30-minute Sweet potato falafel (vegan, with air fryer version)
on Jan 15, 2018, Updated Sep 14, 2020
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These golden, crispy little vegan falafel made of sweet potatoes, chickpeas and spices are addictive. Stuff them into fresh bread with hummus, dressing and snow pea shoots, or just layer them on top of a fresh salad.
Fancy falafel!
Falafel is one of those foods that I could eat every day. And no I’m not a vegetarian or vegan.
It’s something about the crispy outside and the nutty, satisfying centre. Falafel tastes like something naughty, but of course it’s packed full of healthy chickpeas and other goodies.
But do you know you can make falafel with sweet potato? Well, you sure can, and it’s absolutely delicious!
Ingredients in sweet potato falafel
This is all you need to make these delightful little sweet potato fritters:
- a sweet potato, roasted or microwaved (!) until soft (I sometimes use regular, and other times purple sweet potato (your choice!)
- a can of cooked chickpeas
- a finely chopped onion
- garlic and various yummy spices such (cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, paprika)
- flour, baking powder and salt
- lemon juice
- sesame seeds (optional!)
Just a few ingredients. And vegan!
How to make vegan sweet potato falafel
In 4 super easy steps!
- Cook your sweet potato in the microwave! (so easy!) If you’d rather though, roast in the oven.
- Roughly mash with all the other yummy ingredients.
- Let the mixture chill out in the fridge for a while before molding it into little nugget-shaped falafel.
- Shallow pan fry for about 5 minutes on each side.
Prefer to air fry?
Lately I air fry everything! Well, almost!
But seriously, these sweet potato falafel are perfect candidates for cooking in your air fryer. Air fry for 15 minutes. Spray the air fryer basket and falafel lightly with olive oil and cook for 15 minutes, turning half way.
Mmmm…. delicious, and even healthier!
That’s it – really! Now how do you eat them?
How to serve sweet potato falafel
Apart from the fact that it’s addictively delicious, the amazing thing about this recipe is that it makes around 30 falafel.
Which means there doesn’t have to be JUST falafel wraps on the menu.
When I make this recipe, this is what I make.
Falafel wraps!
Yes, these easy sweet potato falafel are incredibly delicious stuffed into fresh crusty Mediterranean style bread with some kind of greens or other salad and hummus and/or sauce.
My favourite way to do this is to stuff Turkish bread or Italian ciabatta with:
- a big handful of snow peas (Have you tried them? Delicious!)
- chopped tomatoes and spring onions
- hummus (my go-to recipe is this one – you have to try the 2-ingredient flatbread too!)
- tahini dressing (oh my goodness, this 5-minute dressing is so awesome!). If you don’t have any tahini, Greek yogurt works great as a makeshift dressing, too!
Falafel salad!
Another option is to serve the falafel on top of the pea shoots and with all the little accompaniments and condiments on the side, like so:
Pro tip: Try drizzling over this 5-minute tahini sauce. Incredible!
More amazing Mediterranean recipes that you must try!
- Our favourite Greek baked eggplant with tomato and feta
- These delicious halloumi kebabs with chorizo, tomatoes and honey lime dressing are also perfect for BBQs.
- These life-changing fried halloumi bites (perfect appetizers for guests!)
- Crispy fried chickpeas (great on salads or soups!)
- Ever made a proper Spanish omelette, otherwise known as a tortilla de patatas? Prepare to have your mind blown!
- Another Spanish one… try this traditional ‘pan con tomate’ or Spanish bruschetta. It’s incredible, and unbelievably easy to make!
- Did you know you can fry olives, and that they’re delicious? You do now!
Or browse all my Mediterranean recipes here
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Sweet potato falafel (vegan, with air fryer version)
Ingredients
For the falafel
- 1 medium to large, ish sweet potato (or 2 small ones!)
