These baked sweet potato tots are made with colorful sweet potatoes and are healthier than traditional fried tater tots. You only need three ingredients to make them and they bake up hot and crispy in the oven. They’re great as a side dish or appetizer.
It’s no secret I’m a fan of homemade tater tots and it’s so fun to come up with new ways to make them -sometimes without any potatoes! My Broccoli Tots, Cauliflower Tots and Butternut Squash Tots are some of my favorites, but I’ve also made Mashed Potato Tots, which are a twist on a classic tater tot.
These tots I’m sharing today are more like traditional tater tots made with shredded potatoes except I made them with a variety of sweet potatoes so they are a colorful side dish or appetizer.
These sweet potato tots are baked instead of fried so they’re a little healthier and easier to make. You don’t have to worry about dealing with hot oil or all the grease splatters. Instead, once you’ve formed the tots, you just line them up on a baking sheet and bake them. They come out of the oven hot and crispy.
Sweet Potatoes
You only need 3 ingredients for these sweet potato tots. For the sweet potatoes, I used orange, yellow and purple sweet potatoes because I can’t resist a colorful dish. You can, of course, use all the same color.
The first step is to prep the sweet potatoes. Wash and peel them and then boil the sweet potatoes for about 15 minutes. Boiling the potatoes first does two things:
- It partially cooks the potatoes so they cook properly once you form the tots and bake them.
- You also want to partially cook them first because they will be easy to grate. Basically, they will be softer on the outside, but still mostly uncooked on the inside and they will be completely cooked once they’ve baked in the oven.
How to Make Sweet Potato Tots
Once you’ve grated the sweet potatoes you can combine them with the panko bread crumbs and eggs. This mixture will ensure your tots stay together and don’t fall apart once they’re baked.
To form the tater tots, I like to take a packed tablespoon of the mixture and use my hands to shape it. Squeeze the mixture a couple of times to ensure its tightly packed and then shape it into a cylinder. Place the tater tots on a baking sheet.
Space the sweet potato tots about 1-inch apart on the baking sheet. Baked them at 400°F for about 20 minutes. I like to turn them and bake them for another 5 to 10 minutes or until they’re nice and crispy on both sides.
These sweet potato tots came out quite tasty. They are crispy on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside.
Serve the sweet potato tots with dipping sauce on the side like ketchup or ranch dressing. Or use them to make Totchos, which is a fun twist on nachos.
Sweet Potato Tots
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes washed and peeled
- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Boil sweet potatoes until half cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove from water. Allow potatoes to cool enough to touch. Shred sweet potatoes with a hand grater.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add 3 cups of shredded sweet potatoes (you should have enough for just about 3, with maybe a few spoonfuls extra leftover). Add in panko crumbs and eggs. Stir until everything is thoroughly mixed and combined.
- Measure out 1 (packed) tablespoon of sweet potato batter. Squeeze between palms twice to compact. Then shape into cylinder. Place onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, spacing tots about 1 inch apart.
- Bake in oven for about 20 minutes. Flip tots over and bake another 5-10 minutes until both sides are crispy.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Can these be frozen after they are baked to be reheated later?
Yes, you can freeze them after you bake them. For reheating, an air fryer will work best, so they get nice and crispy, or reheat them in the oven.
Have you tried these in an air fryer? Just wondering if they’ll come out crispy like the oven?
We haven’t but it would probably work fine – we just don’t have a good recommendation for the temperature or cooking time since we haven’t tried it.