sweet potato cakes with sriracha ranch

it’s a truth universally acknowledged that potato-based foods are the cure to long work weeks, winter blues, cooking melancholy, and most general ailments. *this has not be scientifically proven but i’m sure their findings would yield highly similar results.

waving at you from a week of epic proportions where i felt like I was excited and content and drained and sometimes all three at once. happy and languishing, as it often seems to be. in between my languishing i thought about making a play on indian street food aloo tikki but with a heavy lean into crispy garlic flavors with a spicy ranch dunking sauce, and so, these sweet potato cakes were born.

i’d like to take this moment to drive home the point that these are made with just a few ingredients (a baked sweet potato, flour, some spices) and the sriracha ranch is literally just… sriracha and ranch. yes. YES. things are looking up for february!!

would these be amazing deep-fried? of course they would. do i have an innate fear of obtaining 3rd degree burns from oil splatter whilst trying to deep fry something? of course i do, so we’re just going to take the risk-averse route and pan-sear these cuties. quick, easy, disaster-free. for those of you who want to put your danger zone pants on, deep fry away, my friends. you could also bake them but i like to get them in a bit of hot oil for maximum crisp.

a few things before we get started:
- you can prep your sweet potato well beforehand and quickly sear your cakes when you’re ready to eat!
- on that note, i recommend eating these crispy cakes right after you’ve made them. they don’t reheat quite as nicely and you’ll lose some of the gorgeous, textured crust if you microwave these babies.
- this recipe is super easy to double - literally just x2 the ingredients and you’ve got yourself a sweet potato cake party (WAIT, should we do this??)
- this recipe is easily made vegan with your favorite vegan ranch! we love.

sweet potato cakes with sriracha ranch
makes: 6 cakes
prep time: 45 minutes to bake the sweet potato
cook time: 10 minutes

for the sweet potato cakes
1 sweet potato, baked and skin removed
1tsp olive oil for the sweet potato + 1tbsp olive oil for frying
1/3c flour
2tbsp coconut flour
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp chili powder
1/4tsp cumin
1/2tsp salt

for the sriracha ranch:
2bsp sriracha
2tbsp ranch

parsley and sea salt for serving, optional

place the baked sweet potato with its’ skin removed in a large bowl with the oil, flours, and spices. fold together to combine - the ‘dough’ bind together and become pliable to form into small cakes.

roll the sweet potato mixture into 6 balls, then flatten slightly with your palm to create a small cake. heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium, then sear the sweet potato cakes for 2-3 min per side until golden and crispy.

meanwhile, stir the sriracha and ranch to combine.

once the sweet potato cakes are cooked and crispy, top with sea salt, parsley, and serve with the sriracha ranch.