Sweet Potato Tots with Rosemary and Sea Salt- Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. These sweet potato tots are oven baked (not fried) making them the perfect healthy snack or side dish. Only 3 ingredients and a few minutes and you can be popping one of these babies right in your mouth. (or two…or three…but don’t worry they are packed with all kinds of superfood, fiber rich goodness) go ahead and indulge guilt-free! (they are even gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, and vegan as well!)
Sweet potatoes and I are friends…good friends! They pretty much turn up in something I’m making every week ( like in Black Bean Enchiladas, in African Peanut Soup. in a Frittata, as a spicy Chipotle salad, and even Mashed with Fall Quinoa ) Chock full of nutrients like Vitamin A (Beta Carotene) Vitamin C, potassium, and fiber they have been touted to be one of the worlds healthiest foods.
The cool thing about sweet potatoes is they have all that fabulous nutritional stuff going on AND they taste amazing! Kids even love them, especially when they are being served as “tots”.
Making these sweet potato tots couldn’t be any easier! You’ll start by peeling the sweet potatoes and par boiling them. Boil for about 12-15 min. until the potatoes are soft enough to be able to pierce with a fork, but still slightly firm. If your sweet potatoes are on the smaller side you may need to adjust the cooking time ( 9-11 min.) you still want to feel some firmness to the potato.
After they are cooked, cool the potatoes and shred them on a box grater. Sprinkle with a little salt. You can add any additional spices you like…if you want a little kick try adding a little chili powder or cayenne.
Form the sweet potato mixture into “tots” . Mine look like little loaves of bread but you can also roll into more of a round shape if you prefer.
Place the tots on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 min. (turning half way through). If you want an extra crispy outside you can broil the tots for the last few minutes of cooking. Sprinkle with coarsely ground sea salt and fresh rosemary. Dip them in ketchup or enjoy them all on their own. Oh! I almost forgot! skip the chips..these make great game-day treats as well!
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
- olive oil for drizzling
- sea salt for garnish
- ketchup for dipping (optional)
- Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper .
- Bring water to a boil in a medium size pot. Peel sweet potatoes and cook for approx. 12-15 min. (you want potatoes to be par boiled, soft enough to piece with a fork but still slightly firm). Drain and cool.
- Once potatoes are cool to touch, grate on a box grater. Sprinkle with salt.
- Form into "tots" approx. 1 inch in size.
- Place on lined baking sheet. Drizzle (or spray) tots with olive oil. Cook 30 min., turning tots half way through cooking.
- Sprinkle with fresh rosemary and sea salt. Serve immediately, with ketchup for dipping (optional).
Oooooh! Sweet Potato Tots with Rosemary and Sea Salt? Yummy! I love tots; they instill fond memories of my grandmother. Creating tots with sweet potato is brilliant. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
The best dip for sweet potato fries or tots is taking applesauce, add lots of cinnamon and maybe a bit of cardamon and honey, mix really well and serve!!
oh that sounds amazing Sherri! Will have to give that a try! thanks for sharing
This is such a brilliant idea! I love finding recipes that put a healthy twist on traditional comfort food. Yum!
Your recipe instructed, “Bring water to a boil in a medium size pot. Peel sweet potatoes and cook for approx. 12-15 min” I did this step however the outside was mushy. Normally when I boiled potatoes, I put them in cold water to prevent the outside from getting soggy and water logged. Should have I put them in cold water, then brought to a boil?
Hi Jackie…thanks for your comments. I think it may be more an issue of time cooked vs. starting with cold water. If your sweet potatoes were on the smaller/medium size you might need to adjust the time cooked (so they don’t become over cooked and mushy) You want to sweet potatoes to just be turning soft but still firm when you pierce with a fork (makes the grating process much easier). If the potatoes do get a little too soft to grate you can always use a fork and mash the potatoes instead ( and form into tots) that also works 🙂