Sweet potato fritters are lightly seasoned with ginger, cinnamon, and fennel then pan fried until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Pair with the homemade sweet and spicy sauce for a decadent dipping experience. Served as an appetizer or side dish, this reader favorite is a must try.
Game Time Appetizer or an Easy Weeknight Side Dish
These sweet potato fritters are golden with a crispy crunch, just a little bit greasy, and paired with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Whether it’s “the big game” or a cross town rival matchup, these fritters check all the boxes for perfect game day snacks.
They also make a great side dish for burger night. Swap out your french fries, tater tots, or sweet potato fries with these fritters for a truly tasty treat. And don’t stop at burgers! They go great with pulled pork sandwiches, bean burgers, crispy fish sandwiches, and more.
Sweet potato fritters are easy to make and no matter when you choose to serve them, people who love sweet potatoes will gobble them up.
What You’ll Need for the Fritters
- Sweet potato – Look for a large sweet potato, about 1/2 pound by weight
- Fresh ginger root – Fresh ginger and dried ginger have different flavors, you want fresh in this recipe.
- Large Egg – Acts as the binder to hold the fritters together.
- All purpose flour – Sticks to the sweet potato, so that the egg can stick to the flour.
- Ground cinnamon – Highlights the natural sweetness in the sweet potato. You want the powder form, not the sticks.
- Ground fennel – Commonly used in sausage, fennel tastes amazing with sweet potatoes. It’s the seed of the fennel plant and can be found with other dried spices. You are looking for the ground version, not the whole seeds.
- Kosher salt – used in the fritter batter and to season them as they come out of the frying oil.
- Cooking Oil – look for a neutral oil with a smoke point over 400º. Avocado, refined coconut, and peanut are good options.
What You’ll Need for the Sauce
- Mayonnaise – makes up the bulk of the sauce, using ready made mayo is much easier than emulsifying eggs and oil on your own.
- Honey – the “sweet” component.
- Sriracha sauce – the “spicy” component.
Recommended Kitchen Tools
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- 12″ – 14″ frying pan – a cast iron skillet, carbon steel skillet, or stainless steel skillet are best. The larger your skillet the faster you can fry your fritters.
- Grater – box grater or grater attachment on your food processor are ideal.
- Lemon zester – only necessary if your grater doesn’t have a fine grate option.
- Large mixing bowl
- Mixing spoon or spatula
- Measuring spoons
- Cooling rack
- Rimmed sheet pan
How to Make these Sweet Potato Fritters
These sweet potato fritters are super easy to make and fry up quickly. Make sure you have your fry station set up before you put the first fritter in the oil. Even though it’s just a quarter inch of oil in the pan, never leave hot oil unattended.
- Grate the sweet potatoes using a box grater or the grater attachment on your food processor or stand mixer. You want to use the coarse side to get thick strands of sweet potato.
- Use the fine side of the grater or a lemon zester to grate the ginger.
- In a medium to large mixing bowl combine shredded sweet potatoes and all other ingredients, then mix thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps of flour or uncoated bits of sweet potato. You should have a heavy, chunky mixture with a slightly sticky consistency.
- Pour about 1/4″ of oil into your frying pan and heat over medium heat. While the oil heats, line a baking sheet with paper towels and place the cooling rack over top.
- Shape the fritters into balls, then flatten into patties that are half an inch thick and about two to three inches across.
- Working in batches as needed, gently place the fritters in oil, listening for the sizzle that tells you the oil is hot enough. Make sure that they don’t touch each other or the side of the pan.
- Cook about two to three minutes on each side, or until they have crisped up and turned golden brown. If they don’t look done after you flip them, turn them back over and give them a minute more.
- Once done, drain the fried sweet potato fritters on a wire rack over a layer of paper towels. Sprinkle them with kosher or sea salt while they are still hot.
Sweet Potato Fritters Video
Kitchen Skill: Pan Frying
These sweet potato fritters are pan fried, which means cooking them in oil in a wide shallow pan. Some people are put off by pan frying because it can be messy and fried foods are not the healthiest of choices. However, when fried and drained properly, the amount of oil absorbed is less than most people think.
The oil, in combination with the direct heat of the pan, cooks the inside while making the outside of the fritters crispy. The oil creates a barrier that traps steam inside the fritter, cooking it from the inside out. This trapped steam prevents the inside of the fritter from soaking up the oil, but the oil must be hot – around 350ºF – in order to do its job
I like to use a heavy cast iron skillet, as I find it retains the proper heat better and the short sides give you better access to flip the fritters. You’ll need enough oil in the pan to come halfway up the side of the fritters, in this case about a 1/4″ of oil. I like the cold pan, cold oil method, where you add the oil to the pan and heat them both together.
