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These Sweet Potato Cakes are soft on the inside, super crispy on the outside and truly appealing to kids and adults alike. They’re a great side for the holiday dinner table, or any time of year, really!
Although Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups is my favorite, tried and true dish to serve at Thanksgiving, this year I wanted to try making something a little bit different. Sweet Potato Cakes are the perfect solution for the members of my family (basically just my husband) who just can’t deal with yet another year of a sweet potato side dish topped with marshmallows.
Sweet Potatoes are so naturally sweet this entire recipe only calls for one tablespoon of brown sugar, which is a win. It’s a sweet potato for the people who don’t love the super sweet casseroles that typically adorn the Thanksgiving table. I for one, love those, but it’s good to have options!
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I love this recipe too because it doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving or Christmas to make these. If you have a bunch of sweet potatoes that you’re not sure what to do with, it’s a great go-to. It’s super easy and requires very little time spent actually cooking. Pop them in the oven for an hour and get some other things done while they bake! Then just mash them up, saute and boom — delicious Sweet Potato Cakes ready to go!
If sweet potatoes aren’t your “thing”, you can make Mashed Potato Pancakes which are similar to this recipe, but made with regular potatoes. My kids love them! But if sweet potatoes are your favorite, you’ve come to the right place. I have so many sweet potato recipes for you to try like Sweet Potato Pancakes, Mini Sweet Potato Muffins or Potato Packets.
Whether you decide to make these Sweet Potato Cakes for Thanksgiving or any time during the fall or winter, they are guaranteed to be a sure fire hit!
Sweet Potato Cakes
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 large egg, whisked
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups panko or bread crumbs, divided
- vegetable or canola oil, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes and bake for 1 hour.
- Remove and discard the skins from the potatoes, mash flesh in a bowl and allow to cool.
- Mix the egg, cinnamon, sugar, salt and ½ cup of panko or bread crumbs into the sweet potatoes.
- Place the remaining 1 1/2 cups of panko or bread crumbs in a separate bowl.
- For each cake, coat 2 tablespoons of the mixture with the panko and shape into small patties.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat and place the patties into the skillet.
- Pan-fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden.*
- Continue to pan-fry the remaining cakes with oil as needed.
- Serve.
Notes
- Sweet Potato Cakes can be kept warm in a 250 degree oven until ready to serve.
Would a flax egg or chia egg work? Flax egg = 1T ground flax seed + 2-3 T water. Chia egg = 1 T chia seeds + 3 T cold water.
These sound delicious!
Unfortunately nothing, because you really need the binder, you can not use the egg and just pan fry it and see how they hold.
Can I substitute the egg for something else? My son is allergic .
Me too interested to know how it turned for you. I have some butternut squash puree in the freezer waiting to be used up 🙂
I only had one sweet potato left, and added butternut squash with a hint of maple syrup. Will let you know how it turns out.
Yes they can! In the microwave, oven or toaster oven 🙂
Any chance these can be reheated – they’d be a great addition to my dinner swap if they can!
If you really want that crispiness, I would just heat them back up in an oven at 400 F for 4-5 minutes 🙂
Hi Catherine,
Yet another fantastic sounding recipe, and sweet potatoes are absolutely a Top Ten food for me. Thanks!
How do these do if made ahead and reheated? Do they lose their crispy texture? I was thinking of bringing these to a family dinner, but I would have to make the night before and then reheat once we’ve arrived – will that work?
Please let us know what your experience is with re-heating.
Thanks!
Not sure because the puree maybe too watery. You really want that feel of mashed potatoes
For ease of prep for anytime – can you sub a can of sweet potato puree??
Sounds yummy.
Sweet potatoes are already in the oven! Thank you ideas and inspiration.
I totally agree with you. It’s so hard to say small, medium and large. I got the sweet potatoes I used at Trader Joes. I would use about 1 lb of sweet potatoes. Does that help?
Hi,
What aprroximate weight of sweet potatoes are we talking here? Medium is a bit of a generic term, and Middle Eastern sweet potatoes are most likely a lot smaller than the American ones.
Thanks!
could these be baked?