Sweet Potato Pancakes
Elevate your homemade pancake game with Sweet Potato Pancakes. These easy-to-make pancakes include sweet potato puree in their batter and are fun to make for weekend brunch! Learn how to make the best homemade pancakes, too. Makes 12 pancakes.
Want some recipes to serve along with these pancakes? Make Double Chocolate Pancakes for the chocolate pancake lovers; toss a Brunch Salad with sausage and kale for some hearty savory flavors and mix Blended Mimosas to finish breakfast strong!
This recipe originally appeared on My Cooking Spot, where I was a contributor.
These sweet potato pancakes are an oldie, but a goodie.
When I was training for a marathon in 2014, I began eating a lot more sweet potatoes. Because I’m allergic to bananas, I needed more potassium, and sweet potatoes are packed full of it!
So I began adding sweet potatoes to my diet.
These Sweet Potato Pancakes were one of my favorites, and I actually ate them the day before my marathon as my final meal in Dallas.
They stand up through the years, and we recently introduced our girls to these special pancakes with resounding success!
Other pancake recipes our whole family adores: Blueberry Breakfast Sausage Pancakes / Peanut Butter Pancakes with Raspberry Preserves Syrup / Strawberry Dark Chocolate Pancakes / Double Chocolate Pancakes / Red Velvet Pancakes / Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup
Need some more breakfast inspiration? Check out my Breakfast Recipe Index!
Tools you’ll need to make Sweet Potato Pancakes
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- Food processor to make the sweet potato puree
- Large Stoneware Bowl to mix the pancake batter in
- Liquid measuring cup to measure and mix the wet ingredients with
- Rubber spatula to combine the ingredients
- Cast iron grill/griddle to cook the pancakes on
- 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the pancakes onto the griddle
How to make Homemade Sweet Potato Pancakes
Make the Sweet Potato Puree
Scrub 1-2 sweet potatoes, depending on size, and poke a few holes in them with a fork. This will ensure they don’t explode as they cook from the steam inside them.
Cook for 6-8 minutes in the microwave on a plate or bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes, or until soft.
When the sweet potatoes are completely cooked through, let cool before peeling the skin off and blending in a food processor.
Make the Sweet Potato Pancakes
Combine the the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk ’em together and set aside.
In a smaller bowl or a large liquid measuring cup, measure out the milk, egg, vanilla extract, oil and maple syrup. Add the sweet potato puree, too, and combine ’em with a whisk or a fork. This mixture will be a little lumpy and very thick, so do not fret.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then slowly stir them together with a rubber spatula. Mix until just combine. Do fretting over the thickness of the batter or if there are lumps.
It’s very important when making pancakes to know that you do not need to overmix, as the pancakes will lose some of their fluff if you continue stirring until the batter is smooth.
Set the pancake batter aside, and heat the griddle or your nonstick skillet over medium heat. As the griddle heats, spritz it with some nonstick cooking spray or brush butter or oil onto the surface to ensure that the pancakes won’t stick. You might have to reapply as your pancakes cook.
When the griddle is hot, use a cookie scoop or a measuring spoon to dollop out the batter. If it’s quite thick, smooth it down immediately with a butter knife to make a rounder, easier-to-flip pancake. (Also, if they are super thick, you run the risk of the middles not being cooked through when the outside is nearly charred.)
Sprinkle a few chopped pecans over the batter.
When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes, flip them and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until the other side has browned. Do not press down after you flip them, as this will deflate your pancakes.
Once the pancakes are cooked through, transfer them to a plate and serve with syrup. Enjoy!
Erin’s Tips for Making Pancakes with Your Kids
We make pancakes every weekend in our house, so we’ve got a good system down by this point… but that wasn’t always the case. Here are some of our tried-and-true tips and tricks to getting good pancakes every time.
- Make the sweet potato puree ahead of time. If you know you’re going to amke these pancakes in the morning, do yourself a favor and steam the sweet potatoes, then blend ’em up the night before. That way, they’re not scorching hot.
- Let your little ones do the measuring and mixing… up to a point. Overmixed pancakes are no good, but my littles adore stirring and measuring. Depending on the age(s) of your child(ren), you can divvy up the tasks, and let them have a job.
- Parents man the griddle… unless your kids are older. We let our girls measure, mix and monitor the pancakes on the griddle, but they don’t have flipping privileges yet. We don’t want to run the risk of them getting burned on the stovetop.
As always, every child is different, so let your kids do what they are capable of in the kitchen (and what you’re OK with them doing, since everyone has a different threshold.)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I ensure my pancakes are super fluffy? Don’t overmix the batter, and do not, whatever you do, press down on the pancakes once you’ve flipped them. This will deflate them.
How do I know when to flip my pancakes? Look for the air bubbles that will show up in the batter as the pancakes cook. The caveat is that if the batter is super thick and stacked high, you won’t see these bubbles for a while, so be sure to smooth down the batter to the griddle with a butter knife after you dollop the pancake on.
Can I double this recipe? Yes! Put your math skills to work because this recipe can be easily doubled or tripled for a crowd if you’re hosting brunch or family for breakfast.
Can I make these pancakes VEGAN? Yes, you can. Swap the egg for 2 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce, and you’re gold. The batter will be a little sweeter because of this, but it’s not a bad thing. (How do I know this? We’ve had instances where we haven’t had eggs, and this has worked for us.)
What else can I make with sweet potato puree? Vegan Sweet Potato Sage Olive Oil Biscuits, Sweet Potato Sugar Cookies with Fluffy Marshmallow Icing and Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole are all brilliant ways to use sweet potato puree if you make extra!
Substitutions you can make to these pancakes:
- If you have no sensitivity to dairy or have a nut allergy, you can use the same amount of cow’s milk in these pancakes.
- Not a fan of pecans? Leave them out or substitute another nut instead!
- Substitute tablespoon of granulated sugar or honey instead of maple syrup.
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup sweet potato puree
- ¾ cup unsweetened cashew milk or regular milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or another flavorless oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ cup pecans chopped
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Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk together before setting aside.
- In a smaller bowl or in a large liquid measuring cup, combine the sweet potato puree, milk, egg, vanilla extract, oil and maple syrup. Whisk until smooth. (You may use a fork to mix them together if that's easier.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Slowly stir together with a rubber spatula, mixing until just combined. (It's OK if there are lumps!) Do not overmix, as the pancakes will not be as fluffy if you do.
- Heat a griddle over medium heat on the stove. Spray with nonstick cooking spray or brush a little butter or oil over it to grease it. This will ensure the pancakes don't stick.
- Once pan has warmed, pour the batter into silver dollar sized pancakes. Sprinkle a few chopped pecans over the formed batter.
- Cook until bubbles appear on the surfaces of the pancakes, then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until the other side has browned and the pancakes have cooked through.
- Using a spatula, transfer the pancakes off the heat to your plate. Serve warm with syrup, and enjoy!
Notes
- If you have no sensitivity to dairy or have a nut allergy, using the same amount of cow's milk is perfectly acceptable in these pancakes.
- Not a fan of pecans? Leave them out or substitute another nut instead!
- No maple syrup? Use a tablespoon of granulated sugar or honey instead.
Nutrition
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The photos and recipe for these pancakes were originally published on August 25, 2014. The photographs, along with the text of this blog post, were updated on February 10, 2020.
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
Sweet potatoes are on my top 5 favorite food list. I will definitely be trying these!
Are we not supposed to eat sweet potatoes in the summer time??! I eat them allll the time and there’s no stopping me. Especially not when they’re in pancake form!