The best minute in this recipe is the one right after the fritters come out of the oil, when they are still too hot to hold and the honey butter goes on.
The glaze thins against the heat, sinks into every crack in the crust, and sets within a minute to a thin, glossy shell.
The search results for this recipe are a coin flip, so let me be clear.
This is the dessert fritter, not the savory patty.
The sweet potato is roasted and mashed rather than grated raw, and it goes into a lightly sweetened batter with cinnamon and nutmeg, so what you get is closer to a spiced doughnut than a vegetable side.
They are round, craggy at the edges, tender in the middle, and finished sweet while they are hot.
I make them in November, when there is already a pan of roasted sweet potatoes in the oven for something else and two of them can be pulled aside for this.
My wife has learned to check the counter before she assumes dessert is not happening.
Roasting is the part that matters most.
Boiled sweet potato carries water into the batter, and water means a heavy fritter that stays raw in the middle.
Roast until the skins wrinkle and the flesh is dry and sweet, and the rest takes care of itself.
What Makes These Dessert Fritters, Not Savory Ones
Same name, different recipe. If you landed here looking for a vegetable side, this is not it, and the differences start at the first step.
- Mashed, not grated. The savory version uses raw shredded sweet potato pressed into a patty. These use cooked sweet potato mashed smooth, which is what gives the inside its soft, cakey texture.
- A batter, not a pile of shreds. Flour, eggs, milk, and baking powder make a thick drop batter that puffs slightly in the oil. It is spooned, not shaped by hand.
- Sugar and warm spice in the mix. Cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a few tablespoons of sugar go into the batter itself, so the sweetness is not just a coating.
- A sweet finish while hot. Salted honey butter here, or cinnamon sugar if you prefer, applied within a minute of leaving the oil.
- Served as dessert. Warm, on a board, after dinner or next to coffee. They are not a side dish and they do not want a dip.
Ingredient Notes
Two short lists, one for the fritters and one for the glaze. Here is what each item is doing.
- Roasted sweet potato (1 ½ cups mashed, about 2 medium). Roast whole at 400°F until a knife slides through with no resistance, then scoop out the flesh and mash it smooth. Dry flesh is the whole game.
- All-purpose flour (1 cup). Enough structure to hold a domed round in hot oil. Less and the batter spreads thin, more and the fritters turn dense.
- Granulated sugar (3 tablespoons). A light hand on purpose, since the glaze brings most of the sweetness.
- Baking powder (2 teaspoons). The lift. Without it the middle sets heavy and slightly gummy.
- Cinnamon (1 ½ teaspoons) and nutmeg (¼ teaspoon). Cinnamon leads, nutmeg sits behind it. Grate the nutmeg fresh if you have a whole one.
- Eggs (2 large). Binder and structure, and they help the outside set fast in the oil.
- Whole milk (⅓ cup). Loosens the batter to a thick drop consistency. Add it last and hold back a splash if your sweet potato ran wet.
- Vanilla (1 teaspoon). Rounds off the spice.
- Salt (½ teaspoon). In the batter, and again in the glaze, which matters more than it sounds like it should.
- Neutral oil, for frying. Canola, vegetable, or peanut. Something with a high smoke point that will not add flavor.
- Honey (½ cup), butter (4 tablespoons), water (2 tablespoons), salt (¼ teaspoon). The glaze, and that is the whole ingredient list for it.
How to Make Sweet Potato Fritters
Roast, mash, mix, fry, glaze. Active time is about 35 minutes once the sweet potatoes are roasted.
Step 1: Roast and Mash the Sweet Potatoes
Prick 2 medium sweet potatoes and roast them whole at 400°F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the skins wrinkle and a knife meets no resistance.
Split them open, let the warmth escape for five minutes, then scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash it smooth.
You want 1 ½ cups of mash, cooled to room temperature before it meets the eggs.
Step 2: Mix the Batter
Whisk the 1 cup flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in one bowl.
In another, whisk the mashed sweet potato with the 2 eggs, ⅓ cup milk, and vanilla until it is uniform and no orange streaks remain.
