You Can Add This Vegetable to Basically Any Baked Good

If you’re looking to incorporate more veggies into your diet, you may be focusing on how you can add them to dinner. But if you’ve got a sweet tooth, may I suggest working them into dessert, too?

I know this isn’t a new concept. Our uber-popular double chocolate zucchini bread packs in the nutrients, but tastes just like a decadent chocolate loaf cake. We’ve stuffed grated beets into chocolate beet cupcakes, and of course eaten our fair share of classic carrot cake. But a few weekends ago, I baked a batch of cinnamon rolls that featured an ingredient that totally took me my surprise: mashed sweet potato. Since then, I’ve realized how versatile the veggie can be.

The naturally sweet, super-creamy ingredient can go way beyond sweet potato pie. When peeled, cooked, and mashed, sweet potatoes are a delicious way to pack in nutrients (think: beta carotene, potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and C) to a number of fall treats. Plus, they add moisture and a nice orangey hue. Add it in place of pumpkin purée in any pumpkin recipe, use it as a healthy swap to replace some of the fat (such as butter or oil) in a recipe, or try one of our tasty suggestions below.

How to make mashed sweet potatoes: Roast a medium-sized (roughly 9-ounce) sweet potato in a 400°F oven until completely soft, 40 to 50 minutes. Strip off the skin and mash. Yields one cup.

• Sweet Potato Cinnamon Buns: The addition of mashed sweet potato makes these buns moist and fluffy. Plus, they’ll look gorgeous on any fall brunch spread.
• Sweet Potato Pancakes: These will be your new go-to pancakes all season long, thanks to warm spices, brown sugar, and, of course, sweet potato. If you want a super-quick weeknight pancake, try these two-ingredient ones made with just mashed sweet potato and eggs.
• Sweet Potato Biscuits and Maple Butter: These pretty light orange biscuits are a tasty, fall-inspired alternative to classic buttermilk. Plus, you likely have everything you need to make them.
• Morning Glory Sweet Potato Muffins: You can thank shredded sweet potato and grated apple for making these muffins so tasty and moist. They’ll hold up all week, so they’re great for meal prep.

• Savory Sweet Potato & Parmesan Muffins: We’ve nicknamed these Monday Night Muffins because they deserve a weekly spot at your dinner (yes, dinner!) table. Sweet potato, Parmesan, and fresh herbs make them decidedly savory, and a delicious accompaniment to any fall meal.
• No-Knead Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls: These beauties are soft, airy, and nearly foolproof — and just slightly sweet from the addition of sweet potato. Eat leftovers for breakfast with salted butter and honey.

• Chocolate Sweet Potato Frosting: While technically not a baked good itself, this sweet potato frosting is the ultimate dessert topper. When combined with chopped chocolate, warm puréed sweet potato transforms into a rich, spreadable frosting with less sugar than the classic.
• Sweet Potato Chocolate Brownies: Adding sweet potatoes to brownies allows you to get away with using a little less sugar and a little less butter (and you can’t taste the veggie). The same applies to blondies, too.
• Chai Sweet Potato Cupcakes: Chai and pumpkin are a complementary pair, and the spice blend works equally well with sweet potato. If you like, double up and top these with chocolate sweet potato frosting.

How else do you incorporate sweet potatoes into your baked goods?