This sweet potato hash browns recipe creates crispy, crunchy rounds that are perfect for breakfast or brunch. Thanks to sweet potatoes, they're lighter and more flavorful than regular hash browns.
These hash browns are an ideal side for gluten free waffles or something lighter like a smoothie bowl! And bonus! They’re savory, so they could even double as a side for dinner.
Any mention of “hash browns” brings to mind a clear image for me: a Waffle House with sticky counters and greasy floors, Garth Brooks playing on the old jukebox, and me reaching for the salt and smacking the sides of a Heinz 57 bottle to drown the saturated, starchy potatoes in some kind of flavor.
But sweet potato hash browns? Throw all preconceived notions out the window. Sweet potatoes are naturally better than their lackluster tuber cousins. Higher in vitamins and minerals and brimming with fiber and flavor, they offer an alternative that can't be beat.
Waffle House memories offer a glimpse into my early years, shortly after my parents bought a bowling alley. The days were long and the nights were longer. Factory and homemaker leagues filled the mornings and the nights consisted of more full leagues and open bowling on the weekends.
Sometimes my brother and I got to stick around while the grown-ups cleaned and counted down the drawers. On the good nights and on the late nights, I remember a group of special people who stuck around after close. They had bowled, worked, and helped clean so that everyone could leave earlier and get to "breakfast."
Those days seem so far gone but still so fresh in my memory. The people have changed, the bowling alley has changed, the economy has changed, our bowlers have changed, and our lives have changed.
For me, whether they're regular or sweet, hash browns will always bring to mind memories of happy, late nights. As young as I was, I knew that other kids were not so lucky. They were fast asleep in their superhero and princess-themed sheets, ready to be well-rested for another day at school. But Jacob and I? We were hearing real-life stories from the day's events and being exposed to a world unknown to most kids our age. Whether for better or for worse, we got a serving of reality along with our belgian waffles and scrambled eggs.
Clark and I enjoyed these hash browns á la carte before we headed out to explore Cobble Hill in Brooklyn one Saturday afternoon. Each crispy bite reminded me of those late nights at Waffle House. After the recipe was shot and the hash browns were gone, we had plenty of energy to last us the rest of the day.
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Sweet Potato Hash Browns
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
Hash browns made healthier with sweet potatoes. They're crispy and crunchy and perfect for breakfast & brunch.
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes [peeled and shredded]
- ¼ c. sweet white onion [chopped]
- 4 garlic cloves [minced]
- 1 ½ Tbsp. olive oil
- ¼ c. gluten-free flour (Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 is a good option)
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- ½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Wash and peel sweet potatoes, then shred them. Using a colander, rinse the sweet potatoes until the water runs mostly clear. Squeeze the rinsed potatoes to remove excess water and empty them into a medium bowl.
- Add onion, flour, garlic, salt, pepper, and 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil to the sweet potatoes and mix everything well.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil or coconut oil to a cast iron or regular skillet and heat on medium-high. Test the pan by tossing in a couple of sweet potato shreds — if it crackles, the pan is ready. Use a ¼ cup to measure the sweet potato into the pan and then use a spatula to flatten them out.
- Cook for 3 minutes, then flip and cook for 2 more. You may need to vary the cooking time depending on your skillet and stove. Golden to medium brown and crispy is what you’re going for.
- As you finish the patties, remove them from the skillet and allow them to cool for a few minutes on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Breakfast
Keywords: breakfast, sweet potatoes, vegetarian, healthy, brunch, gluten free
Didn't work all that well for me. I think I'm a reasonable cook. I grated Japanese yams with my food processor grating disc and rinsed the shredded yams until the water ran clear. I squeezed handfuls of the rinsed yams to remove water. I used rice flour for the gluten free flour. I have a round/flat probe Thermoworks thermometer I use to measure frying pan temperature, and proceeded to fry when my cast iron skillet reached 350 F. I used 1/4 cup portions of shredded yams for the first round, which ended up pallid and sodden with oil. Not wanting to end my effort there, I cleaned out the skillet, added a tablespoon of oil, heated to 350 F again, and added the remaining yams. After 3 minutes browning was good, I flipped them and continued cooking. A formidable brown crust formed on the bottom of my skillet that proved impervious to all scraping devices at my disposal. The end result was meh. However, there is a special place in culinary hell for those associated with messing up the seasoning of a cast iron skillet... Perhaps this recipe should better describe how to remove water from the shredded potatoes/yams!? Having a precise measure for the volume or better yet, weight, of the shredded yams would also have been good. I noted the recipe's author suggested 2.5 cups in a comment.
