These old-fashioned Southern sweet potato biscuits are fluffy, moist, tender, and just like Grandma made them!
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If you have an abundance of sweet potatoes to enjoy this season, don’t miss our favorite sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, sweet potato casserole with pecans, this warmly-spiced sweet potato bread, or these easy mashed sweet potatoes, too!
My grandmother made sweet potato rolls when I was a child. These biscuits are incredible! Moist, a tad sweet (I’ve added a bit more sugar). Love love love!
– Lisa
An Old-Fashioned Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe
Here in Virginia, old-fashioned sweet potato biscuits date all of the way back to our founding fathers. In fact, Thomas Jefferson’s sweet potato biscuits were served at the first meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774, and are still enjoyed to this day! Pair them with country ham for a simple appetizer, snack, or breakfast; serve them alongside other roll recipes for Thanksgiving or Christmas; or add them to your bread basket at your next Sunday supper.
A Few Notes Before You Get Started
- Self-rising flour is simply flour with the baking powder and a bit of salt already added. It’s traditionally made from a softer, lower protein version of all-purpose flour, which yields tender, flaky biscuits. We prefer White Lily brand.
- If possible, use roasted, mashed sweet potatoes (instructions are included in the recipe card below). The texture of the sweet potato flesh is ideal, and they’re not too wet. That said, if you don’t have time for the added step of roasting your own potatoes, you can substitute with canned yams (drained, patted dry, and mashed) or with canned sweet potato puree.
- Use a cast iron skillet or a round cake pan. While you can bake these biscuits on a rimmed baking sheet, I find that they rise highest when tucked inside a round pan. The biscuits “climb” vertically on the sides of the pan, and don’t spread horizontally. This creates tall, fluffy sweet potato biscuits.
- Keep the ingredients COLD. It’s really important for the butter, sweet potatoes, and buttermilk to stay as cold as possible. You want those little pieces of butter to melt in the oven, releasing steam and reacting with the baking soda to form bubbles of carbon dioxide, which help the biscuits rise a mile high!
How to Make Sweet Potato Biscuits from Scratch
Detailed instructions for these sweet potato biscuits are included in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Whisk together the self-rising flour and the sugar.
- Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut in the cold butter.
- Whisk together the cold mashed sweet potatoes and buttermilk.
- Stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture. The amount of buttermilk that you need will vary, depending on the day and depending on how much moisture is in your sweet potatoes. Start with ¾ cup, and then add more if the dough feels too dry and crumbly. If the dough feels too wet and sticky, don’t worry — you can sprinkle in extra flour until you get to that firm consistency.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 4-6 times (folding it over on itself). This process will help add those flaky layers to the biscuits. Feel free to flour your hands, the countertop, and the dough itself, as necessary, to prevent sticking.
- Pat the dough to 1-inch thickness and use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter, which seals off the edges of the biscuits and prevents them from rising as high. Place the biscuits in the skillet so that they’re all touching their neighbors. This will help them “climb” in the oven so that you get that great, tall lift!
- Freeze the biscuit dough for 10-15 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Bake in a 450°F oven for 15-20 minutes. The biscuits are done when the tops are golden brown and you can see that the inside layers are cooked through — not doughy or wet. Once they come out of the oven, brush the biscuits with melted butter (for great flavor), and serve warm!
Serving Suggestions
Biscuits are a staple in many homes because they’re so versatile! Serve them on their own for breakfast with honey butter, jam, or apple butter. Add eggs on the side, or stir up a skillet of sausage gravy. In Virginia, country ham biscuits are a classic snack or meal at any time of day! For a regular family dinner, or on a Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday table, the sweet potato biscuits are delicious alongside a bourbon glazed ham, this pork roast recipe, stuffed pork chops, London broil marinade, fried shrimp, a roast chicken and vegetables, this maple Dijon chicken, easy chicken tetrazzini, smothered chicken, crock pot chicken pot pie, crockpot Brunswick stew, grilled beef tenderloin, Dutch oven pot roast, a Crock Pot turkey tenderloin, maple glazed turkey breast, slow cooker meatball stroganoff, smoked sausage pasta, beer cheese soup, or this easy red beans and rice recipe.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: While they’re best served warm, straight-from-the-oven, you can bake the biscuits up to 3 days in advance and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
- How to Reheat: warm day-old biscuits by placing them on a baking sheet in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes.
- How to Freeze: Allow the biscuits to cool to room temperature, then wrap tightly in an airtight container or Ziploc freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter overnight or in the microwave for a few seconds.
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups self-rising flour (such as White Lily brand)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, cubed and chilled
- 1 ½ cups cold mashed cooked sweet potatoes
- ¾ cup cold whole buttermilk, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon salted butter, melted
Instructions
- Lightly oil or grease a 10-inch cast iron skillet, or line with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together self-rising flour and sugar.
- Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut in the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly and some pea-size pieces of butter remain. You can also do this by grating the cold butter into the dry ingredients using the large holes on a box grater.
- In a small bowl, whisk together mashed sweet potatoes and buttermilk.
- Stir the potato mixture into the flour mixture just until the dry ingredients are moistened. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit more buttermilk. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add a bit more flour.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead 4-6 times. Press the dough to 1-inch thickness. Using a round biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut out biscuits and arrange in the cast iron skillet. Roll out the scraps once, and cut additional biscuits if necessary. Do not continue rolling and cutting or you may end up with tough biscuits.
- Place the skillet in the freezer for 10-15 minutes so that the dough can chill while you preheat the oven. Preheat oven to 450°F. Bake the biscuits until they're golden brown and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
- Brush warm biscuits with melted butter and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe Variations
- Some sweet potato biscuits include warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or cloves. You can even keep it simple with a dash of pumpkin pie spice mix.
- Omit the sugar for a savory biscuit, or add more sugar for a sweeter biscuit.
- Use canned sweet potato puree instead of the roasted, mashed sweet potatoes. Just make sure to pat it very dry before adding it to the dough.
- Add cooked, chopped bacon to the biscuit dough for a salty, smoky contrast to the sweet biscuits.
More Biscuit Recipes to Try
Flaky Biscuits
45 minutes mins
Angel Biscuits
2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Aunt Bee’s 3-Ingredient Biscuit Recipe
35 minutes mins
This recipe was originally published in October, 2021. It was updated in November, 2024.
I was so excited to make these,I had a sweet potato biscuit with country ham at a restaurant recently and wanted to try these out. Unfortunately I did something wrong, they looked beautiful, but tasted very floury, and not much other flavor. Not sure what I did wrong, if you have some advice I’d appreciate any suggestions!
Hi, Dawn! I’m sorry that they tasted floury. I’m not sure what you might have done wrong, as I’ve not encountered that issue. I wonder if you maybe used a little too much flour? If you measure the flour by scooping it directly into the measuring cups, rather than spooning and leveling, that can give you a lot more flour than you want. Other than that, it’s hard for me to know exactly what the issue might have been. 🙁
Thomas Jefferson’s chef was an enslaved man named James Hemings.
That was one of his children?
I had watched my grandmother make these biscuits so I from memory put a recipe and was going to send a recipe to a great nephew and looked up and found your information. I use a lemon juice in milk and let it sit for a little bit and it keeps the biscuits lighter.
Thanks, Martha! You’re essentially making homemade buttermilk by adding the lemon juice to the milk, so yes — that definitely helps to make the biscuits lighter. 🙂
Ok, these biscuits sound amazing and Im going to try them asap but can we talk about that bowl?! Can you tell me where you found that?
Hi, Chelsee! Love, love those bowls. They’re the pantry bowls from Farmhouse Pottery here: https://www.farmhousepottery.com/collections/bowls-serving/products/pantry-bowl?variant=4977446916
Hope you enjoy the biscuits!
If I am using gluten free flour, how much salt and baking powder do I put in? Thank you
Hi, Cindy! You can definitely make your own self-rising flour by combining all-purpose flour (or in your case, gluten-free all-purpose flour), baking powder, and salt. Everyone seems to have a different ratio to suggest, and it’s impossible for me to know exactly how much leavener and salt are in the self-rising flour that I use from White Lily. That said, I think you should be fine with any general self-rising flour recipe. Here is one: https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/help-around-the-kitchen/how-to-make-self-rising-flour#:~:text=Making%20self%2Drising%20flour%20at,glass%20jar%20and%20shake%20well. and here is another https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/homemade-self-rising-flour-recipe
Just remember that you’ll need 3 cups of self-rising flour total, so you’ll need to multiply those directions by three. Hope that helps!
My grandmother made sweet potato rolls when I was a child. These biscuits are incredible! Moist, a tad sweet (I’ve added a bit more sugar). Love love love!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them! Thank you for trying the recipe, Lisa!
Hi,
Can you tell me what size cast iron skillet you used? I have a 10″ and 12″ but am unsure which would work best.
Thanks so much — looking forward to trying this recipe!
Never mind — just found where you stated it’s a 10″ skillet!
Glad you found it! We’d love to know what you think.
Hi! We use a 10 inch skillet for this recipe. We hope you enjoy it!
Oh so good! Reminds me of my aunt Erie biscuits. I do add a bit more suga and sometime put cinnamon sugar on top. Love your site. Thanks again for sharing.