As we move into day 4 of our cleaning up Pineterest week I wanted to give an example of how just swapping 1 or 2 ingredients for a healthier one can make a big difference in terms of nutrition. In fact, one of the biggest reasons Sara and I are doing these recipe swaps this week is to show how easy it can be to make a recipe healthier. You don’t have to create new clean recipes from scratch. With a few minor tweaks anyone can clean up their own favorite recipes. You don’t have to give up your favorite things to eat healthy!
For today’s swap I decided to clean up a hash brown recipe I saw. The recipe was number 11 on The Huffington Posts’ “20 Recipes that Won Pinterest in 2013.” While the original recipe is great, it uses white potatoes which offer very little nutritional value. Check out the original recipe here! All I did to lean this recipe up was to swap the white potatoes for sweet, the olive oil for coconut oil (I thought it would give it great flavor) and I dropped the Parmesan cheese (I didn’t think it was necessary for the sweet potato version, but you can leave it in if you want).
This clean version of the hash browns is easy to make. They are the perfect side dish for you weekend breakfasts, or as a grab and go breakfast or snack on a busy day. They do cook for almost an hour though, so make sure you plan ahead!
Local Ingredient: Organic Sweet Potato
Ingredients
1 large sweet potato, shredded (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 onion, diced
1-2 tbsp coconut oil, plus more for greasing the muffin tins
sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Use the large shreds side of a cheese grater to shred your sweet potato, should yield about 3-4 cups. Use either a salad spinner or blot with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture from the shredded sweet potato.
- In a large bowl mix together the shredded sweet potato, diced onion, coconut oil, and sea salt. Use you hands to combine all the ingredients.
- Grease a muffin tin with coconut oil.
- Scoop the mixture into the muffin tins, filling them to the top. Press the mixture down into each muffin tin with either your hand or a spoon, compressing them as much as possible.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-65 minutes, until the hash browns are dark brown and have reduced in size by at least half.
- Remove from the muffin tins and serve.
Thank you for the recipe. I made them this morning, while very tasty they basically came out like mush. I think I will try and dry (salad spinner might come in handy) the shredded potato next time and see if that helps.
Hi Laurie. I am sorry to hear that the potatoes turned out soggy! It is possible they had too much liquid. Using a salad spinner or trying to blot them with a towel may work. Another option would be to use only 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil. Finally, sometimes if you leave them in the oven a little longer, say 10-15 minutes, it might dry the potatoes out more if they are very moist. Thank you so much for your feedback on the recipe! I have updated the recipe to incorporate some tips for making sure the potatoes are dry.