I’m always a fan of quick dinner recipes. Most of those completely delicious recipes use processed ingredients or lots of carbs to cut down on time making the meal. While carbs are my favorite food group, sometimes I’m in the mood for something lighter. This sweet potato hash perfectly fits that niche, offering a high-protein, low-calorie, easy-to-make meal.

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Like many other recipes on this site, this sweet potato hash is extremely versatile. It is gluten-free and dairy-free at baseline, and it can be made vegetarian (or even vegan) if you substitute an artificial meat, like Impossible or Beyond, for the ground turkey. It conforms to Paleo and clean eating diet plans, and is a low glycemic meal if you are trying to watch your sugar. If you want, this sweet potato hash can be served topped with a fried egg – perfect for dinner in the evening and for breakfast leftovers the next morning.

A plate of sweet potato hash made with ground turkey sits on a white plate, whish rests on a wooden surface.

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We first started making the recipe when much of my family went on the Whole30 diet. Although we never committed to the program, we did find ourselves incorporating many of the principles into our mealtime routine. This recipe is adapted from the official Whole30 Cookbook; their sweet potato hash is presented as more of a breakfast dish, and uses sausage instead of ground turkey.

A plate of vegetarian sweet potato hash, made with artificial ground meat, sits on a white plate, which rests on a wooden surface. Specs of scrambled egg are visible in the dish. To make vegan sweet potato hash, you can either omit the egg or use an egg substitute.

Ingredients

As was I discussed above, you can make either a traditional or a vegetarian sweet potato hash, depending on what you use for the meat. We usually garnish each serving of sweet potato hash with a fried or scrambled egg, but you can omit that portion (or substitute an artificial egg product) to make this dish completely vegan.

1 pound cooked ground turkey – you can substitute for the ground meat (or meat alternative) of your choice
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 yellow onion, diced
2 teaspoons avocado oil
1 teaspoon each of several spices: minced garlic, cumin, cinnamon, and paprika
5 eggs (omit or substitute with artificial eggs if making a vegan sweet potato hash)
Frank’s Red Hot, to taste

How to make sweet potato hash

The part of this recipe that takes the longest? Peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes. If we’re having sweet potato hash for dinner, I’ll often peel and chop all of the potatoes in the morning before leaving for work. You can also brown your ground meat ahead of time and store in it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook.

Once all of your vegetables have been cubed or diced, heat up avocado oil in a Dutch oven or large pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion in avocado oil until it becomes translucent. Add the sweet potato and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds before adding the remaining spices. Cook until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add your ground turkey or meat substitute. and remove from heat. Why do I recommend cooking the meat ahead of time before placing it in the sweet potato hash? Partly because it cuts down on immediate prep time, but also for a more important reason. In our house, I tend to avoid meat, while my husband is happy to enjoy it with every meal.

It’s not practical for us to make to separate entrees for dinner every night, so in order to enjoy a vegan sweet potato hash, I will usually double the amount of sweet potatoes and brown two “meats” on the stove – ground turkey and whatever brand of ground meat alternative was on sale. By adding the ground meat last, I can divide the cooked sweet potatoes into two different containers and not have to worry about truly making two entrees. Okay, back to the recipe.

In a separate pan, fry the eggs to your liking. If you’re making enough sweet potato hash for leftovers, I recommend only frying one egg per serving that will be eaten immediately. If you are using this recipe for your weekly meal prep, you could scramble the eggs instead, as they tend to keep better in the refrigerator.

Once the eggs have been cooked to your liking, place the sweet potato hash into a bowl and top each serving with one cooked egg. Garnish with Frank’s Red Hot or other hot sauce as desired and enjoy!

On left, sweet potato hash made with ground turkey, topped with an egg fried over medium. On the right, vegetarian sweet potato hash made with a meat alternative (probably Lightlife, since that’s usually cheaper in our area)

Whether you made vegetarian sweet potato hash or the more traditional version, I hope you enjoyed it! If you made it at home, feel free to tag any food photos with @WhiskAverseBaking or to leave a comment on this post. If you’d like to save this recipe for a rainy day, feel free to click the “Pin Recipe” button in the card below.