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A bowl of sweet potato falafel with avocado and a sauce on top.
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5 from 2 votes

Sesame Sweet Potato Falafels

These sweet potato falafels are simple to make and great to make ahead for lunches on the go!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: Fusion, Middle Eastern
Servings: 40 falafels
Calories: 43kcal
Author: Sasha Hooper

Ingredients

  • 450 g (1 pound) sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
  • 2 400g can chickpeas drained and rinsed, divided
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
  • 1 red chilli finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds plus more to coat
  • ½ cup gram (chickpea) flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt

Green Tahini Sauce

  • 125 g (½ cup) Greek yoghurt
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 10 g (½ cup) coriander leaves
  • ½ green chilli
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice roughly ½ a lime
  • ¼ avocado
  • ½ teaspoon maple syrup

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the sweet potato chunks and bring back to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes or so until tender. Drain and leave to cool slightly.
    450 g (1 pound) sweet potatoes
  • Place 1 can of chickpeas into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until finely chopped. Add the sweet potato chunks and continue to blitz until smooth. Transfer to a bowl.
    2 400g can chickpeas
  • Add the remaining can of chickpeas to the food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Add these to the bowl of sweet potatoes.
  • To the bowl of sweet potatoes and chickpeas, add the garlic, ginger, chilli, toasted sesame oil, gram flour and salt. Stir well to combine. At this point you can absolutely roll these out and bake them but I would recommend letting them chill out in the fridge for a while, as the mixture will be easier to work with. 
    2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, 1 red chilli, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, ½ cup gram (chickpea) flour, 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
  • Roll the mixture into small balls (roughly tablespoonfuls). Roll in toasted sesame seeds, if liked, and set on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake for 30 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Serve with green tahini sauce, rocket, avocado and anything else you fancy!
    2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Green Tahini Sauce

  • Place all of the ingredients into a blender along with a good pinch of sea salt. Blitz until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. 
    125 g (½ cup) Greek yoghurt, 1 tablespoon tahini, 10 g (½ cup) coriander leaves, ½ green chilli, 2 tablespoons lime juice, ¼ avocado, ½ teaspoon maple syrup

Nutrition

Serving: 1falafel | Calories: 43kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.7g | Protein: 1.6g | Fat: 1.7g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.6g | Cholesterol: 0.4mg | Sodium: 150.7mg | Potassium: 89.3mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 0.8g | Vitamin A: 81.9IU | Vitamin C: 3.8mg | Calcium: 15.2mg | Iron: 0.4mg