Fold the dry into the wet until it just comes together.
The batter should be thick enough to hold a soft mound on a spoon and slide off reluctantly. If it runs, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
Step 3: Heat the Oil
Pour 2 inches of neutral oil into a heavy pot and bring it to 350°F.
Use a thermometer. This is the one place in the recipe where guessing costs you the batch.
Step 4: Fry the Fritters
Drop rounded 2 tablespoon scoops of batter into the oil, four or five at a time so the temperature holds.
Fry 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once, until they are deep golden brown all over.
They will bob and turn themselves partway. Nudge any that stay stubborn.
Lift them onto a wire rack, never onto paper towels, so the bottoms stay crisp while you glaze.
Step 5: Make the Glaze and Finish
Bring the ½ cup honey and 2 tablespoons water to a simmer in a small pan.
Pull it off the heat and whisk in the 4 tablespoons of butter a piece at a time, then the ¼ teaspoon salt, until it is smooth and glossy.
Spoon it over the fritters while they are still hot, or drop them into the pan and turn them to coat.
Pro tip: Glaze in batches as they come out of the oil. A fritter that has cooled to warm sheds the glaze onto the rack instead of drinking it in.
The Honey Butter Glaze
Four ingredients, two minutes, and it is the reason to make this version.
Honey on its own seizes into something sticky and one-note. Simmered with a splash of water and then loosened with butter, it turns into a pourable glaze that sets to a thin shell as it cools.
The salt is not optional. A quarter teaspoon whisked into that amount of honey is what keeps the glaze from reading as flat sugar, and it is the difference between a fritter you eat one of and a fritter you eat four of.
Make it while the oil comes up to temperature and leave it in the pan off the heat. It stays pourable for about twenty minutes, and a few seconds back over low heat brings it right back if it stiffens.
If you would rather have cinnamon sugar: stir ½ cup granulated sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a shallow bowl and roll each fritter in it straight off the rack. Skip the glaze entirely. It is the simpler finish and it is very good, though the honey butter is what I make when people are coming over.
Tips for Fritters That Cook Through
A mashed-base fritter fails in the middle, not at the edges. These are the six things that decide it.
- Roast, do not boil. Boiled sweet potato carries water into the batter, and that water has to leave before the middle can set.
- Hold 350°F. Below 340°F the fritters absorb oil and go heavy. Above 370°F the outside browns before the center is done.
- Keep the scoops to 2 tablespoons. A bigger scoop needs longer than the crust can survive, and you end up with a dark shell around wet batter.
- Fry in small batches. Four or five at a time. Crowding drops the oil temperature and everything after that goes wrong at once.
- Let the oil recover between batches. Give it a minute to climb back to 350°F. The thermometer stays in the pot the whole time.
- Cut one open. The first fritter of the batch is the test. If the center is still wet, drop the heat slightly and add thirty seconds per side.
How to Serve Sweet Potato Fritters
Warm, and soon. These are at their best within fifteen minutes of the glaze going on.
- On a board, straight up. Pile them onto a wooden board and let people take them with their hands. This is how they get eaten at my house.
- With vanilla ice cream. Two warm fritters and a small scoop makes an actual plated dessert with almost no effort.
- With coffee. Black coffee against the honey butter is the pairing I keep coming back to.
- After a holiday dinner. They are a lighter ending than pie, and they use the sweet potatoes you already have on the counter in November.
- With a spoonful of whipped cream. Lightly sweetened, barely holding a peak, on the side rather than on top so the crust stays crisp.
FAQ
Are sweet potato fritters sweet or savory?
Both exist, and the name does not tell you which one you are looking at. The savory version uses raw grated sweet potato pressed into seasoned patties and served as a side dish. This recipe is the sweet one: cooked mashed sweet potato in a spiced batter, fried into rounds, and finished with honey butter glaze or cinnamon sugar. It is a dessert.
Do I use mashed or grated sweet potato for dessert fritters?
