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.
These sound delicious! I’m wondering though how many patties it makes? Just trying to get an idea of size.
Thanks!
Hello, Barb. It is about 12-15 patties. It will depends on the size you make the patties. Thanks for your question.
Just made these for our evening meal and they were absolutely delicious. My son is a very fussy eater and he also cleared his plate. I initially thought they appeared a bit wet So I chilled them for half hour before cooking. I need not have worried, they cooked perfectly. I will be making these again and again, thankyou for posting. I got 10 large fish cakes for my batch so have plenty left for lunch tomorrow
Just made these – amaaaaaazing! Mine fell apart a bit when I fried them (due to my bad catering skills, rather than the recipe), but they still taste fab.
I have a lot of mixture left over, so I’m gonna have more tomorrow, but I was wondering if they would freeze well once they’ve been fried?
They are delicious, but I baked the patties , and for faster cooking I microwave the sweet potatoes.
These didn’t bind very well for me 🙁 I don’t know what’s up with them but I can’t flip them without them falling apart. Is it me or the recipe?
Jordan, I don’t know why it happened to you. It never happened to me. Do you add the right about of sweet potato and breadcrumbs? Or what was the type of sweet potato you used? If you add more breadcrumbs it will help to stay together. Let me know if it solves the problems 😉
While I’m sure that your exact recipe is delicious, I just made these and they were awesome!!! I used three large sweet potatoes, and five cans of tuna. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, thyme, garlic and onion pwd, and cayenne. I didn’t even add bread crumbs or eggs because I didn’t have them. This made the patties a little looser, but they stayed together and came out fine. I tried them in a hot cast iron skillet with olive oil. On some,i sprinkled some shredded cheese, and on others I squeezed on a little lime juice. Both were delicious. Super easy, super delicious base recipe that lends itself to endless variations.
Before I went gluten free, I always loved making a tuna patty that used ‘Saltine crackers’ as the binder, which is obviously not healthy. I think from now on I’ll always use sweet potato instead…such a better option. I always seasoned them very heavily with lemon and thyme, and served them with a white sauce with green peas in it. Delicious!. (Now I just need to learn how to make a gluten free white sauce.) Thank you for improving my family recipe!. Well done!
lovely!
Thanks 😉
I used leftover couscous instead of the breadcrumbs and they came out nicely. Thanks for this recipe
Wow that’s great. I’ve never thought about adding couscous in this recipe. Thanks for the feedback 😉
Would this recipe work for school lunch?
I believe so, Karen!
These look delicious, would they freeze ok?
I think so, Sharyn. Although I can’t say for sure since I’ve never froze them before.
We used fresh tuna (perks of living on the coast!), and we used about twice the amount the recipe called for. We also used real garlic & these were delicious!
Amazing!
I made these and they turned out delicious! But, do you think they would work with canned yams to save time?
I’m not sure since I’ve never used canned yams, but I don’t see why not.
I just made my own version of these due to not having some ingredients/unable to have some of the ingredients and I couldn’t ram them in my face quick enough! I used one large sweet potato, two tins of tuna, frozen peas, almond flour instead of bread crumbs, asafoetida instead of onions, chilli flakes, GF worcester sauce and black pepper. I sauteed some kale for them to sit on in olive oil and GF worcester sauce. As i was eating them and glanced over the recipe again, i realised i’d forgotten the eggs! Nevermind though, they stayed together very well and they were super tasty. Thank you for the inspiration!
You’re very welcome and your version of my recipe sounds amazing 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
Have made these several times. Who knew sweet potato was so good in so many ways. really liked these. Thank you
That’s amazing. Happy you liked it 😉
O , I look at your website and another ,your’s for the carb’s , I’m 74 yrs. young . I saw a recie pt tthat had two pork chops in a dish ,it was in a cooker (repecit)with apples ,brown suger and some other main thing???? I cannot find it and I looked at the other site with no luck????
The only two pork chop recipes I have on my site are these one:
1. Easy Oven Pork Chop recipe
2. Garlic Butter Baked Pork Chops
Hope it helps 😉
These are SO GOOD! Life changer, seriously. I always have tuna and sweet potatoes at home, and this is a fantastic “I have nothing in the fridge” meal. I will definitely make them again. Who would have thought they went so well together? Great recipe!
It’s a great combo 😉
Have you tried these with quinoa instead of breadcrumbs? If so, how did they turn out. These sound interesting.
Thank you!
I tried it with Almond Flour and it worked very well too.
LOVE!! I just made these and they were super yummy. I added some dairy-free shredded cheese and cumin just for fun. 😉
That’s awesome. Thanks for stopping by 😉
I wonder if that lemon butter sauce from the tuna muffins recipe would be nice drizzled on top of these yummies!
For sure it would work!
Two cans of tuna, how much in grams please?
One can of tuna is about 185g.