Crispy, tender, and loaded with a sweet cinnamon flavour, these baked sweet potato tots make a perfect gluten-free and vegan snack!
I’m pretty sure I didn’t have my first taste of sweet potatoes until I started reading blogs back in 2010. I grew up eating plenty of regular potatoes since my family is European and they were one of the few veggies I would actually eat as a child, but sweet potatoes were an oddity to me back in those days. Along with avocado, coconut, almond butter, quinoa, hummus, and 90% of the other things I now eat.
In fact, my diet underwent such a dramatic shift over the years that the old me wouldn’t even recognize the new me… and she’d probably turn her nose up at my current food choices as well. But that’s probably a good thing considering I went through a pretty long phase where my idea of a quality meal involved blue boxes and golden arches. Mmm hmm. You know of what I speak. But I digress!
Sweet potatoes.
I honestly couldn’t tell you what my first experience with them was like (meaning I didn’t exactly have a Herbal Essences moment), but it must have been a good one considering I’ve kept them around to this very day.
The only thing is that I usually eat my sweet potatoes sweet. Like with maple syrup. And cinnamon. Usually a little bit almond butter thrown in there as well. I’ve never had the opportunity to try one of those sweet potato casseroles that are topped with toasted marshmallows, but I have a feeling I’d enjoy those as well. I mean, I may have walked away from the blue boxes and golden arches, but the sweet tooth in me will never die. Ever. Which is why it’s no surprise that I’d toss cinnamon and sugar into some tater tots…
I don’t really want to talk about this recipe and the huge headache that it gave me, but we’re going to anyways. Just for you.
The texture was the problem. I couldn’t get them to come out the way I wanted them to, and all my batches turned out either too crumbly or too wet. Sorry for the mental image — I had to go there.
The secret was a few spoonfuls of coconut flour — a magic little ingredient that solves all of life’s problems. Okay, not really. But it solved this one. Not only did it soak up the extra moisture and help these tots firm up, but it also added a subtle coconut flavour that pairs beautifully with the sweet potato and cinnamon.
I was originally going to use breadcrumbs in the coating, but decided to swap it out with almond meal for no other reason than the fact that I like to experiment and I wanted to see what I would end up with.
The result is a gluten-free sweet potato tot that’s tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside. The more dominant cinnamon flavour is accented perfectly by the subtler flavours of coconut and almond, with a slight touch of caramel from the coconut sugar. Can you tell I spent a lot of time with these tots? Mmm hmm. But basically, they’re sweet and cinnamony pillows of sweet potato goodness, and they may just be my newest obsession. Hope you love them too!
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Baked Cinnamon Sugar Sweet Potato Tots
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 12 – 16 tots 1x
Ingredients
- 1 lb. of sweet potatoes (approx. 2 large), peeled and cubed
- 2 tbsp. coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1/2 – 1 Tbsp. coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil. Add cubed sweet potatoes and boil for 15 minutes, until soft. Drain well and shake off any excess water.
- Use a fork or potato masher to mash the sweet potatoes until no chunks remain. Add coconut flour and cinnamon, mixing well to ensure it is fully incorporated. Set aside.*
- In a small bowl, prepare coating by combining almond meal, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a tablespoon to scoop out sweet potato mash and roll it between your hands to create a small cylindrical shape.** Transfer to the bowl that contains the coating, and roll it around to ensure that it’s evenly coated, pressing gently. Transfer to baking sheet and repeat with remaining mash.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating at the halfway mark, until coating begins to turn golden brown and desired level of crispness is reached.
Notes
* This can be done ahead of time and stored in the fridge until needed. Mine came out to a little less than 1 1/2 cups mashed.
** You can really make them any shape you want, just make sure they’re all uniform in size to ensure that they cook evenly.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Oh my gosh, I love this post because I love sweet taters. You absolutely must try Pioneer Woman’s Mashed Sweet Potato recipe – no marshmallows, but plenty of goodness. Fancy-looking enough to take to a pitch in but super easy to make! (I cheat if I’m in a hurry and use microwavable sweet potatoes which also work well if necessary.) Enjoy!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/soul-sweet-taters-step-by-step-recipe/
Omigosh that looks UNREAL. Thanks for sharing it, Brandi!
Holy SMOKES, these tots are calling my name. I can just imagine how tender, sweet, and fluffy these are! As much as this contradicts everything my taste buds live for, I actually like my sweet potatoes in savory dishes better. Roasted and put in a salad or burrito bowl. Or just straight up. But I do love them sweet too, and these tots would be the perfect way to have them so!