Allow the oil to heat before adding the first fritter. A candy thermometer allows you to measure it exactly, but you can also make an educated guess by watching the oil. You should be able to see the oil start to move around the pan and you can feel the heat from the pan when holding your hand about 4 inches above the surface. Test the oil for readiness by dropping a small chunk of the batter into the oil. If it sizzles it is good to go. No noise and it needs to heat a little more. Major splattering means it’s too hot. Turn down the heat and let it cool for a moment.
An important aspect of pan frying is what you do when the food is done cooking. Most of the absorbed oil is not absorbed during the actual frying process, but in the first few seconds after the fritter is out of the pan. This is why we put the hot fritters onto a cooling rack, instead of directly onto paper towels. It allows the excess oil to drip away from the fritters, instead of creating a pool of oil that can be easily absorbed. It also helps keep the fritters crispy as they cool.
Tips for Successful Sweet Potato Fritters
Even easy recipes can catch you up if you don’t know the tricks that make them turn out right. Here are my tips and tricks to help you achieve recipe success. Some are from personal experience, others are based on reader questions or comments, all are helpful.
- Easier sweet potato shredding – use the grater attachment on your food processor. Most food processors come with a slicing/grating plate included, and this will greatly reduce time and energy spent on grating potatoes.
- Choose the right cooking oil – you need an oil that has at least a 400º smoke point in order to fry at 350º. If your oil gets too hot it will start smoking, creating a dangerous environment for you. Refined oils have higher smoke points. Avocado is my favorite (it’s my standard cooking oil), peanut oil, refined coconut oil, grapeseed oil, or standard corn oil will work.
- Salt the fritters as soon as you pull them from the oil – Whenever you pan fry, you want to salt the surface of the food in the first few seconds after you pull them from the oil. This allows the salt to melt and be absorbed into the surface of the fritter.
Recipe Variations
As always, my favorite thing about cooking in my own kitchen is that I can make a recipe my own. Here are a couple of my favorite swaps to change up this recipe and make it your own.
- Swap the spices – I know a LOT of people love making sweet potatoes sweeter (candied sweet potatoes anyone??). While this recipe takes on a savory spin, you can totally swap the spices for a sweet version. Omit the fresh ginger and swap both the fennel and cinnamon for the same amount of pumpkin spice. Trade the spicy sweet sauce for honey or your own favorite sweet dipping option.
- Bake instead of fry – Readers have reported success with baking these fritters at both 400º and 425º for 20 – 30 minutes, flipping them halfway through the cooking time. Use a oiled baking sheet and know that they won’t get as crispy as frying, but are still very good.
Serving Suggestions
Like all party apps, these sweet potato fritters need a dipping sauce. Nothing pairs better than my Spicy Sweet Sriracha Sauce, which was created just for them. If you don’t love spicy foods but want the flavor, start with half of the sriracha. You can always add more, but it’s harder to take it away once it’s in there.
Making sweet potato fritters for a crowd
This recipe can be doubled or even tripled for a crowd. As written, the recipe will feed two people as a side dish or three people as an appetizer. My rule of thumb is 1 large potato for every three people, increasing the remaining ingredients accordingly.
To keep fritters hot, store the fried fritters on a baking sheet in a 250º oven. The dry heat will keep them crisp and warm until you are ready to serve.
How to Store and Reheat
Leftover fritters can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet, then heat in the oven or the airfryer at 400º to maximize crispiness. They should take about 10 – 15 minutes.
I do not recommend using the microwave for reheating. The texture will turn to mush and they just won’t be the same.
Make in Advance and Freeze
One of my favorite things about these fritters is that you can make them in advance and freeze them. Once they are fried and cooled, lay them flat on a baking sheet and freeze 4 hours or until solid.
Place the frozen fritters into a freezer safe container and freeze up to 6 months. When ready to serve, place frozen fritters on a sheet pan and bake at 400º until hot and crispy, about 10 – 15 minutes.
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Sweet Potato Fritters with Sweet & Spicy Sauce
Sweet potato fritters are pan fried until crispy & served with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. A super easy to make appetizer or side dish.
