Sweet Potato Donuts

Sweet potato donuts turn a healthy vegetable into a fun, kid friendly snack. Sweet potatoes are sliced and baked into donut shapes before topping and decorating. Kids love that they look familiar and you’ll love how easy it is to convince them to try a healthy treat.

Sweet potatoes are one of the first foods I tried with both boys when I was introducing solid food for the first time. Both boys absolutely loved them – I would go through those 5 pound bags in a week easily, no questions asked. When baby led weaning I would steam sticks for Owen and bake up the rest as fried for Ryan and I would serve them at least once a day.

And then, out of no where, Ryan decided he hated sweet potatoes. Because 3 is the worst age ever and of course he did.

This happens a lot with my kids – we’re doing great, the kids love a vegetable, they ask for it non stop, and then out of the blue it’s the most hated food ever. It’s not even that I over serve it and they get tired – I try to make sure I don’t do that for that exact reason. But the truth is, one day Ryan is begging for “orange ‘tatoes” and the next minute he takes a bite and wipes his tongue off like I just offered him poison. Who knows.

When this happens I do one of two things: let it be and hope that next week it will come back into rotation, or I make a desperate attempt to get it back to a prized food.

With sweet potatoes, I went with option number 2 because they are such a staple at our house.

So I racked my brain in an attempt to figure out what I can do to make my kids want to eat sweet potatoes. I thought of butter and brown sugar but I figured at that point why bother trying to convince them tot eat veggies if they’ll just get drowned in sugar. But sugar… sugar reminded me of something they do love: donuts.

Like hidden veggie recipes? Try this: Over 100 Hidden Veggie Recipes Your Kids Will Love!

Yes, I could have gone the route I did with these healthy donuts  and made a sweet potato donut – it would be pretty simple since sweet potato is great in baking – but since I had made the beet donuts earlier that week I wanted something else.

Enter: sweet potato ‘donuts’. These donuts are a fun take on the apple donuts you see on social media a lot – sliced sweet potato rounds, roasted and then a circle is cut in the center. Top with a simple Greek yogurt and cream cheese frosting and you’re good to go!

Tips for making sweet potato donuts

• Use potatoes that are round and long. This will ensure the best shaped donut.
• Halfway through roasting, use your cutter to make the center. This will ensure the ‘middle’ dries out and won’t over cook (since you won’t be baking them all the way through technically), but it’s much easier to cut when soft from cooking.
• Feel free to peel the potatoes – the thinner ‘donuts’ do hold up better with the peel on though.
• Use whatever toppings pique your interest – I’ve done everything from sunflower seeds to mini chips to sprinkles. Whatever your kids will like best, do that.

You may need….

The following are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Thanks so much for being a part of Morgan Manages Mommyhood!

I have this set of mini cutters and love it. The circle ones are perfect for cutting out the middles of your sweet potato donuts, and I use the other shapes all the time when making the boys’ food more fun.

Want to get the kids involved?

This recipe is perfect for kids – have them cut the centers with the cutters, whip up the frosting, and, of course, decorate them!

Sweet Potato Donuts

Okay, so tell me – what toppings would your kids like? Do your kids fall in and out of love with foods too? Let me know in the comments!

If you like these sweet potato donuts, you may also like..

The BEST Veggie Smoothies: how to put veggies in smoothies

Hidden Veggie Breakfast Cookie Recipe

30+ Healthy Cookie Recipes to Treat Yourself With