★★
Hi there! Thank you so much for your feedback – I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. I haven't tried the recipe with Japanese yams before, just your regular garnet or jewel sweet potatoes. It's definitely important to remove as much excess water as possible using cheesecloth or something similar. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong but I plan to test this recipe again in April to sort out any kinks.
These were amazing
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed!
I just tried this recipe. I found it while looking for sweet potato hashbrown recipes Pinterest is full of them but they don't look appetizing. So I asked google and struck gold, this recipe is quick easy and is aesthetically pleasing. also the first recipe (answer) in the search. I just wanted to point a few things out as a person who is re-entering the healthy eating world. I googled "what is gluten-free flour made of ? " this what google says:
1. They might contain rice flour, teff flour, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, garbanzo flour or buckwheat flour – just to name a few of the many options that could be a foundation for a gluten-free flour blend. These flours could also contain nut flours,
made from very finely ground almonds or other nuts.
I was still a little confused so I googled "does gluten-free flour have coconut flour in it ?" this is what Google says:
2. Coconut flour is denser in many nutrients than traditional grain-based flours. It is also naturally gluten-free, so if you're on a gluten-free diet by necessity or choice, you can enjoy it. Coconut flour is fairly high in protein, fiber and fat, and relatively low in carbohydrates by comparison to other flours.
In conclusion: This recipe calls for gluten-free flour, I'm not going to give the oil comment the dignity of a response I believe when someone takes time out of their life to share something good with the rest of us they should be praised and appreciated. These SP hashbrowns turned out perfectly, as a matter of fact, I attempted SP hashbrowns yesterday without guidance and what I got was crispy SP straws a pinch of cinnamon sugar saved them because otherwise... blah.
Thanks for your help Loves and Scout
Thank you for the thorough comment! We use a pretty standard 1-to-1 gluten free flour mix – Bob's Red Mill works great for this. I'm so glad the recipe turned out good for you and you enjoyed it!
Fantastic, my 13 year old daughter loved it
★★★★★
Awesome! I'm so glad she enjoyed. Thanks for commenting!
Can Imuse yams instead of sweet spuds?
I've made this recipe TWICE this week. It's just that good.
I added some carrots to the blend this morning and it kicked the sweetness up even more (but in a different way than the sweet potatoes).
★★★★★
Look at you go! I've never thought to add carrots – so clever!
I used almond flour & olive oil
I don't what i did wrong but it did bind the way the picture looked. What could I have done wrong?
Hmmm... that's hard to say for sure. My guess would be that you didn't squeeze them out enough/remove enough of the excess water.
I used coconut oil in the mix and in frying. And replaced onion for fennel. No garlic.
Awesome
I'm wondering approximately how much sweet potato I should have after grating? I'm looking at this pile and thinking my 'medium' sweet potatoes may be gigantic to others.
Or should I adjust other ingredients to get everything well coated?
I generally wind up with 2 to 2 1/2 cups of grated sweet potato. The next time I make this recipe, I'll quantify that. Sorry!
Delicious with turkey sausage and an egg. Better than going to a restaurant! Used buckwheat flour and no rinsing and they stayed together nicely.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed! I agree – sometimes brunch at home is way better. :)
Just made them now. Changed the original recipe a bit though. Added 2 eggs, scallions and 2 handfuls of grated cheese, used plain flour and skipped the garlic. Made them in my waffle maker. Turned out delicious. Would like to know if rinsing grated potatos is necessary? I found that bit time consuming and annoying
Thanks
★★★★★
Wow! You made lots of changes – I'm glad they turned out good for you! I found that rinsing helped the potatoes bind together better, but I know some people have skipped this step.
Made these this morning and they were amazing! I did add an egg as some other reviewers had suggested, and I had no issues with binding. I used 2Tbs BRM (Bob’s Red Mill) Paleo Flour and 2Tbs BRM 1:1 Baking Flour. I sautéed my onions and garlic a bit before adding to the sweet potato mixture, just based on personal preference. I pressed the mixture into my 1/4c measuring cup, which made a nice disc, then pressed them out flatter with a spatula in the pan as they were cooking. I used avocado oil to fry them in. They came out looking so beautiful, just like your picture. I topped them with some fried eggs and hot sauce, with bacon on the side - delicious! Wish I would have remembered to top with some sour cream too, but I’ll try that with the leftovers tomorrow. Now I wonder what these would be like if you added other shredded produce in with the sweet potatoes... like zucchini or apples or carrots. Will try that modification soon. Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
Can I prepare these the night before? ( As in, do everything, except for frying?)
