I’ve been dying to post this all week because these Sweet Potato Corn Cakes are SOOO good and I just know that you’ll love them as much as I do… and if you don’t, I might be forced to ask myself what is wrong with you.
These are “every bite is better than the last one” good. They’re so good that they make you wonder why other food even exists when flavors this bright and vibrant are possible.
…and thats what I was thinking when eating the reheated leftovers a minute ago. So, can you imagine how good they were fresh? Probably not. It’s unimaginable. You have to experience it.
Anyway, enough gushing. Onto the important stuff.
First – This recipe makes a HUGE batch, so feel free to half it. I wouldn’t suggest trying to half a raw egg, instead just add more than half breadcrumbs (probably 3/4 cup) to make up for the extra moisture.
Second – These sweet potato corn cakes are fried. You’ll just have to accept that. I tried to bake some and they were horrid. Dry, poor texture, just not good. If you’re brave enough to try baking them yourself and actually have success, please share your technique… because I just couldn’t make it work.
Third – I demand that you to try these.
Sweet Potato Corn Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce
Sweet Potato Corn Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce
Servings 10 about 3 cakes eachIngredients
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes ($3.17)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels ($0.30)
- 2 green onions ($0.19)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro, divided ($0.21)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1 tsp cumin ($0.05)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 large egg ($0.25)
- 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal ($0.19)
- 1 cup plain breadcrumbs ($0.50)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying ($0.43)
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.55)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
Instructions
- Begin by cooking the sweet potatoes. The fastest way to do this is in the microwave. Prick the skin of each potato with a fork. Wrap one potato in a paper towel, place it on a plate, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully remove it from the microwave, squeeze it to make sure it’s soft in the center, and the allow it cool as you cook the next one. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.
- Slice the green onions and roughly chop a handful of cilantro (about 1/8th of a bunch). Add the green onions, cilantro, frozen corn kernels, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl with the cooked sweet potatoes. Stir until well combined. You can taste it at this point and adjust the seasoning as desired.
- Add the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and egg to the bowl. These ingredients will bind the mixture together and keep it from falling apart while cooking. Stir until evenly combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to absorb moisture.
- While the sweet potato mixture is refrigerating, mix up the garlic sauce. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, one clove of well minced garlic, and a handful of cilantro leaves (roughly chopped). Stir until combined and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
- After the sweet potato mixture has refrigerated, it’s time to cook. Add enough vegetable oil to fully cover the bottom of a medium skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until the surface appears wavy (if it begins to smoke, remove it from the burner immediately and turn down the heat). Shape the sweet potato mixture into small patties (about 2-3 Tbsp each) and cook about 4 at a time in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on each side; about 2 minutes per side. After cooking, place on a paper towel covered plate to drain. Add more oil to the skillet as needed.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Serve warm with the garlic yogurt dipping sauce.
Step By Step Photos
Start by pricking the skin of each sweet potato to allow steam to escape as they cook. No one wants to clean exploded sweet potato out of their microwave.
Wrap one potato in a paper towel and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully squeeze it to make sure it’s soft in the center and then cook the next one. I used one paper towel for all four sweet potatoes.
They’ll be super hot when they come out of the microwave, so let them cool just a bit before cutting into them. Slice it open and scoop out the cooked flesh.
Place the cooked sweet potato in a bowl and add the frozen corn kernels (they’ll help cool the sweet potato the rest of the way), sliced green onions, roughly chopped cilantro, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Stir it all together.
Now it’s time to add the binders. I used one egg, 1/3 cup of cornmeal (it helps bind and gives more texture than just breadcrumbs) and one cup of breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs are not in the picture (don’t ask). Stir it all together and then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
While the sweet potato mix is refrigerating, make the garlic yogurt sauce. Finely mince a clove of garlic and roughly chop another handful of cilantro. Stir those into a cup of plain yogurt. You can add a pinch of salt if you’d like. Refrigerate the sauce until you’re ready to serve.