I have yet to try sweet potatoes! I know I really should try them.
I’m trying these with white potatoes. If they suck, I’m feeding them to Meg 😉
I think you may have answered my food prayers with this one, Amanda….OH MY GOODNES, I can’t even….! I have one question, I suppose I could swap out the almond meal for whole wheat flour?…Just wanted your personal opinion. I do think the coconut flour was a brilliant addition and I’m sure it only adds to the taste and texture!
I haven’t tried it personally, but regular flour is a lot drier so you might have to add some oil to it to get it to crisp up. Either that or you could try using breadcrumbs!
These sound so good! I’m obsessed with sweet potato-anything. You need to try the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows — I demolish it every Thanksgiving — the.best.
Wow, these look fantastic! I love sweet potatoes any way…sweet, savory, you name it!
Yum yum to the blue bloxes and golden arches! I don’t eat them all the time but sometimes… pickles. Never ate a pickle when I was younger. Now I appreciate them on my sandwiches!
Droolinggggg! These look so freaking good. Buying almond meal asap so I can make them.
p.s. there are currently 3 pics of you on your homepage. #winning
😆 I’m trying! Stop slacking 😛
Oh my goodness, these look like candy! Love that you used almond and coconut too. Sometimes recipe failures are a good thing. 🙂
What an inspiration. I love sweet potatoes but never thought of doing them like this.
Nice one Amanda. Kind of a little like potato croquettes but healthier by being baked in the oven and with a lovely cinnamon tasting crust.
I like! A lot! 😀
Thanks so much, Neil 🙂
Oh my gosh…. YES. these sound like heaven!
Definitely going to make these when I am back home for spring break in a few weeks and can cook in my own kitchen! I hopped on the sweet potato train a few years ago, after being weary to give them a try, and am now obsessed! I like ’em both sweet and savory, but my favorite is probably just with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Although I did just buy a new jar of Justin’s Vanilla Almond Butter, so that may have to happen soon. As a child I used to turn up my nose at cottage cheese, but now I always have two tubs of the good stuff in my fridge and eat it everyday.
These look like little bites of heaven!! I am usually a savoury kinda girl. I like roasting my sweet potatoes with sea salt and then dipping them in ketchup….buuuuuuut I would totally give these a shot. I will never turn down cinnamon sugar!!
Tell me your mind goes directly to CTC when you hear those two words <3
Yum these look so good – what would you serve them with? I like adding coconut butter and cinnamon to sweet potatoes.
I’ve mostly been eating them alone as a snack and dipping them in a dip that I made using Greek yogurt, a spoonful of almond butter, and a little bit of maple syrup. In.SANE.
You had me at TOTS! Immediately went to Napoleon Dynamite! HA! These look so good.
In 100% seriousness, if I could only eat one food again for the rest of my life, it would be sweet potatoes, hands down. And I would be happy about it. I’ve never thought to actually add sweetness since I find them so freaking delicious already, but this looks like absolute magic!
I never had sweet potatoes until more recently either. Even when sweet potato fries became super popular I didn’t think I liked them. Boy was I wrong. Now I can’t get enough and this recipe looks just ridiculously delicious.
I keep going back and forth on sweet potato fries… probably because I have such an addiction to the regular ones! Then again, I’ve only ever made my own and have yet to experience the awesomeness that apparently is restaurant fries.
I can barely handle how badly I want – no neeeed – these in my life. I just want to dip these in nut butter and curl up on the couch while watching netflix. Healthy comfort food fo sho!
I need these in my belly now!!
Amanda, give me some of your tots! I want them right now! 😉
I prefer my sweet potatoes on the sweet side with some coconut greek yogurt, almond butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon if we’re getting to the nitty-gritty! I really like the idea of these but I don’t like the idea of preparing them so I think I shall just come shack up with you so I can TOT-ally (teeheehee) steal your goodies!
Mmmm…these look amazing! I like sweet potatoes any way, sweet or savory. Just feed them to me and I’m a happy girl! And yes, I ate way too many happy meals in my day. I’m hoping if I have kids one day that we can just pretend like McDonalds doesn’t exist. 😉
dude, you are a genius. These look so good! I’ll take my sweet potatoes sweet or savoury – it’s all good to me.