Thanks!
AhhhhhhhMazing!!! I followed the directions to a ‘T’ Thanks for sharing this recipe with us!!
★★★★★
Can't wait to try this! Do you think this would freeze or keep in a best way if I was to prep it for the week?
Great question... I've never tried freezing! I would recommend just refrigerating and reheating in a skillet or the oven.
This is the first recipe I’ve tried from y’all and it is Delicious! I am gluten and nightshade intolerant so these satisfied my craving for hash browns without compromising anything. I made the first batch to recipe, but added dried rosemary and a little grated sharp cheddar cheese to the next batch. Both were amazing. My 11 yo twins ate and asked for more. Def a winner and will become a standby in my recipe arsenal. Thank you
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed these hash browns! I love the idea of adding herbs and cheese... I'll have to try that.
These were wonderful! So glad I found this recipe. My 1 year old loves hash browns but cannot have regular potatoes anymore. With all of his allergies, I usually have to modify recipes, but not this one! I think I will try coconut oil instead of olive oil next time. I used sweet potato flour and made them very small so I yielded plenty for the week. Thanks for the awesome... and easy recipe!
★★★★★
Just made these for lunch. OMG. So easy, so simple, so delicious. Topped with poached eggs from our backyard hens. Wonderful!
★★★★★
Yay, Lindsay! So glad to hear that you liked these hash browns – they are amazing. Jealous of your backyard egg hookup lol.
I made these for dinner tonight and tweaked them in a few ways- I added 2 scrambled eggs to help them stick together and cooked the garlic first (I have kids who are sensitive to uncooked garlic so wanted to be safe). Delicious and kiddo approved (my 2 year old asked for 3!). I will definitely make these again, but cut the salt in half, they were a little too salty for us.
Thanks for letting me know about the changes you made! Glad your kids liked them!
Great recipe thank you......I didnt follow exactly as I didnt have gluten free flour on hand but they turned out fine.....
I noticed a few comments with difficulty when flipping......before I put mine in the pan I took finger fulls (if thats a word ) and scrunched them so they stuck together slightly then added them to the pan and pressed them with an egg flip once I turned them it was simple everything stuck together.......hope that helps x
Had a bowl of sweet potatoes and hungry for breakfast. I didn't have sweet onion so I used red onion. I used reg flour. Result: Oh My! So freaking good! Thanks for this great recipe!
★★★★★
So dissapointed! Do not use coconut flour. TRY CAULIFLOWER hash browns, THE BOMB! The FAT needed in this recipe will KILL YOU! Great picture though. YOU FOOLED ME!
I've made this recipe dozens of times with perfect results. Judging by the other comments on this recipe, it seems that plenty of others have tried it with success, too. You'll find that life is much more pleasant when you stop blaming others for your own shortcomings. Have a wonderful day!
The taste was lovely but the coconut flour left the shreds tasting a bit grainy.
★★★
The fat used are healthy fats which will only benefit your health.
The fats used in this recipe will certainly not kill you. Your negative attitude might, though.
Both olive oil and coconut oil are very good for you. Do your research before you nonsense spews from your mouth. Have a nice day
Correct. Both oils are good for you.
These hashbrowns were absolutely delicious!!! They came out perfectly...thank you!! I fried up enough for one meal for myself and am putting the rest in the frig to have an awesome breakfast for the next few days...if I can wait till breakfast tomorrow! ;)
I tried these with almond flour and they were heavenly! Tried with oat but liked texture of almond better. Thanks for the awesome recipe!! Love it!!
Hi I love the recipe, however when I flip my hash browns they tend to break apart please help!
Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that! My guess is that your hash browns may be a bit dry? Try adding a bit more olive oil to the mixture (1/2 - 1 Tablespoon) And make sure the skillet is hot enough to start sizzling when you place your hash browns in. Flipping is definitely a tricky part of the process. I hope this helps!
yes these are awesome. either add a little more oil, or i usually beat an egg in with them too. That helps.
Next up - sweet potato tater tots.
★★★★★
Awesome! I always like to hear what changes people make!
This recipe was delicious - I made it for the first time tonight. Mine didn't stay bound together in nice looking patties like in your pictures. Do you have any hints as to where I didn't follow instructions close enough? Would that have meant I didn't squeeze out enough water? Didn't use enough flour? Or maybe it's something else I'm not thinking of...? Even if they didn't look as pretty the flavor was amazing and I can't wait to try the recipe again!