After the mixture has chilled, it’s time to cook. Take about 2 Tbsp of sweet potato mix and shape it into a small patty. My mixture was still pretty wet/sticky, but it was shape-able.
Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. You want the oil to be quite hot before adding the cakes. It should look wavy on the surface. You can take a pinch of the sweet potato mixture and add it to the skillet to test it. It should sizzle heavily. Add about four patties to the skillet and cook until deep golden brown on one side, then flip.
Cook on the other side in the same manner. It should only take about two minutes per side. Try not to make your patties too thick otherwise the inside won’t heat through before the outside browns. About a half inch thick is good.
Place the cooked sweet potato cakes on a paper towel lined plate and cook the next batch. Add more oil as needed, always allowing it to heat up before adding more sweet potato cakes.
Why, hello there little warm, delicious sweet potato corn cakes…
Delicious, thank you!
I used a couple cups of leftover mashed sweet potatoes and estimated the other ingredients (probably easier to make a batch of the mashed sweet potatoes as you describe in the amazing sweet potato cornbread recipe rather than individually microwaving and scooping out potatoes). I substituted quick oats for the bread crumbs, probably a little cheaper, healthier and/or easier than bread crumbs.
Does anyone happen to know how many cups of mashed sweet potatoes 3 pounds of sweet potatoes make? My estimates worked fine, but it would be nice to have it official.
your SWEET POTATO CORN CAKES recipe looks yummy. We are add in our menu and Our client Loved this. This recipe So delicious and so easy to make. Thank you!
Loved this recipe! So delicious and so easy to make. Thank you!
Made this without the cornmeal, subbed the green onion for chives, and cut the recipe in half and these still turned out amazing!
Did you substitute anything for the cornmeal??? Or just took it completely out of the recipe?
Would I do anything differently if I am using leftover roasted corn on the cob? Use more than a cup probably?
I don’t think you’d need to do anything differently. :) You could sub 1:1, or if you want a little more corn it’s flexible enough to accommodate.
Made this tonight! It was amazing! My husband loved it! Will definitely make it again! Great idea for a pot luck!
Except for changing the taste, would using regular potatoes work in this recipe? I have family members who do not care for sweet potatoes and I really want to try these.
White potatoes also have a different texture and moisture content than sweet potatoes, so it may change the texture as well. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to say exactly to what extent it would affect this without testing it.
Can you freeze these?
You can freeze them after shaping and before cooking.
To cook them after freezing do you defrost them first or cook from frozen?
I just cooked them from frozen because they’re so small that they defrost and heat through very quickly. :)
Hi. Love the recipe. But I have a question. Is this recipe for 10 people or for 10 corn cakes? Thank you
Sorry about that, looks like that info got lost when we switched recipe cards! It makes about 30 cakes, or 10 servings of 3 cakes each (appetizer size servings).
This recipe looks yummy! What are some suggestions on what to serve with this?
These look so good! Is the nutrition breakdown for one corn cake as a serving?
This is definitely entering the “rotation!” I thought I was going to mess it up but even I couldn’t. The patties are delicious enough by themselves, but with the sauce…omg…
hey. Since you made them I was wondering …..is this recipe for 10 people or for 10 cakes? Thanks :)
This is my second time making these. I brought them to work and everyone who was fortunate enough to try one loved them (even the meat-eaters )Lol. I used vegan mayo, garlic, cilantro and sweet chilli sauce omg!
These were delicious! I was feeling lazy, so I used a jalapeno-parmesan-artichoke dip on top of it. My husband used some mayonnaise. They both worked! Definitely a make again!
I used gf flour 1 cup was the only change to ingr. For baking I used my silpat baking sheet and put a dot of oil where each cake was going to be placed. Drop by tablespoon on each spot of baking oil on silpat gently form flat cake. Bake at 500degrees till lightly crispy on bottom 11 minutes. Remove pan and flip each cake. And gently press down with spatula to flatten shape. Bake another10 min till lightly browned, remove to paper towel. These came out crispy and light density. Tastes good.