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Baked vegan Sweet Potato Falafel with garlicky coconut yogurt.
Sweet Potato Falafel made with baked sweet potato, canned chickpeas, sesame seeds, and lots of spices. With a fun twist on a classic, these little balls can be enjoyed just like regular falafel – in a pita, with salad, or simply dipped in a delicious sauce for snack.
If you are a falafel lover, you have to try Sweet Potato Falafel!
It is such a great recipe. It is easy to prepare, it is very customizable, and super versatile. This is the perfect recipe for batch cooking, so feel free to double or triple the amount.
These little balls are savory, smoky, slightly spicy, and so very delicious!
Sweet Potato Falafel is…
- Easy to make
- Vegan and vegetarian
- Gluten-free
- Oil-free
- Healthy
- Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside
- Savory and slightly sweet
- Well spiced
- Great as snack with hummus
- Delicious both cold and warm
How to make Sweet Potato Falafel
You start with the sweet potato. Pierce 2 medium to large sweet potatoes with a fork, then bake in the oven at 200°C/400°F for about an hour, or until soft and cooked through. Alternatively microwave for 10-15 minutes, or until soft.
Let sweet potatoes cool slightly or completely, then scoop out the flesh. You can also use leftover mashed sweet potatoes, or steamed sweet potatoes, if that’s what you have on hand.
I find it’s best to measure the sweet potatoes at this point, and not before baking or cooking. So measure out 2 cups of the sweet potato flesh and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add drained chickpeas to the bowl with the sweet potatoes. Then using a potato masher mash them coarsely together. If you prefer no texture in your falafel, use your food processor instead.
Now add the rest of the ingredients. Breadcrumbs or oat flour, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, and all your spices and flavorings. Mix everything well together, then let rest in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
It’s time to preheat the oven.
Take out the falafel mix from the fridge. If the mixture is not firm enough, add a little more of the breadcrumbs or oat flour.
With wet hands shape the mix into small balls. Using a small ice cream scooper is my favorite way for measuring out equal amount of the dough. If you don’t have one, simply use 2 tablespoons of the mixture for one falafel ball.
Place them in the oven, and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
Meanwhile mix together yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice in a bowl, or prepare whatever else you want to serve with your Sweet Potato Falafel.
That’s it. You can serve Sweet Potato Falafel immediately, or save it for later.
Equipment
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How to serve Sweet Potato Falafel
You can serve these little balls the same way you’d do with regular falafel:
- With hummus for dipping
- On top of a large mixed salad
- In a pita or tortilla wrap
- In an epic sandwich
- With a veggie stir-fry or fresh zucchini noodles
- Part of an awesome mezze platter
Don’t forget to serve some sauce with your Sweet Potato Falafel! My favorites are:
- Garlicky yogurt (recipe below)
- Hummus
- Ajvar
- Guacamole
- Tzatziki
- Tahini sauce
- Hot sauce
- Spicy tomato sauce
What to do with leftovers…
You made too many of these little balls? It’s good news!
Sweet Potato Falafel is the perfect recipe for batch cooking and meal prep. These balls are delicious both cold and warm, so you can snack on them for a couple of days. Simply keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze these savory sweet potato balls for up to 3 months. When ready to eat simply reheat them straight from the freezer in the oven or microwave. You can also fry them shortly, so they get a nice crispy outside again.
CUSTOMIZE IT THE WAY YOU LIKE IT!
- Use leftover mashed sweet potatoes! It works great for this recipe. Steamed sweet potatoes work well too.
- Omit chickpeas, and use white beans, kidney beans, or lentils instead!
- Play around with your spices! Turmeric, basil, chives, onion powder, smoked paprika, or cinnamon are just some of the spices that would work really great here.
- Shape it into a patty! Then simply serve in a burger bun.
- Fry your falafel! You can pan-fry or deep-fry these, if you prefer.
More awesome recipes to try!
- Crispy Savory Carrot Balls
- Pretzel Bites with Pink Mustard Dip
- Black Bean and Quinoa Balls
- Red Lentil Falafel
- Loaded Hummus Platter w/ Pita
- Jalapeño Popper Roll Ups
- Quinoa & Potato Cakes
- Greek Style Loaded Fries
Sweet Potato Falafel with Garlic Yogurt
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 25–30 balls 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups/500 g baked sweet potato flesh
- 1 can of chickpeas, drained
- 3.5 oz/100 g breadcrumbs or oat flour, use GF if needed
- 4 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1.5 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sweet paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp sumac
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- dash of liquid smoke
- salt, pepper
GARLIC YOGURT
- 1 cup/250 g unsweetened coconut yogurt
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- salt, pepper
Instructions
- Add sweet potato flesh and drained chickpeas to a large mixing bowl. Using a potato masher mash them together coarsely.
- Add breadcrumbs or oat flour, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, coriander, sumac, cumin, chili, liquid smoke, salt and pepper, and mix well together. Place in the fridge and let rest for 30-60 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.
- With wet hands form the mixture into 25-30 balls (about 2 tablespoon each).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- Meanwhile mix together yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve falafel warm or cold with garlic yogurt on the side. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
They look filling, and delicious. Love that garlic yoghurt dressing.
Thanks, Angie 🙂
I love the look of these. They are also healthy, which is always a plus. 🙂
Thanks, Anca!
These falafels 🙂 looks fab and I am excited to try that yogurt coconut sauce 🙂
Thank you Priya! Let me know if you try the recipe 😉
Being on an oil-free vegan diet, this recipe this really good to me. I find myself wanting something I can bit into and a falafel is just perfect. Can’t wait to try these.
I’m glad you like these. Falafel is one of the best foods ever, right? 😛
Not sure howI found your blog/site but as someone who loves to try all kinds of food and loves to cook I have had fun looking thru different items. While I am not a vegetarian, I love to incorporate a lot of them into my diet. This recipe really appealed to me because I also try to bake versus fry (especially deep fry) as much as possible. Keep it up. I can see I will be trying a fair amount of recipes. Have a great week!!
Hi Sue,
Welcome here, I’m so glad you found my blog!
I hope you will enjoy the recipes here. 🙂
Have a nice day!
Thanks! So awesome!. Love you recipes.
I’m so glad you liked these!! 😊
I love falafels & I love sweet potatoes. This recipe is so amazing & so delicious! It was so easy to make & the flavours were amazing. The yogurt sauce was a huge hit as well. Thanks for this, its a keeper!
Thanks for the amazing feedback, Sabrina! I’m so glad you liked the recipe 🙂
These are delicious. I love falafel but was looking for a way to add even more fibre to my diet by including sweet potato. The combination of spices is perfect, although I can’t find sumac. I’ve tried it as written but also tried it with I half an onion minced up with the chickpeas. My favourite way to eat these is in a wholemeal wrap with some sour cream and chipotle chilli sauce and a Mexican salad. The sesame seeds help give it a nice crunch too.
I’m so glad you like these! That wholemeal wrap sounds delicious 🤤