Hi Danielle! Hmmm... my guess is that you probably could've removed more of the water. And then, once you scoop the mixture into the pan and flatten, be sure not to make them too thin. Push the edges in to keep it all nicely together. There is definitely some technique involved with this recipe and it sounds like you got them close! I bet they'll be even better next time. :D
I'm wondering if adding an egg would help to bind the mixture. Just a thought. I'm so anxious to try this recipe but I'm in bed already. Just saw it. Also I only have frozen sweet potatoes. I'm unsure if that would result in same quality of hash browns
I was thinking the same thing - maybe egg white (?), for binding...
It seems like several people have had issues with binding... I will retest this recipe with egg and see how it goes!
Mine fell apart so I thought an egg might help too. I just stir fried it and it still tasted awesome.
Interesting. I'm glad they still turned out tasty even though they fell apart!
It is the starch in the shredded potatoes that helps hold them together once fried. Skip the rinsing step as it washes away the starch. Just shred the potatoes, blot the excess water, mix and fry. This will help keep the patties from falling apart when flipping.
★★★★
great hashbrowns, add greens on top, eggs on top of that,adda side of baking powder biscuts
don't forget the a little hot sauce and stand back ,enjoy!!!!!!!
★★★★
My rating was 5, not 4 stars - not sure what happened ...
Excellent - highly recommend ! Over easy egg on top, sliced avocado on side - great breakfast for supper tonight
★★★★
Thanks for letting us know! So glad you enjoyed these. :) Yes – they are perfect for reheating, too!
Followed recipe as described and worked perfectly. Great to discover a new addition to our 'treat' breakfast. Thanks de posting :)
★★★★★
Hi Jan –
I'm glad to hear you liked the hash browns! They're perfect for special breakfasts. :)
This sounds amazing! Will make for breakfast on Friday as we are doing a colon cleanse and do not eat anything white or grains.....lots of almond/coconut flour and all things coconut.
Have 5 dozen very fresh farm free range eggs to use.
Thank you. Love the blog and all information you provide.
Elizabeth
★★★★★
Made these for breakfast today and loved them, thank you for the recipe!
I used buckwheat flour and as someone above mentioned, the mixture didn't bind in the bowl at all. However! I squished my mixture into my 1/4 cup measurer to make 4 little patties and just kept squishing them back together in the pan. It worked a treat and they were heavenly :)
Glad to find a recipe for sweet potato cakes/hash browns that doesn't include an egg as I like mine on top!
★★★★★
Hi Jess –
Thanks for letting us know! I'm so glad you liked them. :) I'm with you – an egg on top makes everything better!
Any idea of how many calories are in one? Can't wait to make them!
Best food blog ever- so happy I found you!
Hi Jordan & Clark,
To make my weekday mornings easier, i've been making "Make Ahead Healthy Egg McMuffin Copycats" from The Yummy Life . I use a "sandwich thin" for them, and, no matter how late i am, i can grab one and be out the door in 2 minutes.
Your Sweet Potato Hash Browns will be a perfect go-with, and lunch won't seem so far off. I'm going to try baking them in the whoopie pans, too. This recipe has my mouth watering -- and i surely do love sweet potatoes?! Thank you!!!
★★★★
That sounds like a fantastic breakfast – what a feast! These hash browns will definitely go perfect with an egg "mcmuffin." Enjoy, and happy breakfasting!
looking delicious. Never cooked, but surely gonna try this. Thanks for elaborating everything in detail.
This recipe is absolutely fantastic. The hash browns were simply divine! I added 1/2 cup of spinach to the mix and used sweet potato flour. Thanks so much for posting.
Hi Nakita –
Thanks so much for your feedback! I'm so glad you loved the hash browns – I love the idea of adding spinach. My fridge is crammed with garden chard right now and that sounds like a great solution!
Delicious! I mixed the ingredients together well, then made round cakes by forming them by hand and flattening a bit. The thinner they are, the crispier. Since they resembled mini potato pancakes I added a little sour cream to the top. Hubby and I both loved them. It takes some time to prepare but it was worth it.
This sounds soooooo good ! About how many hash browns will this recipe yield ? And also , i plan to make these ahead of time so i can eat them throughtout the week ... best way to reheat ?
Hi Rain –
This recipe makes about 6-8 hash browns, depending on the size of your potatoes and how large you make the hash browns. I haven't tried to reheat them, but I would recommend using the oven at 400º to keep them crispy. Just watch them for burning at that temperature – it should only take a few minutes to heat them back up!