- 1 can of cooked chickpeas, 9 ounces/250 grams net weight
- 1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons plain flour
- 1/2 of a lemon worth of juice
- sesame seeds for scattering over
optional ‘accompaniments’
- chopped tomatoes & spring onions/scallions, pitta bread or another type of fresh bread, hummus, Greek yoghurt or tahini dressing, snow pea sprouts
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potatoes and cook in a microwave for about 10 minutes or until soft. (you can roast them if you prefer for about 45 minutes or so or until soft)
- In the meantime, pulse the chickpeas a few times in a food processor until still a little bit chunky.
- Mash the pulsed chickpeas and sweet potato together with all of the other ingredients apart from the sesame seeds. Cover the mixture and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
- Take spoonfuls of mixture about the size of a walnut and form into balls. Flatten the balls into a patty and press a few sesame seeds into them on both sides.
- Heat up a layer of oil in a skillet/frying pan until quite hot, then fill the pan with patties. Let them cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden and crispy.
- Remove from the pan and serve immediately with fresh bread and accompaniments of your choice.
This looks so delicious! I am so hungry. I need to move away from the computer and get something to eat. I so wish I had one of these sandwiches right now 😀
Haha … I know the feeling. That happens to me every day when looking at different blogs! Hope you had something lovely for dinner!
Ahhh… I’m so sorry that you had a tough weekend Helen :* But I’m prettttty sure these beautiful falafels with those delish sweet potato patties made up for it! These look incredible and those tomatoes and the snow pea sprouts look so amazing! I could eat this every single day!!!!! <3
Ah, now that’s a compliment! I think I could eat these every day, too!! So glad you like them so much! 🙂
I’d say that rough start to your weekend ended beautifully with this really creative recipe, Helen! And the ingredients are nutrient-packed. Those purple sweet potatoes are cancer fighters, digestive aides,immunity supporters, etc. And those snow pea shoots are delicious! I had never had them until our local Chinese restaurant introduced me recently. Fantastic flavors here — a must pin!
Thanks so much, Lori! I’m so happy that you’re so excited about this recipe! And thanks so much for the nutrition info, too. Wow, it sounds like this was a bit of a ‘super lunch’ – just the business when you’re having a ‘blah’ weekend. Hope you have a great weekend!
P.S. Yes, snow peas are just delicious, aren’t they? Definitely buying those again!
This sandwich is amazing!
Thanks, Jocelyn!!
Hopefully this week will be a little better for you, Helen! I am so impressed by this falafel! It looks absolutely amazing! I love all of the ingredients, especially the chickpeas. Definitely pinning to try out. Have a great weekend, Helen!
Aw, thanks so much, Gayle! I’m so happy that you like it! Thanks for the pin as well and I really hope you do get around to trying this out. It really was delicious!
These sound delicious and I’m sure my step son will enjoy them as he loves sweet potatoes. Hope this weekend is better 🙂
Thanks so much, Tandy! Hope you have a great weekend, too!
I love Friends, it makes me nostalgic 🙂 Love the sweet potato/chickpea combo, and these falafels look delicious!
Thanks so much, Denise! Yes, I think I could still sit down and watch Friends for a whole day. Definitely makes me nostalgic!
Cette recette est top ! Tu as fait tout, le pain, la sauce, elle paraît très bonne! J’aime aussi les recettes d’ Ottolenghi. La dernier fois que je suis allée à Londres, on a mangé un jour las bas, c’était très bon!
Moi aussi j’adoré voir Friends 😉
Ooh, je savais pas qu’Ottolenghi a un restaurant a Londres! J’y irais tout de suite quand je retournerai en Angleterre!!
Je suis ravie que tu aimes la recette, Eva! 🙂
These sounds so much better than regular falafals! Can’t wait to make them!
Also, I love Friends and having been in the mood to watch them, have had my DVD set on constantly every night this week. And I can’t help but clap every time that part comes on in the song 🙂
Ha! So it’s not just me that likes that line! So happy you like the falafels. I’ll definitely be making them again!
This recipe sounds so amazing! So creative!
Thank you so much, Ambar!