Sweet Potato Hash Browns - So Crispy!

This recipe combines two favorite breakfast foods - sweet potatoes and hash browns - to make a new breakfast staple: Crispy Sweet Potato Hash Browns!

I love love love sweet potatoes for breakfast. And I also love hash browns. So I decided to combine my two favorites to make a new breakfast staple: Crispy Sweet Potato Hash Browns!

Can you make sweet potato hash browns?

The short answer is yes, you can make sweet potato hash browns! And they are very tasty.

As sweet potatoes hold more water than their russet potato cousins, it does make it a little trickier when you talk about getting a good crisp out of sweet potatoes.

I have some great tips for making crispy sweet potato has browns below though, so you'll end up with the best sweet potato hash browns.

(Because sweet potatoes have a more complex chemical structure than russet potatoes, sweet potatoes tend to be harder and retain more water.)

How do you make sweet potato hash browns?

Although there are a good few steps to make this recipe, everything is fairly common sense and as expected.

Prepping the ingredients is probably the most laborious part. Think of it in two groups of ingredients to deal with.

First, you prepare your sweet potatoes.

To prepare the sweet potatoes, you'll need to peel and grate, then wash out the starch. I use a food processor to get even sized shredded sweet potatoes.

If you want to get the same shreds as I have in the picture, take a look at the size of the holes in my food processor grater disc. Use one that is similar or the same.

Then, prepare the onions and garlic.

For the onions and garlic, you'll need to dice and mince, then sauté separately.

It's definitely worth the extra step to sauté your onions and garlic to activate and draw out their flavors. This doesn't happen as effectively if you just mix it in with everything else and cooking it all together.

Once the ingredients are prepped, it's just a matter of mixing it all together and cooking the hash browns

To make crispy sweet potato hash browns, cook both sides at medium-high heat on a non-stick skillet. You can also use a cast iron if you prefer.

I use a few spices that add a tiny kick to this hash browns recipe such as paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. I find it helps bring out the sweetness from the sweet potatoes and offer a subtle layer of flavor as well.

Tips for crispy sweet potato hash browns

The most important tip: The drier the sweet potatoes, the crispier your hash browns will turn out.

Don't rush the steps on letting your sweet potatoes dry out. After rinsing off the sweet potato starch, set aside ten minutes for them to dry off a bit. And before cooking, use a kitchen towel to dab out or squeeze out excess water.

I hate wasting paper towels just to dry off the sweet potatoes, but reusable bamboo towels are stronger, more absorbent and more durable than regular paper towels. Plus you can machine wash them when you are done. No waste!

 If there's water, the sweet potatoes tend to cook by steaming instead.

Second tip: be gentle with the sweet potatos when you're cooking and flipping it. I've found that loosening it a minute after it's been sitting on the skillet is a good amount of time to let the hash browns set a bit.

To flip the hash browns, after one side is done cooking:

• Slide it off to a big plate.
• Cover that plate with a second big plate.
• Quickly flip the hash brown over.
• Add a bit more olive oil onto the skillet.
• Gently slide the hash browns back onto the skillet.

Doing this not only gives you the nicer presentation at the end, but also helps it crisp evenly. That way you'll end up with the perfect hash brown texture.

By getting it to crisp just right, this sweet potatoes breakfast is more or less a sweet potato rosti (a Swiss potato fritter). Whether you choose to call this sweet potato hash browns or sweet potato rosti, it's a delicious crispy sweet potato breakfast!

Toppings to Serve with this Sweet Potatoes Breakfast

You can serve this breakfast recipe with the usual crew: bacon and eggs, pancakes, a casserole...whatever you want really!

As you can see in my photos, I went with a dollop of cream cheese, avocados, and fresh chives. Other recipes that would go well with these crispy sweet potato hash browns:

• Homemade Sausage Patties
• Tuna Omelette
• Healthy Apple Pancakes