How to Make Sweet Potato Cornbread With Maple Bourbon Butter

This spin on classic cast iron cornbread will definitely be a side dish you’ll keep in rotation. My sweet potato cornbread recipe is a winner especially with a schmear of maple bourbon butter!

If you’re looking for a way to jazz up cornbread, you’ve come to the right place! The sweet potatoes help to keep the cornbread nice and moist. The addition of spices to the batter makes this sweet potato cornbread perfect for the holiday season. But if you’re like me, you’ll eat this year round!

The sweet potato cornbread is great on its own, or with melted butter. But, we’re here to jazz up classic cornbread, right? Great! The maple bourbon butter pairs amazingly well with this! Maple and sweet potato are a perfect match, along with maple and bourbon. Throw all of those together, and you’ll now have the recipe your friends and family demand you make for gatherings.

A cool cooking hack for sweet potato puree

The sweet potato cornbread takes 40 minutes to make. Normally, that’s about how long it would take just for a sweet potato to cook in the oven. But, I used one of my favorite cooking hacks to put this recipe together.

Instead of cooking sweet potatoes ahead of time, I used sweet potato baby food! I go this route whenever I have a recipe that requires a small amount of a pureed fruit or vegetable that I don’t keep in the house. Since it’s also shelf stable, I can keep the baby food in the pantry for several months, versus the raw veggie spoilingwaaayyy before the baby food does. If you go the puree sweet potato route, omit a half a cup of the milk.

How to make sweet potato puree:

If you prefer to use fresh sweet potatoes, the puree can most certainly be made ahead of time:

• Peel and roughly chop a half pound of sweet potatoes
• Add to a small pot and cover the potatoes with water
• Bring the water to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when poked with a fork
• Strain the potatoes, and puree in a blender on high until smooth, for about one minute

Why should I use a cast iron skillet for my cornbread?

You don’t HAVE to use a cast iron skillet to bake your cornbread. But trust me when I say it’s definitely the better option. Using a cast iron skillet to cook your cornbread ensures it’ll cook evenly.

Preheating your cast iron before adding your batter also gives the cornbread that golden brown crust on the bottom and edges. Let’s face it…the best slice of cornbread is the edge. So baking it in a preheated cast iron gives the whole pan of cornbread that edge-piece factor.

Can I bake cornbread in something else other than a cast iron skillet?

Yes! Cast iron skillets are the better way to bake cornbread, but it isn’t mandatory.

You can use any baking dish that you have available. I would suggest using a pan that is wider than 10 inches, whether it’s a circle, square, or rectangle dish. This will ensure the cornbread still cooks evenly, and will prevent the center from being under baked.

There’s also the option to make these into sweet potato cornbread muffins! Can never go wrong with single servings of this recipe!

Regardless of which option you choose, the cornbread will take a few more minutes to bake in the oven than it would in a cast iron, since a preheated cast iron will cook it faster and more evenly.

How to make a moist cornbread

Fat is what will make or break a batch of cornbread’s moisture level.

I’ve tested out my classic skillet cornbread recipe a couple of ways…once with butter, and once with mayonnaise. Both tasted delicious, but I noticed the batch with the mayo had a different moisture level than the butter did. The cornbread batch made with butter, however, tasted better.

With my cornbread science experiment, I decided to use melted butter for my classic cornbread recipe. There is a good amount of moisture in it from the buttermilk to make up for what isn’t there like the mayonnaise batch had.

With my sweet potato cornbread recipe, there is a lot less milk. So to get that moisture back, I opted for mayonnaise. The sweet potato puree makes up for the flavor that isn’t added from the butter.

What type of milk should I use for cornbread?

Like I mentioned above, you want some type of fat in your cornbread batter. This is also a factor when it comes to the milk you’re using.

With that being said, it’s best to not use skim milk. If that’s all you have on hand, this recipe can still be made. Just keep in mind that the cornbread will be a bit drier than it should be.

The best milk to use for cornbread is whole milk or full fat buttermilk. 2% milk works well too.

How do I store leftover cornbread?

The best way to store leftover cornbread is in an airtight container in the fridge.

If you’d like, the cornbread can also be frozen for up to 3 months. If you go this route, wrap the cornbread with plastic wrap. Then place the cornbread into a Ziploc bag.

How to reheat leftover cornbread

Leftover cornbread can be reheated in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. I’d suggest covering the cornbread with a damp paper towel before reheating. It helps to add back any moisture that may have been lost due to the age of the cornbread.

Can I omit the alcohol from the maple bourbon butter?

You most certainly can!

There’s only a tablespoon and a half of bourbon in my maple bourbon butter, but it can absolutely be left out. The bourbon amount can also be reduced if you’d like.

If you get a chance to test out my sweet potato cornbread, feel free to leave me a review!

If you’re looking for a more simple cornbread recipe, check out my Southern Honey Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread! I love to add a schmear of softened butter, and a drizzle of honey!