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These sweet potato & carrot “tots” are a healthier alternative to tater tots, and a great way to sneak orange-colored vegetables into your kids meals which are high in vitamin C and beta-carotene. An easy sweet potato recipe your kids will love!
Sweet Potato and Carrot “Tots”
I tested these a few times and finally got them just right. I found sauteing the vegetables a few minutes before forming them into tots made them easier to work with, and I think also improved the texture. These taste great on their own, but if your kids like to dip their potatoes in ketchup, it’s also great on the side.
Sweet Potato and Carrot “Tots”
Yield: Servings
Serving Size: 5 tots
Ingredients
- Olive oil spray
- 1 large, 1/2 pound sweet potato, peeled
- 1 large, 1/4 pound carrot, peeled
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray a sheet pan with olive oil. Set aside.
- Cut sweet potato and carrot into 3 or 4 large chunks. Place them in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until finely chopped into rice-size pieces.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat, spray the pan with oil and add the chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes, until softened. Transfer to a large bowl with the egg, panko, mozzarella, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and stir with a spatula to ensure it is evenly combined.
- With your hands, gently form sweet potato-carrot mixture into small rectangular pieces, pressing and rolling them firmly together about 1 tablespoon each. Evenly space them on prepared sheet pan, spray with olive oil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, using your hands or small spatula, flip each over, put them back in the oven and bake for 10-12 more minutes, or until brown and crisp. Makes 30 tots.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
Serving: 5 tots, Calories: 98 kcal, Carbohydrates: 16 g, Protein: 4 g, Fat: 2 g, Cholesterol: 33.5 mg, Sodium: 255 mg, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 1.5 g
Can these be baked in an air fryer?
I made these & they were very good. We don’t like sweet potatoes, so I used golden Yukon instead.
These are definitely a keeper!
I just made these! They are delicious and super easy. I used my new air fryer instead of popping them in the oven. I am freezing the rest for another meal. Yum!
We loved these, but think I would just make 6 patties next time, much easier all around!
I had considered that. Thanks for posting. I’m going to do that next time
I didn’t use the egg I used 1 tablespoon flaxseed 3 tablespoons water. I also did not use the paprika. The recipe turned out great.
Delicious! I made these into disks instead of logs because that was easier to shape. I also grated the veggies instead of food processing and then I used kitchen sheers and cut through the bowl several times so there weren’t any long stringy bits. They taste amazing! Definitely making again. They did require about 16 minutes after the first flip to get nice and crispy.
Another ask about preparing these in the air fryer. TIA!
Can you air fry these?
I’m super calorie conscious and would love to have these, but 20 calories is so high for just one! I was wondering if there are components I could leave out or switch – like using just egg whites instead of a whole egg, or leaving out the cheese (lactose intolerant here)?
How big of a different would either of those have on the recipe?
egg white would work and lower them
Has anyone tried this with regular potatoes to make cheesy tator tots?
I did . They turned out great!
I’m currently obsessed with these! Very easy to make and I use for several meals throughout the week
I never know what to do with my shredded carrots after making a carrot juice in my slow juicer. This is the perfect dinner ! The only thing i changed was that i put small holes with a fork into my sweet potato, wrapped it in aluminium and let it bake in the oven for 40min. After that u simply peel of the skin and mush it. I’m definitelly gonna do this recipe again and again ! Thank you !!!
PS.: which dips/ sauces do you recommend to it? i tried a cheesy tzaziki and it was great 😀 !
Yum! These are addictive. Mine were a little crumbly, I think I needed a tad more egg. But delicious and really pretty easy! With the stores having lots of varied colors of carrots, I might try making these tri-colored for fun XD
Just made these! I added a fair amount of extra red pepper for more spice (which i highly recommend if you like that sort of thing) but they all fell apart when I tried to flip them! Going to be doing more a hash brown thing rather than a tot thing
Gina – is there any way to make these and the veggie tots gluten free?
I think gluten-free crumbs would be ok.
