These Tuna Patties with Sweet Potato are always a crowd-pleaser! Ready in just 30 minutes, they’re crispy, flavorful, and so delicious! This recipe is perfect as a light meal or a hearty appetizer.
I always love a satisfying recipe that I can make with just a few pantry staples. These tuna patties are made with canned tuna and sweet potatoes, plus a few other simple ingredients. They’re also super versatile, so I can enjoy them as a full meal, a satisfying snack, or a tasty appetizer.
If you have leftovers, they’re perfect for meal prep, too! I like to make a few extras and portion them out for lunches, similar to these Salmon Patties with Coleslaw Meal-Prep Bowls.
Sweet potatoes are such a delicious addition to classic tuna patties! They help hold everything together, so the patties don’t fall apart when you cook them, like most fish cakes. Plus, it makes them soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and absolutely irresistible.
Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes — I use 2 small sweet potatoes for this recipe.
- Tuna — I recommend using good-quality canned tuna. Feel free to use whatever variety you prefer.
- Onions — For the best flavor, I like a combination of white and green onions.
- Breadcrumbs — I use gluten-free breadcrumbs, but you can use regular if you don’t need the recipe to be gluten-free. Or you can use almond flour too.
- Eggs — The eggs are what bind the ingredients together.
- Seasonings — I use a blend of garlic powder, chili pepper, and salt and pepper.
- Lemon— I juice half of the lemon, and cut the other half into wedges.
- Mayonnaise — I recommend trying my easy homemade mayonnaise for this recipe. Of course, you can use whatever mayo you have on hand.
- Cooking spray — For simplicity’s sake, I like to use olive oil cooking spray, but you can also use a drizzle of olive oil.
Instructions
Cook the sweet potatoes:
- In a medium pan or stockpot, bring water to a boil and add the cubed sweet potatoes. Cook them for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they’re fork tender.
- Drain the sweet potatoes and run them under cold water to cool them down. Then, transfer them to a large mixing bowl and mash with a fork.
Combine the ingredients:
- Once the sweet potatoes have cooled, add the tuna, green onions, white onions, breadcrumbs, eggs, and mayonnaise. Season with garlic powder, chili pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Then, mix until all the ingredients are well combined.
Shape and cook the patties:
- Using your hands, shape the tuna mixture into evenly sized patties or tuna cakes/tuna burgers.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add cooking spray, vegetable oil, or olive oil.
- Cook the tuna patties for 3 to 4 minutes on both sides or until they’re golden brown.
Garnish and serve:
- Allow the tuna patties to cool slightly before serving.
- Garnish with chopped scallions or fresh herbs, if desired. Serve with lemon wedges, yogurt for dipping, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- For perfectly uniformed patties, I use a large ice cream or cookie scoop to portion out the mixture.
- Be sure to chop the sweet potatoes as uniformly as possible so they cook evenly. Alternatively, you can buy pre-cut sweet potatoes in the produce section of your grocery store.
- A great time-saver that I recommend is to place the green onions and onions in a food processor to mince them up super finely.
- My secret to the perfect sear is to not overcrowd the pan or flip the patties too soon. Allow them plenty of space to cook and time to get nice and browned.
- If the patties are hard to form, I suggest letting them chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. You can also wet your hands with cold water to keep the mixture from sticking.
- Flavorful sauce: These tuna patties are incredible on their own, and even better with a yummy sauce. I recommend a simple lemon aioli or this creamy avocado sauce.
- Side salad: When I want a fresh meal that’s still cozy, I like to pair this recipe with delicious side dishes like this roasted sweet potato kale salad or arugula salad.
- Fluffy rice: For a warm, satisfying lunch or dinner, I like to serve these tuna patties on top of fluffy rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.
Tuna Patties Recipe
This Tuna Patties Recipe is always a crowd-pleaser! Ready in just 30 minutes, they’re crispy, flavorful, and so delicious! This gluten-free recipe is perfect as a light meal or hearty appetizer.
Ingredients
- 2 small sweet potatoes peeled and sliced into chunks
- 2 cans tuna drained and flaked
- ½ cup green onions
- ½ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup white onions
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon chili pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- Salt and pepper for taste
- Olive oil cooking spray
- Lemon wedges for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium pan, bring water to a boil and add sweet potatoes. Cook them for about 10-15 minutes or until tender.
