pieces with homemade apple butter and ate this alongside instant pot vegetable soup! Delicious!
That sounds amazing! Thank you Diana!!
This sweet potato cornbread is INCREDIBLE! So easy & delicious and will definitely be on repeat all fall/winter. Would even be good with a cup of coffee in the morning!
Thanks Kate! So glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent! I made it in a glass pie plate and it was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it, Denise!
This cornbread recipe is delicious! I did use 2 gelatin eggs in place of the 2 real eggs and it turned out wonderfully. Thanks for having such yummy content. 😋
Thanks Deb – great to know it worked without real eggs for those that can’t have them!
I made this tonight with turkey chili and it was fantastic.
Thank you Melissa!