Sweet potatoes are cheap and plentiful as autumn rolls around, and they're more versatile than you might realize. Sure, you still might want to candy some for your holiday table, but there's a lot more you can do with those sweet and colorful tubers. Here are the top five uses for sweet potatoes this fall.

  1. Sweet Potato Biscuits

    You don't have to be from the South to appreciate a well-made biscuit. Adding sweet potato to the dough mixture makes biscuits richer and tastier, and ups their nutritional value as well. The fastest and easiest way to make them is by preparing sweet potato drop biscuits with the help of your Vitamix machine, but the recipe is easily adaptable for rolled biscuits too. If that's what you prefer, leave out the sour cream, double the butter, and cut the butter into your flour rather than incorporating it into the wet ingredients.

  2. Rolls and Breads

    Sweet potatoes also make yeast dough moister and more flavorful. Try substituting mashed sweet potato for up to a quarter of the flour in your favorite dinner roll recipe. The dough will be softer and stickier, but the rolls will have an intriguingly golden color and deep flavor. The same substitution works to make a poppy seed braid or other festive loaf more visually striking. Even soft pretzels are tastier and more tender with sweet potato added to the dough.

  3. Sweet Potato Smoothies

    There had to be at least one smoothie in this list. The autumn sweet potato smoothie blends the cooked tuber with apple, cranberries and other seasonal flavors for a rich and mellow fall sipper. Don't stop there, though. You can use cooked sweet potato in any smoothie recipe calling for squash or pumpkin.

  4. Sweet Potato Soup

    Hot soups provide an ideal starter on chilly autumn days, and sweet potatoes make a thick, hearty soup. Some versions are simple and quick to make, while others can be exotic and chef-like. Choose one that suits your comfort level and set up your trusty Vitamix machine. As in smoothies, sweet potatoes can take the place of squash or pumpkin in any soup recipe.

  5. Sweet Potato Rösti

    Most culinary traditions call for some form of potato pancake, from latkes to hash brown patties. The Swiss version is called a rösti, a pizza-sized potato cake made in a large skillet. Substituting sweet potatoes for the regular variety makes it an even more eye-catching dish. For a 10-inch skillet, you'll need about 1 1/2 pounds of raw sweet potato, shredded coarsely. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can and transfer the shredded potatoes to a well-oiled skillet, arranging them in a patty about 1/2 inch thick. Sweet potatoes brown easily, so moderate your heat level. In about 20 minutes, it should be cooked through and beautifully golden on both sides.