Ingredients
For the Fritters:
- 1 large sweet potato, about 8 ounces
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground fennel
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for after frying
- Oil for frying
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
Instructions
For the Fritters:
- Wash, peel, and grate sweet potato using the coarse section of a grater.
- Grate ginger using a fine grater or microplane.
- Place grated sweet potato, grated ginger, and egg in a medium to large mixing bowl. Add the flour, cinnamon, fennel, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix together thoroughly.
- Set up a cooling rack on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Add oil to a shallow frying pan so that it is about 1/4" deep, then heat over medium heat for 3 - 5 minutes.
- Shape fritters into balls, then flatten patties about 1/2" deep and 2 - 3 inches across.
- Gently place fritters in oil, ensuring they are not touching each other or the sides of the pan.
- Fry for 2 -3 minutes on each side, adjusting time to achieve a light golden brown surface.
- Transfer to the cooling rack to drain and salt lightly while they are still hot.
For the sauce:
- Combine mayo, honey, and sriracha in a small bowl. Whisk to smooth out any lumps.
- Serve fritters while still warm with the sriracha sauce for dipping.
Notes
These sweet potato fritters can be made in advance and frozen. Once they are fried and cooled lay them flat on a baking sheet and freeze 4 hours or until solid. Place the frozen fritters into a freezer safe container and freeze up to 6 months. When ready to serve place frozen fritters on a sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 10 - 15 minutes or until hot and crispy.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 6 frittersAmount Per Serving: Calories: 253Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 650mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Nutritionix and is for general information purposes only. For the most accurate information, calculate using your select brands and exact measurements.
For the step by step versions of this recipe, check out the Sweet Potato Fritters Sweet and Spicy Sauce Story.
Thank you for this recipe! I made this as written except left out the fennel (because I only had regular fennel and not ground) and didn’t have time to make the sauce, but they are delicious just as they are without any sauce. YUM. Definitely a repeat.
I did bake these in the oven. I convert most recipes from deep frying to oven roasted. With this recipe I heated the oven to 425 and prepared a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. I sprayed the parchment with a bit of spray canola oil and set the 1/4 cup mounds on the pan. Set the timer for 15 minutes, and flipped and flattened them – set the timer for another 15 minutes. They came out just fine. I’m sure not as crispy as if they were deep fried, but also not as greasy. My husband loved them, but then he loves how I cook.
What do you consider a large sweet potato? An example…I live in Mexico with my Mexican wife. For New years she wanted sweet potatoe. She brought home three of them and one was at least 1.5 pounds. Maybe more info. like 1.5 or two cups for me would be very helpful. I am about to make some for a whole smoked chicken and I will use agave syrup. I have honey but I like agave more. It is a lot sweeter than honey so I will experiment. The recipe does sound good but once again, how large is large? Thank you.
Hi Dan! That’s a great question. I would estimate a large sweet potato being around 8 ounces or half of a pound. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sweet potato that weighs in at a pound and a half!
Renee
These Sweet Potato Fritters were so good! I have never done anything besides a “puff”. After reading some of the comments I did make some slight changes…some due to lack of ingredients. I used high quality powdered ginger…about 3/4 tsp. I did use less cinnamon, and grated 1 small onion in with the grated sweet potato. I mixed all the dry ingredients together for better distribution before adding it to the mixture. As I dont like fennel…I did a few shakes of coriander & cumin powder.
I did not make the sauce as I was having these with Sweet Chili ribs!
I almost ate them all myself!!!
Thank you again for a direction I never would have gone in, if it werent for you! Now that Ive tested it on just me…I will make it for company 🙂
Carrie,
I am so glad you enjoyed them. Honestly, I want to try them with your substitutions, as it sounds really good! While fresh ginger and ginger root have two very different flavor profiles, they both work well with sweet potatoes and would work great in this recipe. If you’re feeling adventurous, next time swap the cinnamon and ginger for chili powder and paprika. So good – especially with BBQ.
Renee
The sauce is delicious! I had some partially dried out gummy sriracha sauce and it worked out just fine. I added some very finely minced onions. I use a teaspoon or less of baking powder when I make white potato pancakes, so perhaps another comment doing that is something I can second. Thanks for the recipe! A keeper for sure.
These were pretty easy to make and cooked up just as advertised. I made these to take the place of English muffins for my sticky pork belly eggs Benedict recipe. The only change I will make is to cut back on the cinnamon as it dominated the entire dish.
