Fry up some holiday magic with these egg-free sweet potato latkes

Nothing is better than latkes. Except maybe sweet potato latkes.

We take this classic Hanukkah recipe and make it just a little bit healthier. Since this holiday is predicated upon fried food, anything helps!

These latkes are easy, fun to make, and taste (and smell) delicious.

Go make them whether your family does Hanukkah or not. These latkes will give you something to celebrate!

A Hanukkah Miracle: Aquafaba

Latkes are one of my favorite parts of Hanukkah. But when you veganize your kitchen, you’re suddenly missing your binder! Yes, I said binder, not blender. 🙂

So you need a binder to keep your potatoes together.

We tried flax seeds and egg replacement products and didn’t have much luck. Instead we settled on aquafaba.

What’s aquafaba?

In layman terms, chickpea water.

Most recipes that call for canned chickpeas tell you to drain the liquid. This recipe tells you to do the opposite, drain the beans! The chickpea water has an egg-like consistency and can be used to assist in binding.

There’s lots of other uses for aquafaba, like making meringues, mayo, and baked goods in general. We’ll be trying a lot more recipes using this technique in our Vitamix in the future.

Anyways, I put my Grandmothers’ sweet potato latke recipe to work with a few substitutions. We subbed out aquafaba for eggs and added some sweet potatoes. (It felt a little sacrilegious, but they were great!)

In all honesty, they did not bind nearly as well as the traditional egg does, but it did work. And you cannot go wrong with fried potato anything (even if it’s a kitchen fail). Just note that you’ll be spending more time watching over your frying pan than you normally would.

No latke is complete without applesauce and sour cream as a topping. We’ve recreated our applesauce to simplify and developed a vegan sour cream too!

These are a great main dish or side dish. Check out our Vegan Vitamix Recipe Guide for meal inspiration.

Be a mensch, make these latkes for your family.

Recipe

Vegan Sweet Potato Latkes

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• Yield: 16 latkes
• You're needed for: 30 minutes
• Until it's done: 60 minutes
• Shalva Gale
• Holiday Feast

A vegan take on a classic Hanukkah treat

Aquafaba, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes,

Ingredients:

• potato - 1 whole
• sweet potato - 1 whole
• aquafaba (chickpea water) - 6 Tbsp. (90 mL)
• flour - 1/2 cup (60 g)
• salt - 1 tsp. (6 g)
• oil (grapeseed, sunflower, canola) - 1 cup (236 mL)

Instructions:

PULSE

1. Peel your potatoes
2. Cut them into golf-ball sized pieces
3. Add a few cups at a time to your Vitamix container
4. Turn to high and pulse 5-10 times

DRAIN

1. Remove as much excess water as possible
2. Pour into a bowl
3. Add aquafaba, flour and salt

FRY

1. Heat an inch of oil in a large pan
2. Add a small packed disk of the potato mixture
3. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes
4. Flip and cook for 1-2 more

If your latkes are falling apart:

• Try adding more aquafaba to your mixture
• Pack your latkes tighter
• Heat your oil more
• Add more flour to your mixture

Useful tips for Vegan Sweet Potato Latkes

You can use any latke recipe and just substitute 3 Tbsp (45 mL) of aquafaba for every egg.

Does your chickpea water look too runny to resemble an egg? Put it in a pot and boil off some liquid.

You can hand-shred your potatoes if you’re a purist. Otherwise you can do a wet chop in your Vitamix. We got a great consistency (and saved our knuckles) by using this method.

The trick with latkes is to get the potatoes as dry as possible before adding the "eggs" and flour. We used the filtration bag that came with our Vitamix.

Fry your latkes until they are just golden brown and put them on paper towel to soak up some oil.

Serve them with "sour cream" and a little green garnish.

Or with homemade apple sauce.

Or if you're feeling sassy, both!