Why is there a novella before the recipe? Do I have to read it every time I make them? - Sincerely, A Fuck Face
★★★
Hi "A Fuck Face" –
Luckily, there's no one holding a gun to your head to require you to read the blog post that accompanies my recipe. Since you seem to be unaware of what a blog is, you're more than welcome to seek out recipes from elsewhere in the future. Perhaps marthastewart.com or pauladeen.com would be more suited to your tastes.
Sincerely,
The Fitchen's Novellista-in-Chief
I think this was the only blog I read completely thru. It was so interesting. I usually skip to the recipe which is usually in a box at the bottom. Trolls....
Making this this am. Debating on adding an egg or swapping coconut flour. Could do Noth I suppose and leave the amt of coconut flour the same.
Hi Arleen – Thanks for reading and for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the post. :) I hope you love these hash browns!
I wouldn’t sub coconut flour because it will prob burn and it sucks up fat. It would prob be better to just skip the flour if you don’t have a gf one on hand. Hope this helps.
Take care,
Long-time gf home cook
these were amazing! had them with grilled chicken as a side dish. Will be making often!
★★★★★
Hi Lindsay –
Love how you paired the hash browns with chicken! What a smart side dish. I usually only think of having hash browns for breakfast but hey, why not have them for dinner?!
Wow! I used coconut flour and coconut oil instead of olive oil. Just threw it all in a big cast iron pan and fried it up together. This was so delicious! The garlic cloves in this were perfect.
Awesome! Glad to know those changes still worked. Totally agree – these hash browns are the bomb! Thanks for letting us know. :)
Excellent! I was wondering if coconut flour would work, going to make a batch and freeze some!
These are so great with an over easy egg on top. The yolk and the sweet potato taste so good together.
Mmmm… doesn't everything go better with an over-easy egg on top?? That's my latest addiction. I must try it with these hash browns now!
Yummm these worked perfectly for me. I quartered the recipe cuz it was just for me. I used rice flour. Perfectly crispy on the outside and mushy (but cooked) on the inside.
But lesson learned to make them small enough to flip!! Haha
Just the way a hash brown should be! Glad you enjoyed them. :)
I will be trying this in a few days! Great idea and alternative to regular hash browns!
We love these so much better than regular -- perfect alongside eggs and turkey bacon or even waffles!
These are great, my only issue is that you didnt really specify how big the potatoes had to be and i used enourmous ones, meaning i had to improvise in order to get it to bind.
Also friendly suggestion! I added cashew, brazil nut and almond paste and lemon pepper to mine for a bit of something different and its great!
I followed the recipe to a T but unfortunately, these sounded yummy but they didn't work for me. I think they need something to bind them together - maybe a flax egg? How are they supposed to stick together?
I'm sorry they didn't work out for you! The flour and oil does a great job of keeping them held together for us. You could definitely try a flax egg to see if that helps! These definitely don't come out looking like a solid, round potato hash brown [not like McDonald's, for sure!]. They end up a bit more rough-looking.
Iv just tried these I halved the recipe but as I'm from the UK I just estimated what looked right as we don't use cups so I think iv over done it with the onion and there's a bit of a bitter taste I also ended up adding an egg to try and bind it! My healthy hash browns have failed :(
I'm sorry to hear that. :( Maybe with closer conversions it would work out – I hope you give it another try, these are SO delicious!
1 US cup = roughly 236ml
I use my pyrex measuring jug, or purchase some cup measures on eBay they're cheap!
Can you freeze these?
Haven't tried that yet, but I don't see why not!
This may be a silly question... why does the shredded sweet potato need to be rinsed?
No silly questions here! Rinsing the sweet potato gets rid of the starchy substance that it naturally has. Then, when you squeeze the water out, it takes the moisture out of the sweet potato, making them easier to fry up. Hope that helps!
good questions and thanks for the response... :) i was going to skip that step... good to know :)
It's really good with curry flavored coconut oil.
That sounds like a unique variation! Yum!
love the recipe! I used coconut oil instead of olive oil. Olive oil is not meant for med to high heat and changes to a unhealthy oil when cooked at high temps.
Glad to know they're good with coconut oil, too! Thanks! :)
I used regular flour and garlic powder - still great!
did you use coconut flour?
We used a blend of flours -- oat, brown rice, millet, chickpea. Coconut would likely work just fine! You might need to use a little less than we did because coconut flour is more absorbent.