Sweet Potato Cornbread

September 16, 2019

A sweet and savory snack or side, this Sweet Potato Cornbread will easily become a staple this holiday season. This fall dish has the earthiness of cornmeal mixed with the sweetness of sweet potato for a moist and delicious healthy sweet potato cornbread loaf.

This recipe has been months in the making. In fact, I can trace its origins back to a delicious meal, C and I shared at a restaurant in early August. On the menu they had a side of sweet potato cornbread and this is when the love affair began.

By now, you all know how much I love cornbread. Each fall I relive my cornbread obsession by eating more of it than believed humanly possible. This year it began early thanks to that delicious restaurant meal we shared. But you know what the real kicker was? The menu actually featured that they were using Imperfect Produce sweet potatoes to make their sweet potato cornbread. Combining two of my favorite things (cornbread + Imperfect Produce) was easily a recipe for success.

For those you who haven’t heard me talk about Imperfect Produce, well, who are you? If you’re one of the few who hasn’t, allow me to fill you in. Imperfect Produce is a CSA-style company that is working to reduce food waste in the US by selling imperfect or ugly-looking produce direct to consumers at 30-50% of the cost of traditional grocery store produce.

Approximately half of all produce in the US never makes it to consumers because of how it looks. We as consumers are part of the problem, because we expect that our produce needs to be perfectly shaped and without bruises for it to be delicious and nutritious or because overproduction means perfectly good produce goes to waste due to a lack of demand. It’s a vicious cycle that Imperfect Produce is looking to decrease and eventually eliminate.

Each week I put in my order for a medium-organic box (yes you get to pick your produce!) and every Monday it arrives on my doorstep. I spend $30 a week on all of our produce and we get A LOT of it. Most people I know get the small box and spend between $15-$20 a week so not only are they helping to reduce food waste, but they’re making produce more affordable and accessible.

So to see a restaurant promoting a sweet potato cornbread made with Imperfect Produce sweet potatoes literally made my heart sing! I hope that it’s the beginning of a trend encouraging people to promote using ugly produce and changing the way we as consumers approach our groceries. That’s why this recipe is made with 100% ugly sweet potatoes from Imperfect Produce! With that, let’s jump into the recipe…

How to Cook Sweet Potatoes

The most important piece of this sweet potato cornbread recipe is the mashed sweet potato. Here are a few ways you can cook the sweet potato:

1. Roast them- Wrap your sweet potato in tinfoil and place in a 400 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven and open tinfoil to let cool. Scoop out flesh from skin.

2. Steam them – Peel and cut your sweet potato into large cubes and place a steamer basket in a wide, shallow pan with a lid. Fill the pan with water up to the bottom of the steamer basket. Ccover the pan and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat slightly and let the potatoes steam for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on their size.

3. Microwave them – in a pinch? Microwave your sweet potatoes! Poke them with a fork all over and place on a plate in your microwave. Cook on high for 5 minutes. Remove and check to see if fully cooked. If not, place back into microwave for 1 minute at a time until done. Scoop out flesh from skin.

Tips for Making this Sweet Potato Cornbread Recipe:

Now that we’ve cooked our sweet potato, here are a few tips for making this sweet potato cornbread recipe:

1. Looking to make this recipe gluten-free? Swap gluten-free flour for whole wheat pastry flour for a gluten-free cornbread recipe.

2. Prefer a sweeter cornbread? Mix in spices and a little extra maple syrup for a sweeter cornbread.

3. Want to make Sweet Potato Cornbread Muffins? Pour batter into a 12 cup muffin-tray and bake for 20-25 minutes instead of in the loaf pan.

4. This recipe is already a healthy sweet cornbread! No sugar added (except some maple syrup!) and is made from real and simple ingredients. Not a baker? Don’t worry. You can pull this sweet potato cornbread off!

For the full recipe…