And I’ve tried the marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole before and honestly, I wasn’t a fan. Maybe if I actually ate it for dessert I’d like it, but it felt too weird to eat next to turkey, stuffing and green beans.
😆 That’s actually something I always wondered about as well. I wonder if it would be acceptable to skip everything else and just eat that for dinner 😛
THESE COULD SOLVE ALL OF MY SWEET POTATO PROBLEMS!
Totally going to nom on these as a midnight snack sometime soon. Hopefully it cures me and I like sweet taters again.
Bury them under almond butter! That’s my solution to everything…
Those look awesome! I am currently on a sweet potato kick and while I used to just throw them in the microwave, I have started slicing and roasting them like a grown up. They are just too delicious!
Swoon! You just made my day…big time!
I love sweet potatoes because you can eat them sweet or savory! Too hard to choose a favorite! 🙂
I can always count on you to make my mouth water and my tummy growl! These look to die for! Who wouldn’t love these babies!?
I switch between savory and sweet when making sweet potatoes. I kind of like a combo of both! I heart them so much!
When I was a kid I wouldn’t eat cheese. I can’t seem to get enough of it now. I also hated Oreos and I have no idea why…because If I have 1 oreo now, you can kiss the entire package goodbye! 🙂
You may be the first person I ever heard say they hated Oreos at some point!
I hate Oreos . I can’t see what the fuss is about. They are just Yuk !
I would have never thought of sweet tater tots. That is so interesting. I like all of your sweet recipes a lot but then again I do have a big sweet tooth.
I literally have 4 giants sweet taters in my oven right now. You’ve outdone yourself with this one, absolutely brilliant.
I love sweet potatoes sweet and savory! They’re delicious either way 🙂 But, honestly, those marshmallow-topped casseroles are a little too sweet for me.
I eat ALOT now that I probably wouldn’t have eaten as a kid… Probably because now I’ll eat pretty much anything. The first thing that comes to mind is tomatoes, though.
I wouldn’t touch tomatoes as a kid either! Or anything tomato based, for that matter. But now? I’d happily eat things like salsa and pasta sauce straight from the jar with a spoon 😆
These are so cute! I love sweet potatoes in all form, sweet or savory. I’ve had sweet potato tater tots before, but they were basically like regular tater tots. These look way more fun.
These look AMAZING, can’t wait to try making them. I love sweet potato fries and tater tots but never thought of combining them…
Ok, I couldn’t live without sweet potatoes (I prefer them savory now), but as a child (even a child from the South), I wouldn’t touch them. Sweet potato casserole was my first taste of them…and that was only after my mom convinced me it was dessert (with all the sugar and butter, it practically was!). After that, my grandma’s sweet potato casserole became my favorite part of Thanksgiving. My mom makes the recipe every year, but it’s just not the same. I still <3 it, though!
Anyway, that was a long winded comment. These look awesome!
I wish I could convince my family to try it! No one’s really huge on sweet potatoes up here 😥
holy crap! I have no words…
Do you think I can sub the almond meal with oat flour or more coconut flour? I think my son would love these, as would I! I know I pinned sweet potato tot recipes before but never made them yet they look super easy and I love the sweet aspect to this! As a kid, I was crazy picky (but liked sweet potatoes), I wouldn’t touch avocado until was like 30, and it’s one of my favorite foods that I eat daily.
Since they’re baked, don’t think a fine flour would work too well for crisping up. Bread crumbs would, though! Or maybe some kind of cereal?
What would happen if I put green food dye in the boiling water? If I’m lucky, the sweet pot’s would turn green and I would have a fun St. Patty’s Day treat!
DEFINITELY molding these into four leaf clovers, though.
Now there’s something I never thought of. Sounds like it’s worth trying!
Now that you’ve got my creative juices flowing…
You could also do a dipping sauce on the side (yogurt based?) and dye it green, too. Your next greatest recipe, perhaps?
Have a wonderful weekend, Amanda!
Definitely need to try this! Everyone loves sweet potatoes here so I know this would be a hit. Love the idea and that they are in tot form 🙂
I usually prefer my sweet potatoes sweet too but, then again, I hadn’t had them in tot form -like these! In fact, I am thinking I would love these way more than the savory sweet potato pancakes I make occasionally. Genius to add almond meal instead of bread crumbs – and you sure are right – coconut flour has magical extra-liquid-sopping-up-properties indeed!
Happy Friday Amanda!
Thanks so much, Shashi! Happy Friday to you as well 😀