Mashed, and cooked first. Grated raw sweet potato gives you the shredded, lacy savory patty, which is a different recipe. Cooked and mashed sweet potato blends into the batter and produces a soft, cakey interior closer to a spiced doughnut, which is what the glaze needs to work against.
Can I use canned sweet potato puree?
You can, with one adjustment. Canned puree is wetter than roasted flesh, so drain off any liquid sitting on top and hold back about half the milk when you mix the batter. Add the rest only if the batter is too stiff to scoop. Avoid canned sweet potatoes packed in syrup, since the batter is already sweetened.
What oil temperature should I fry sweet potato fritters at?
350°F, held steady with a thermometer in the pot. Below 340°F the batter absorbs oil and the fritters turn heavy. Above 370°F the outside darkens well before the middle finishes cooking. Let the oil come back up to temperature between batches instead of dropping the next scoops straight in.
Why are my fritters raw in the middle?
Almost always one of three things. The scoops are too big, so shrink them to a rounded 2 tablespoons. The oil is too hot, so pull it back to 350°F. Or the sweet potato was boiled instead of roasted and carried extra water into the batter, which the frying time cannot fix. Cut the first fritter of each batch open to check before committing to the rest.
Can I make sweet potato fritters ahead of time?
Partly. Roast and mash the sweet potato up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate it, and mix the glaze a few hours ahead and rewarm it gently. Do not mix the batter early, since the baking powder starts working immediately and the fritters lose their lift. Fried fritters are best within an hour, though a 5 minute stint in a 350°F oven brings day-old ones back most of the way.
Can I roll them in cinnamon sugar instead of glazing them?
Yes, and it is a genuinely good version. Mix ½ cup granulated sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon and roll each fritter while it is hot enough that the sugar clings. Skip the honey butter entirely if you go this route, since the two finishes together are too much sweetness on one fritter.
Recipe
Sweet Potato Fritters with Honey Butter Glaze
Ingredients
For the Fritters
- 1 ½ cups mashed roasted sweet potato about 2 medium sweet potatoes, cooled
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- neutral oil for frying, about 2 inches in the pot
For the Honey Butter Glaze
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar Finish (Alternative)
- ½ cup granulated sugar for rolling
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon for rolling
Instructions
Roast and Mix
- Prick the sweet potatoes and roast them whole at 400 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes, until the skins wrinkle and a knife meets no resistance. Split them open, let the warmth escape, then scoop out the flesh and mash it smooth. You need 1 ½ cups, cooled to room temperature.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk the mashed sweet potato with the eggs, milk, and vanilla until uniform with no streaks remaining.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. The batter should hold a soft mound on a spoon. If it runs, add flour one tablespoon at a time.
Fry the Fritters
- Pour 2 inches of neutral oil into a heavy pot and bring it to 350 degrees F, using a thermometer.
- Drop rounded 2 tablespoon scoops of batter into the oil, four or five at a time. Fry 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once, until deep golden brown all over.
- Lift the fritters onto a wire rack rather than paper towels, and let the oil come back to 350 degrees F before the next batch.
Glaze and Serve
- Bring the honey and water to a simmer in a small pan. Off the heat, whisk in the butter a piece at a time, then the salt, until smooth and glossy.
- Spoon the glaze over the fritters while they are still hot, or turn them in the pan to coat. Serve warm.
- For the cinnamon sugar version instead, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and roll each fritter while hot. Skip the glaze.
Notes
- Timing: The 35 minute total covers mixing, frying, and glazing. Roasting the sweet potatoes takes an additional 50 to 60 minutes and can be done up to 3 days ahead.
- Roast, do not boil: Boiled sweet potato carries water into the batter and leaves the fritters raw in the middle.
- Hold the oil at 350 degrees F: Too cool and they absorb oil, too hot and the outside darkens before the center sets.
- Glaze them hot: A fritter that has cooled to warm sheds the glaze instead of soaking it in.
- Keep the scoops small: A rounded 2 tablespoons cooks through in the time the crust can take.
- Make ahead: Roast and mash the sweet potato up to 3 days ahead, but mix the batter only right before frying.