- Drain and run them under cold running water. Transfer to a large bowl and mash with a fork.
- Add the tuna, green onions, breadcrumbs, eggs, onions, garlic powder, chili pepper, lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
- Use your hand to shape mixture portions into patties.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and add olive oil or cooking spray.
- Cook patties for 3-4 minutes on both sides or until golden brown.
Notes
- For perfectly uniformed patties, you can use a large ice cream or cookie scoop to portion out the mixture.
- Make sure to chop the sweet potatoes as uniformly as possible so they cook evenly. Alternatively, you can buy pre-cut sweet potatoes.
- You can place the green onions and onions in a food processor to mince them up super finely.
- My secret to the perfect sear is to not overcrowd the pan or flip the patties too soon.
- If the patties are hard to form, let them chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. You can also wet your hands to keep the mixture from sticking.
- To store: Store the cooked sweet potato tuna patties in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
- To reheat: You can reheat the patties quickly in a skillet.
- To freeze: Flash freeze the patties on a lined sheet pan and transfer them to a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/8, Calories: 90kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 8.8g, Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 39.2mg, Sodium: 298.6mg, Sugar: 1.5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
Follow @primaverakitchen on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #primaverakitchen. We’d love to see your recreation.
I love when inspiration arrives like this!! And these look seriously awesome. I never would have thought of it, but I’m sure I’d love this!!
What a creative dish, Olivia! I always have tuna in my pantry, so this sounds like it would be a perfect meal for me. Love how easy this is to whip up, too. Looks delicious!
Wow, such a creative recipe Olivia. I want to try the combo to see what that tastes like. Sounds so easy too, love it.
This looks awesome. I wish I had a few of these ready to go in my freezer because I think they will freeze really well.
I love that you were able to think of this recipe on the spot! It’s kind of like a cooking challenge, where you only have a few ingredients and you have to create a recipe. These sweet potato tuna patties sound delicious! I bet they would make awesome tuna patty sliders too. Yum!
We make these when we don’t know what else to make, as we pretty much always have tuna and sweet potatoes in the kitchen.
Love your photos!
I absolutely have all the ingredients for this recipe at any given moment! I’ve always been a HUGE fan of crab cakes, and these patties would definitely hit the spot! Love this, Olivia!
Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods. Pairing them with tuna to make patties sounds so good! They really do make a great binder!
I love tuna but have never put it with sweet potatoes! These look so great!
I would have never thought to pair these two together!! But even though these are meant to be apps, if I have enough of them, then they count as dinner, right?
I love it when inspiration from the fridge strikes at dinnertime like that! 😀 These patties look amazing, Olivia. I love sweet potatoes so much and I’ll bet they’re amazing with tuna!
This is a delicious creative dis. I love tuna and I love sweet potatoes.. this will be a perfect dinner for me when hubby is working late.. he is a tuna fan.. 🙁 thanks for sharing Olivia!!
These are so pretty! They make tuna look elegant! Love this!
I found you via Sarah @ Whole and Heavenly Oven and I’m so glad I did!!! I am always looking for new Tuna recipes and this looks easy and fabulous. I am all about easy AND fabulous! Great photos too! So great to find a new blogger!
Thans a lot for your visiting 😉
Love the sweet potato incorporation! These look great.
I love when my husband says “we have no food!” and then I rustle through the pantry and come up with something like this! It’s the best!! These look awesome! Sweet potatoes are one of my faves… I would never think to pair them with tuna, but it looks and sounds awesome!
Love how creative you got with what you had in your pantry:) These sweet potato tuna patties sound wonderful! I love how easy they are and the flavors sound awesome!
I would never have thought to pair these ingredients together, but now that you made these patties they look amazing and sound even better! I’m so intrigued that I must try them out for myself! I could definitely be happy eating these as an entree 🙂
Love the sounds of these tuna patties, I think they would be a perfect protein packed back-to-school lunch! What a great idea.
Hello!
I made these tonight with a borrowed can of Tuna from my roommate and a Sweet potato and other veggies from the local farmer’s market, they were absolutely wonderful! I never would have thought to combine these things but I will from now on! Thanks for a great idea 🙂
~Kat
So glad you like this recipe, Kat! Thanks a lot for your comment 😉