Personally, if a hot breakfast doesn’t have hash browns, it ain’t a hot breakfast. Beyond the bacon, beyond the eggs, hash browns are by far my favourite breakfast item. Of course hash browns are usually made with white potatoes, but today I thought I’d mix things up. Follow me…
Crispy Sweet Potato Hash Browns
Unlike regular hash browns, sweet potato hash browns are really tricky to get crispy, purely for the fact they’re packed with more moisture/starch than regular potatoes. However, where there’s a will there’s a way. There’s 2 absolutely crucial steps to getting crispy fried sweet potato:
1. Remove the Starch
Sweet potatoes (and potatoes in general) are packed with starch. Once subjected to heat, the potato starts to release the starch, and this is what makes hash browns go sloppy and gloopy. In order to reduce this, once you’ve shredded the potato on a box grater, just soak it in COLD water. Give it a good swish around with your hand until the water turns cloudy.
2. Remove the Moisture
Sweet potatoes are packed with a fair bit of moisture, and we’ve gone and just added insult to injury. Some starch has been removed, which is great, but now let’s get rid of the moisture. To do this, just simply drain away the water then wrap the shredded potato in cloth and squeeze like your life depends on it. No seriously, squeeze until you can squeeze no longer. You want the potato to be so dry it’s like shredded coconut. Process shots: add shredded sweet potato to cold water (photo 1), swish around then drain (photo 2), place on thin tea towel or cloth (photo 3), squeeze into a ball to remove moisture.
Sweet Potato Hash Brown Patties
Now you’ve got your shredded potato prepped, it’s time to form your patties. First things first – You do not need egg to bind the potato. It will just make the potato wet again, which isn’t what we want. To bind the shredded potato you just need flour. At first it’ll seem too dry to mould, but after adding some salt, the potato will release a tiny amount of moisture, which in turn will work with the flour to bind. From there we’ll need to add some seasoning too. You know, just for that little somethin’ somethin’. Here’s what I recommend using:
Sweet Potato Hash Brown Seasoning
Smoked Paprika Garlic Powder Cayenne Pepper Salt
From there, just mould into equal sized patties, and fry in batches over medium-high heat in oil and butter. It’s important to fry them on a fairly high heat, just so they get nice and crispy. It’s also important to use butter because it’s always important to use butter 🙂
Can I make these into Rostis?
The thinner they are for frying, the crispier they’ll be. However, you can form the patties into 4 fish cake sized patties and bake them in the oven to make them into Rostis. I recommend 356F/180C for 30mins flipping once. Process shots: combine potato shreds with flour and seasoning (photo 1), mould into equal sized patties(photo 2), Fry over medium-high heat in oil and butter for 4-5mins on each side until crispy. Keep warm until needed (photo 3).
Serving Suggestions
When it comes to serving sweet potato hash browns, the world really is your oyster. A neat idea is to stack them up and top with a dollop of guac and a poached egg. Here I’ve simply served them with a side salad, some crispy bacon and some sliced avo. If you’re looking for another sweet potato breakfast idea check out my Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash (it’s like a sweet potato shakshuka – so good!!) For more similar recipes check out these beauties too:
Sweet Potato Recipes
Sweet Potato Quesadillas Garlic Chorizo Roasted Sweet Potatoes Sweet Potato Curry Roasted Garlic Sweet Potato Mash
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these hash browns shall we?!
How to make a Sweet Potato Hash Browns (Full Recipe & Video)
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