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This sweet potato cornbread is tender and fluffy with a bright orange color that comes from sweet potatoes and Mexican blend cheese. The recipe is super simple and you can serve this cornbread with everything from chilis and soup, to your favorite steak dinner.

A pile of sweet potato cornbread slices on a plate.

Table of Contents

Why You’ll Love This Sweet Potato Cornbread Recipe
Ingredient Notes
How to Make Sweet Potato Cornbread
What Goes With Sweet Potato Cornbread?
How to Store & Reheat
More Cornbread Recipes
Get the Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Sweet Potato Cornbread Recipe

Fluffy. Every bite of this cornbread is tender and fluffy. The sweet potato adds a bit of moisture to the cornbread, which means you won’t have to worry about dried out slices.
Flavorful. This sweet potato cornbread has a touch of sweetness thanks to the potatoes and some white sugar. Tangy buttermilk and sour cream offset this sweetness for the perfect balance of flavors.
Easy. There is nothing complicated about this recipe. Just cut up some sweet potato, cook until tender, then mash the potatoes and add your cornbread ingredients.
Flexible. Cornbread is a simple way to round out a meal and can be served with everything from scrambled eggs, to steak or soup. Whatever is on the menu, add this cornbread. 🙂

Ingredients for sweet potato cornbread in small bowls.

Ingredient Notes

Here is a quick look at what you’ll need to make this sweet potato cornbread, along with my notes. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for specific amounts.

Sweet potatoes – Peeled and diced. Make sure you weigh them to get the correct amount of potato. I weighed the potatoes before they were diced.
Unsalted butter
Dry ingredients – Yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
White sugar – You could also use light brown sugar.
Eggs – Large eggs.
Sour cream – Plain full-fat yogurt would also work.
Buttermilk – If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make some by combining regular milk with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.
Mexican blend cheese – I used Sargento brand. If you can’t find it, you can use cheddar cheese.

How to Make Sweet Potato Cornbread

Here’s a quick look at how to make this cornbread recipe start-to-finish. Scroll down to the recipe card for more details and to print out the recipe.

Prep your tools. Preheat your oven to 400F. Oil a 9×13 glass baking dish with PAM and set aside.

Diced sweet potato in a pot. — Dice and cook the sweet potato.

Mashing cooked sweet potatoes with butter. — Dice and cook the sweet potato.

Cook the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Mix and set aside.
Mash the potatoes. Place the cooked potatoes in a large bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and mash until you have a mashed potato consistency. Let the potatoes cool for about 5 minutes (this way they are not too hot when you add the other ingredients).

Add eggs to cornbread batter. — Add wet ingredients.

Mixing dry ingredients into the cornbread batter. — Add wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients. Once the potatoes have cooled, add the eggs, sour cream and milk. Stir well to combine.
Add dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the mashed potato mixture and stir until no dry bits of batter are visible.

Mixing cheese into cornbread batter. — Mix in cheese.

Cornbread batter in a 9x13 baking dish. — Mix in cheese.

Mix in cheese. Add the cheese and mix it in until just combined.
Bake. Spoon the batter into your prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cornbread has puffed, is golden and slightly cracked.
Test for doneness. Insert a toothpick into the middle of the bread to make sure it comes out clean. If it does not and the bread is already golden, loosely cover it with aluminum foil and bake for another 5 minutes until the cornbread has finished baking.

Close up of a slice of cornbread with butter on it.

What Goes With Sweet Potato Cornbread?

We love serving cornbread with soups and chilis, especially this butternut squash chili or this creamy vegetable soup. Cornbread also goes well with pretty much any main dish. I recommend coulotte steak or Mississippi Chicken with a side of buttermilk mashed potatoes.

How to Store & Reheat

Counter: Let your cornbread cool completely, then cover the pan with saran wrap and store on the counter for up to 4 days. You can also store individual slices in airtight containers.
Freezer: Cut the cooled cornbread into slices, then wrap each slice in saran wrap. Store in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter before enjoying.
To reheat: You don’t have to reheat cornbread to eat it. But if you want to, the easiest way is to just zap single slices in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds.

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