Sweet Potato Hash
with whatever's in the crisper

A sweet potato and a hot skillet are all you need to make something that works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Add in whatever vegetables are lingering in your crisper drawer and you have a one-pan meal that's satisfying, flexible, and done in about twenty-five minutes.

Hash is one of the most underrated formats in the home kitchen. The principle is simple: dice things small, cook them in a hot pan with fat, let them sit long enough to get some color, then stir and continue until everything is cooked through and crispy at the edges. Sweet potato is an excellent base for this because it has enough natural sweetness to balance savory seasonings and enough starch to hold together and crisp up properly.

The flexibility is the point. Open the crisper drawer and see what's there. Half a bell pepper that needs to go. An onion starting to dry at the edges. A handful of mushrooms. Some spinach. A ear of corn you forgot about. A zucchini. All of these work. The hash absorbs them all.

What you need

• 1 large sweet potato (about 350g / 12 oz) — peeled or unpeeled, your choice
• ½ bell pepper, any color, diced
• ½ medium onion (yellow, red, or white), diced
• Any additional crisper vegetables you have: mushrooms, zucchini, corn kernels, kale, spinach, broccoli florets
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, divided
• Salt and black pepper
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika or ground cumin (or both)
• Optional: a pinch of garlic powder or 1 fresh garlic clove minced in at the end
• To serve: 2 fried or poached eggs, hot sauce, fresh herbs, sour cream or plain yogurt, a handful of shredded cheese

How to make it

Step 1: Dice the sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato into small, even cubes — roughly half an inch. This is the most important step for getting the result right. Larger pieces take much longer to cook and won't crisp on the outside before the center is done. Smaller pieces cook quickly and develop good color on all sides. You can peel the potato first if you prefer, but the skin crisps up nicely and can be left on.

Step 2: Start the sweet potato. Heat about one and a half tablespoons of the oil in a large, wide skillet over medium-high heat. Cast iron is ideal; stainless steel also works well. When the oil is shimmering and a piece of sweet potato dropped in sizzles immediately, add the diced sweet potato in an even layer. Season generously with salt, pepper, and the smoked paprika or cumin. The key move here: do not stir for the first four to five minutes. Let the potato sit undisturbed and build color on the bottom. You'll hear it sizzle steadily. Once the bottoms are golden, toss everything and cook for another four to five minutes, tossing every minute or so, until the sweet potato is cooked through and crispy on multiple sides.

Step 3: Add the aromatics. Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the skillet. If the pan looks dry, add the remaining half tablespoon of oil. Toss everything together and cook, stirring occasionally, for three to four minutes until the onion has softened and started to turn translucent and the pepper is tender. The sweet potato will continue picking up color during this time.

Step 4: Add remaining vegetables. This is where you add anything else that's going in — mushrooms, zucchini, corn, or other quick-cooking vegetables. Add them now and cook for two more minutes, stirring. If you're using leafy greens like spinach or kale, add them last and just wilt them in — thirty to sixty seconds is enough for spinach. Add minced garlic here if you want it, tossing constantly for about thirty seconds so it doesn't burn.

Step 5: Taste and adjust. Taste the hash and correct the seasoning. It often needs more salt than you think. A pinch more smoked paprika deepens the flavor. A few drops of hot sauce stirred in adds heat and a little vinegar brightness. The hash should taste savory, slightly smoky, and have some caramelization in the background from where the sweet potato stuck and released.

Step 6: Serve. Divide the hash between two plates or eat directly from the pan. Top with a fried or poached egg — the yolk breaking over the hash and running through the crispy bits is one of the better things in weeknight cooking. A drizzle of hot sauce, some fresh herbs if you have them, and a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt on the side all work well. A handful of cheese scattered over the top and briefly melted is also excellent.

The make-ahead option

The hash keeps well in the fridge for two to three days and reheats beautifully in a dry skillet over medium heat — much better than the microwave, which makes it steamy and soft. This makes it a good candidate for meal prep: cook a double batch and reheat portions throughout the week as a fast base for eggs, burritos, or bowls.

If you want more substance

A can of black beans rinsed and added to the pan in the last two minutes adds significant substance and makes this more of a complete meal without requiring any additional shopping. Leftover cooked sausage or chicken, torn into pieces and warmed through at the same time, works equally well. This pairs nicely alongside the single-serving frittata if you're feeding more people.

See also: Breakfast tacos from the leftovers drawer · Roasted vegetable couscous bowl · NowCook pricing