I used gluten free crunbs and it works perfectly :d !
can you put a video on how to make these
WOW!!! These were amazing. So glad I had a sweet potato and carrot to put these together. The spices worked well. Although we had them for supper with grilled burgers, they would work well as appetizers also. Thanks for a delicious new recipe.
Gina – I’d like to make these sweet potato and carrot “tots” but my daughter is allergic to eggs unless baked for a certain time on a high temp of 450 degrees. If I omit the egg, what else could I substitute with, if anything?
Try using a flax egg instead
These sound so delicious! I love the combo of sweet potato and carrot. If I don’t have a food processor, do you think I could you get away with finely grating them? Thanks a bunch 🙂
I think so.
I made these last night, and added some diced onion, since I didn’t have onion powder. I also used regular breadcrumbs since that’s all I had. However, they completely crumbled after baking them. Did I do something wrong for them to not hold together when picking them up?
I am having this same problem. This is my third try too!
I’m not sure?
I made these over the weekend….the flavor was good, but I have no idea how you would get 30 of them! I used almost 1 lb of sweet potato (so almost double what it calls for). I made them very small, as noted, and still only got a yield of 24. I used parchment paper on my cookie sheet to prevent messes, and I had to cook them a little longer to get them browned even slightly. They never did really get crisp or brown…maybe because they were sharing the oven with my braising chicken . They are tasty, but you definitely need to adjust the amount you make if you want to serve six people with this recipe.
Did you use level tablespoons?
I also only got 26 out of the recipe … if I made them any smaller they wouldn’t hold together. Mine stuck a little bit on the first side, but no disasters. 🙂 they browned ok, but weren’t super crunchy. All-in-all, they were good, but i’m not sure i would go through the effort to make them again.
I only managed to make 19 and they were very small!
Looks really delicious! But I don’t really like cheese, what is the best alternative for cheese for this one? And thanks for sharing the mouthwatering recipe!
You could leave it out.
Made these tonight and they were delicious!
Looks delicious – but 20 calories per to seems high to me!
I’m gluten intolerant, do you think I could use almond flour as a binder?
Yum! Do you think you could prepare these, then freeze and bake from frozen? I’m not always home to start dinner, but my husband would pop these in the oven.
I think so.
Can you give us any instructions on how to reheat them? Time? Temp?
These sound wonderful, excited to try this recipe. Do you think it would be possible to freeze the formed tots and bake them when ready to use?
I haven’t tried, it should be OK. Or you could bake, freeze and then reheat.
Hi Gina:
Thank you so much for always giving the best recipes. I’ve always enjoyed every recipe I’ve tried from your site and both books. I’m on my way to the store to get some ingredients for Thanksgiving prep. Any chance you would ever post a time line for Thanksgiving food prep? It always seems like a challenge for me and I’d be interested to know how you work out all those little details.
A great idea, I will try this year but if not next year for sure!
My child has an egg allergy I always want to make something like this or broccoli bites but am not sure what to substitute does anyone have any ideas if you even can?
You can substitute a “flax egg” in any recipe that requires an egg. Just a quick Google search you can find the way to substitute it! Good luck!
I use a powdered egg replacer, you mix a small amount with water and when it bakes it imitates the binding properties of eggs. It’s vegan too! I get mine at Whole Foods.
http://www.ener-g.com/egg-replacer.html
Making these for Thanksgiving appetizers. Sounds kid-friendly too,
🙂
These sound great. I would love to make several batches and freeze them. Do you think you can freeze these? Would you freeze them raw or cooked? How would you reheat them?
I haven’t tried freezing them so if you do let me know how they come out!
Can’t wait to try with marinara or honey mustard.
Making these tonight as a side dish for cod. I have the ingredients and they sound great!
Green Giant actually sells a Riced Carrot and Sweet Potato blend in the frozen aisle, which could save some time if in a hurry! Definitely will try these soon. Thanks Gina!
Great tip!!! Thank you!
Do you think these would freeze well, and reheat in a toaster oven? My kids love sweet potato, so I’m thinking of making a big batch and pulling them out little by little…
I haven’t tried but I think that would work!
these sound amazing! I cant have that kind of cheese, do you think swiss would be ok as a substitute? Think im going to try these next week!