Just tried baking these idk if someone has already but I made the recipe just as listed with a little allspice cause I like it and sub anise seed for fennel cause I didn’t have it. But other than that just as listed. Baked at 400° for 20-25 min flipped them halfway through to get crispy on both sides. The edges were a little more crispy but they didn’t turn out bad if you want the whole thing crispy maybe at the end broil each side for 2 min possibly I didn’t do that though
*Sprayed my pan with olive oil spray (just what I had).
Thank you for sharing Haley! I”m glad they work well in the oven. I want to test them in the air fryer next!
Made these tonite and they nearly disappeared before I could snap a pic! Had to sub cayenne for Siracha in sauce but no one seemed to mind! Don’t know how to post pic but will be making these again! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing Susan! So glad your family enjoyed them!
Can you bake the fritters, instead of frying them? Thank you!
I haven’t tried baking them, but I don’t see why not! Let me know how they turn out.
Would an air fryer work?
Linda, I have not tried it with an air fryer, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! You’ll have to experiment with the timing, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Have you tried these baked instead of fried? If so, need to make any modifications to bake? Thanks!
Julie – I have not tried baking them. Without the oil you aren’t going to get the same results – the texture and flavor will be very different. I do know that the best sweet potato fries are coated in corn starch and vegetable oil prior to being baked to try and recreate some of the crunchy crispy texture, but I can’t advise on exact amounts. It would take a bit of trial and error to get them right. If you do try them, let me know!
I made this recipe with the following modifications, and they turned out so great! The whole thing got wiped out and got a lot appreciation from my guests. Great Recipe!!!!
I added lemon juice, chili powder, cornstarch, doubled up the ginger, and added a pinch of baking powder. For the delicious sauce, I added more sriracha for I like it spicier. I could totally eat the sauce by itself. This is such a simple and irresistible recipe with an added bonus of being healthy too. Thank you, Nicole!!
Sorry I meant, Thank you Renee!
Lisa,
Wow that’s a lot of modifications! Haha! I am so glad you were able to take the recipe and make it into something that works better for your tastes (and that it still came out delicious!) I too could eat the sauce by itself. So glad you and your guests enjoyed it.
These look amazing!!! Also on a side note I love your name! I’m Nicole Renee ?? the two names go together like peas and carrots apparently ?
Haha! Nicole Renee is a pretty great name too!!
Today I was craving something “fried” and thought about sweet potatoe fries until I remembered this recipe. It was so easy to whip up a batch and they are DELICIOUS! I didn’t have Sriracha in the house so I modified it slightly by using Thai Chili Paste & some Frank’s Hotsauce. Thanks for satisfying my craving and I’ll be adding this to my list of favorites.
Heather,
I am so glad you thought of me and these Sweet Potato Fritters! I love your improvisation on the sauce – sounds like it would totally work.
So glad that I do not have to think this recipe sounds good or looks good, it TASTES amazing. It is SOOO simple to follow the directions and takes no time at all. I am so glad you have given us the chance to taste these and try these recipes on our own! Also, did I mention my two year old was caught drinking the dipping sauce? and when I asked him what he was doing he goes, “Mommy, that is so good”. So its not just a healthy option for me but my entire family to enjoy. There are not a lot of effortless ideas out there and with my husband having diabetes, we need easy, healthy options! Thanks Renee, for coming to our kitchen!
He drank the sauce!?! Thank you for taking the time to comment when you obviously have your hands (very) full. There is much more coming and I hope you enjoy it all. I can’t guarantee they will all be as simple as this one, but they will all be delicious!
What a perfect fall breakfast side! I’ve made similar ones with regular potatoes but these are going on the list.
I hadn’t even thought of these for breakfast, but they would be a perfect hash brown substitute! Fried eggs, a little bacon, a bloody mary and you are good to go!
Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness – these look so amazing!! That sauce reminds me of a sweet chili sauce I tried in Australia and got here in the US every chance I could get afterwards. Would love to try this!
The sauce is definitely more spicy than sweet, but you can always adjust with more honey/less sriracha when you make it yourself. Let me know how they turn out once you get a chance to try them.
Regardless of the season, sweet potatoes are always a versatile, healthy option for a colorful, filling meal. Your recipe looks delicious!
I do love that they are always in season. Delicious!
These look so incredibly good! I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing.
These look amazing! We eat a lot of sweet potatoes in my house and this gives me a new recipe to try. Thanks for sharing.
LiveLifeWell,
Allison
Thanks Allison! I hope you and your family enjoys them. Let me know if you have any questions.