Sweet Potato Pancakes are fluffy, easy to make and honestly taste like heaven! They have the warm spices you are familiar with like cinnamon and nutmeg along with vanilla and buttermilk to make them super fluffy with tons of flavor!
How To Make Sweet Potato Pancakes
Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here’s a quick overview:
Step One: Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Step Two: In a separate bowl, mix the mashed sweet potato, melted butter, buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract.
Step Three: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir them together until just combined. Make sure you don't over mix your batter.
Step Four: Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and add a little butter to the bottom of the pan. Scoop ⅓ cup of the pancake batter and pour into heated skillet to form small to medium size pancakes. Cook for a few minutes on the first side. Flip the pancake once the edges start to puff up and the bottoms are golden brown.
Step Five: Serve these delicious sweet potato pancakes with your favorite toppings. Pure maple syrup and chopped pecans seem to go perfectly with these. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips for Success
- Mash or blend the sweet potatoes. I usually just mash my sweet potatoes with the back of a fork or a potato masher. But if you want super smooth sweet potatoes to mix in your batter you can pull out your hand mixer and give them a quick blend.
- Use buttermilk. Buttermilk gives pancakes its fluffy airy texture. So whenever you can, I suggest using buttermilk. You can make your own by mixing 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. But you can also just use regular milk or your favorite plant based milk.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Gently combine the wet and dry ingredients, but be sure not to overmix. Overmixing will make your pancakes slightly rubbery and not as fluffy. So mix the two together until they are just combined and there are no more dry patches of flour.
- Control your temperature. Cooking your pancakes on medium to medium-low heat will make sure they cook all the way through and also give them a golden brown color. If your heat is too high, you may burn the pancakes before they’ve had a chance to cook all the way through.
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon*
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg*
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk or regular milk see tips above to make your own buttermilk
- ¼ cup melted butter slightly cooled
- 1 beaten egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 small or medium baked sweet potato cooked and cooled
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, scoop out the sweet potato filling and add to the 2nd bowl. Mash and smooth out the sweet potatoes. You can also blend the sweet potato flesh with your hand mixer for a smoother texture.
- Next add the melted butter, buttermilk, egg and vanilla to the sweet potato mixture. Stir together.
- Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
- Gently mix batter together until just combined. Be sure not to over mix! Batter should be slightly thick.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat with butter or coconut oil.
- Scoop ⅓ cup of pancake batter and add to skillet. You will be able to add 2-3 pancakes at a time depending on the size of your skillet.
- Cook a few minutes on each side. Flip once edges start to puff and bottom is golden brown. Repeat until all pancakes are cooked.
- Top with chopped pecans and maple syrup or a topping of your choice! Enjoy!
Notes
- If you are working with leftover sweet potatoes or candied yams that already have a lot of spices in it, then feel free to adjust or eliminate the cinnamon and nutmeg from the dry ingredients.
Daryl Post says
Hi Marsha,
Is there a recipe to convert the leftover "Brown Butter Mashed Sweet Potatoes" into "Sweet Potato Pancakes"? Thanks.
Marsha McDougal says
Hi Daryl, using leftover brown butter mashed sweet potatoes would taste so good! I have not tested this (but will definitely try it soon), however I would start by decreasing the measurements for the cinnamon and nutmeg in the pancake recipe. I would only add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/8 tsp nutmeg to the dry ingredients.
Deborah Davis says
Hi Marsha,
Can you use lactose free milk or evaporated milk to make the buttermilk?
Marsha says
Hi Deborah, I've used lactose free milk before and it works just fine. I'm not sure about evaporated milk.
Deborah A. Davis says
Thanks!!!
I'm going to make these next weekend for a family brunch!!!
Deborah Davis says
My family absolutely loved these pancakes! I made TWO batches and they were delicious!
I will definitely be making these again!
Annie says
Great pancakes.
Marsha says
Thank you!!😊
Linda Rosario says
Absolutely fantastic pancake recipe. Totally a game changer for making a great breakfast as well as a dessert. Truly enjoyed following the recipe, you made it easy. I liked the tip for making buttermilk when I had none. Thank you for sharing!!
Marsha says
You are so welcome! I love reading comments like yours. Thank you for sharing. I'm glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Kiana says
The first time I made these pancakes, my Hubby and I fell in LOVE!! They are so fluffy and taste AMAZING! I’ve made them about 5 times now. This will forever be my go-to recipe for pancakes! Thank you!! ❤️❤️❤️
Marsha says
This was me and my hubby's exact same reaction the first time we had them too LOL! So good! Glad you both enjoyed them. You're so welcome 🙂