The Best Sweet Potato Tater Tots Recipe
These sweet potato tater tots are crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and full of natural sweetness all around. They're the perfect snack for your Game Day routine, or as a fun and simple appetizer for a party.
According to Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table, tater tots are one of the most commonly underestimated snacks in the frozen food aisle. On their own, these little puffy versions of potatoes resemble clouds with a hard, crispy outer shell. But there's no shortage of creative ways to use frozen tater tots – they are perfect in place of tortilla chips as a Midwestern version of nachos, or simply eaten on their own as a snack or as a side with a good burger. Yet people often pass them by in favor of French fries, cheese sticks, or another frozen appetizer.
But what if we told you that you could make a more nutritious version of tater tots using sweet potatoes with about 30 minutes of work? We've tested a few variations to arrive at the best sweet potato tater tots recipe, which we're tempted to make every day. And the best part is, they look like the store-bought version, but taste infinitely better.
Gather the ingredients for these sweet potato tater tots
To make these tater tots, you'll need sweet potatoes, a beaten egg, cornstarch, kosher salt, black pepper, paprika, panko breadcrumbs for breading, and a neutral oil like Canola oil for frying.
Step 1: Microwave sweet potatoes
Pierce the sweet potatoes and microwave them for 8-10 minutes until tender. Cool completely.
Step 2: Peel the potatoes
Peel the sweet potatoes.
Step 3: Process the batter
Process the sweet potatoes in a food processor with egg, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and paprika until smooth.
Step 4: Shape the tater tots
Form the mixture into 1-inch cylinders using your hands or a small scoop.
Step 5: Roll in coating
Roll each tot in panko breadcrumbs, pressing gently to adhere.
Step 6: Heat oil for frying
Heat the oil to 375 F in a heavy pot or deep fryer.
Step 7: Fry the tater tots
Fry tots in batches for 3-4 minutes until golden and crisp.
Step 8: Drain
Drain on a wire rack. Season with salt immediately.
Step 9: Serve the tater tots immediately
Serve the tots hot, with your favorite dipping sauce on the side.
What dipping sauce can I serve with tater tots?
The Best Sweet Potato Tater Tots Recipe
Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and with all the natural sweetness and nutrition of sweet potatoes, these tots make the perfect game-day snack.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- Neutral oil, for frying
Directions
- Pierce the sweet potatoes and microwave them for 8-10 minutes until tender. Cool completely.
- Peel the sweet potatoes.
- Process the sweet potatoes in a food processor with egg, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and paprika until smooth.
- Form the mixture into 1-inch cylinders using your hands or a small scoop.
- Roll each tot in panko breadcrumbs, pressing gently to adhere.
- Heat the oil to 375 F in a heavy pot or deep fryer.
- Fry tots in batches for 3-4 minutes until golden and crisp.
- Drain on a wire rack. Season with salt immediately.
- Serve the tots hot, with your favorite dipping sauce on the side.
Nutrition
| Calories per Serving | 637 |
| Total Fat | 41.1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3.3 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.2 g |
| Cholesterol | 46.5 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 62.0 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 7.5 g |
| Total Sugars | 10.0 g |
| Sodium | 635.5 mg |
| Protein | 6.6 g |
Are there any shortcuts you can take to simplify this recipe?
Even though this recipe takes just about half an hour to make, it may still feel like too much work for a weeknight. However, there are some shortcuts you can take to make the process even easier and more convenient for home preparation.
The biggest time-saver is cooking the sweet potato in advance. You can roast or microwave them up to two days ahead of time, and refrigerate or even freeze them until ready to use. You can even fully shape the tots one day, freeze them on baking sheets, and then transfer them to a freezer bag, in order to just pull them out whenever you're ready to make them.
You can also skip the step of adding the panko breadcrumbs on the outside and opt for softer, less crunchy tater tots. To save on the shaping time, you can use a small cookie scoop or a melon baller, rather than rolling each tot into a cylinder shape by hand. All these little shortcuts can make freshly fried sweet potato tater tots feel like an easy weeknight treat that's much easier to make than heading to the store.
Can you bake these sweet potato tater tots?
If you don't feel like frying these tater tots, we get it — dealing with hot oil can be intimidating. However, there are some easy ways to make these tots without having to deep fry them.
The easiest alternative to deep frying is air frying. If you already own an air fryer and know which mistakes to avoid when using it, then air frying tater tots is easy. Preheat the air fryer to 380 F for 5 minutes, arrange your tots in batches in the air fryer basket, spray them lightly, and cook them for 15 minutes, while shaking the basket or flipping them halfway through the process to ensure even cooking.
If you want to use the oven to make these sweet potato tater tots, that's also an option. We recommend the convection setting, which helps crisp up the outside and keeps the center creamy. To bake these tots, preheat the oven to 425 F and bake them for 25 minutes, flipping them halfway through the process. If you want them extra crispy, switch the oven to a broiler setting for the last two minutes of the cooking process.