Sweet Potato Lentil Patties with Tahini Cilantro Sauce
Lentil sweet potato patties with cilantro tahini sauce is the perfect lunch or dinner recipe.
Packed with flavor and so filling, these sweet potato lentil burgers are budget friendly and great for make ahead meals (they are even better the second day). You are going to want to keep this recipe on hand for your meatless meals!
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Ingredients
Sweet potato lentil patties:
- Red lentils – these get creamy and soft and once they cool down really hold their shape together. Perfect for veggie burgers.
- Sweet potatoes – add a bit of sweetness and added fiber to the veggie burgers.
- Ground flax – flax is use to help hold the patties together when cooking. It replaces the eggs in traditional recipes.
- Lime Juice – helps to elevate the flavors of the rest of the ingredients.
- Spices: Curry powder, Smoked paprika, Garam masala -these spices all compliment the sweetness from the sweet potatoes and add a ton of flavor.
- Salt – is used to elevate all the flavors.
How to make sweet potato lentil burgers
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Add sweet potato and red lentils to the instant pot with water and cook 5 minutes high pressure. You can manually release pressure once done cooking. Mash the sweet potatoes into the lentils. Add the spices and lime juice to the sweet potato lentil mixture and mix well. Allow the mixture to cool at least 5-20 minutes (the cooler the mixture, the easier this is to work with). Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to portion out the patties. Use a wet hand, press down the lentil mixture into patties. Add the lentil sweet potato patties to a 375F oven for 15 minutes. Carefully flip and cook an additional 10 minutes. Let cool at least 5 minutes or these will fall apart.
Top tips
- Allow the lentil mixture to cool before forming patties: The sweet potato lentil mixture is quite soft right after cooking, which can make forming the patties tough.
- Allow these to cool before handling: If you pick up the patties too soon after baking, they will fall apart, as they are required to cool a bit after baking (about 5-10 minutes).
- Great for meal prep: these are even better the next day and would be great for meal prep! They freeze well too.
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Lentil Sweet Potato Patties with Cilantro Tahini Sauce
Sweet potato lentil burgers are the perfect lunch or dinner recipe! Budget friendly and easy to make, these burgers are naturally gluten free, vegan, and dairy free making them great for entertaining too! Even better the next day, these are great for meal prep too!
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Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup red lentils (dry)
- 2 cups sweet potato
- 2.25 cups water
- 3 tbsp. ground flax seeds
- 1 tbsp. curry powder
- 1 tbsp. smoked paprika
- 1.5 tsp. garam masala
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 medium lime, juiced
Cilantro Tahini Sauce
- 3 tbsp. tahini
- 1/4 cup cilantro (about 1/2 a bunch)
- 1 medium lime, juiced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp. water
Instructions
- Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into 1-2 inch cubes.2 cups sweet potato
- Add the chopped potatoes and lentils to the instant pot insert with the water and close the lid, making sure the vent is set to sealing.1.5 cup red lentils (dry), 2 cups sweet potato, 2.25 cups water
- Cook for 5 minutes at high pressure. Allow the pressure to naturally release.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Remove the lid from the instant pot and mash the sweet potatoes into the lentils.
- Add the ground flax, curry powder, smoked paprika, garam masala, salt and lime juice to the lentil and sweet potato mixture and stir well, making sure all the spices are well combined.3 tbsp. ground flax seeds, 1 tbsp. curry powder, 1 tbsp. smoked paprika, 1.5 tsp. garam masala, 1 tsp. sea salt, 1 medium lime, juiced
- Let this mixture sit at least 5 minutes.
- Add parchment or foil to a cookie sheet. Spray with nonstick spray (avocado oil or olive oil spray).
- Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, scoop out the mixture and place on the parchment paper lined baking sheet (I like to do this 4-5 at a time). Carefully press this down and use your hands to form it into patties. If you allow the mixture to sit on the baking sheet a few minutes before forming the burgers, it's much easier to work with.
- Once the patties have sit out for 2-3 minutes, they are easy to pick up and move around to make more room for the other burgers to be made.
- Once all the patties have been formed, place the burgers in a 375F oven for 15 minutes.
- Pull out of the oven and CAREFULLY flip the burgers over. These will still be quite fragile so be careful!
- Bake for another 10 minutes.
- Take out of oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before eating. If you are storing these for later, allow to cool to room temperature before placing in a airtight container for up to a week.
Cilantro Tahini Sauce
- Combine all the ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth.3 tbsp. tahini, 1/4 cup cilantro (about 1/2 a bunch), 1 medium lime, juiced, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 3 tbsp. water
Recipe Notes
*Prep time includes time it takes to cook in the instant pot
No instant pot? Use the stove to cook the sweet potato and lentils: If you do not have an instant pot, you can make the sweet potato lentil mixture on the stove. Simply peel and cube the sweet potatoes, add them along with the lentils and the water to a pot (with a well fitting lid) and cook over medium high heat. Once the water comes to a boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the water has been absorbed and the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Amount per Serving
Calories
154
Fat
4
g
Carbohydrates
23
g
Fiber
10
g
Sugar
2
g
Protein
8
g
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database.
DID YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE?Let others know by rating and leaving a comment below!
What to serve with these lentil cakes
These sweet potato lentil cakes can be serve as a burger or alone as a patty with your favorite meal. Some great foods to pair these with include:
- Cilantro Lime Slaw or Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
- Moroccan cauliflower (with additional green tahini sauce) or Moroccan Potato Salad
- Your favorite salad
- Sliced avocado
- Pickled red onions
- Thinly sliced radish
If you don’t want to make the cilantro tahini sauce you could try:
FAQ’s
Other flavors to try
I love the combination of curry, smoked paprika and sweet potato. The smoky flavor combined with the pungent spices from curry powder pair so well with the sweetness from the potatoes. Some other great combinations include:
- Chipotle: Omit the curry, garam masala and use 1 tbsp. chili powder + 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder
- Everything bagel: Omit the curry, garam masala and use 1 tbsp. everything bagel seasoning
- Smoky: Omit curry, garam masala and add 2 tsp. cumin and 1 tsp. garlic powder
- Ranch: Omit the curry, garam masala and smoked paprika and add 1 tbsp. ranch seasoning + 1 tsp. garlic powder
Storage
- Fridge: You can store cooked sweet potato lentil patties in the fridge in a air tight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: It’s best to freeze these lentil patties after they are cooked and fully cooled. You may want to allow them to cool in the fridge overnight before freezing. Freeze on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Once frozen, place a piece of parchment paper/wax paper between the burgers and stack them on top of each other in a freezer safe bag.
- Defrosting tips: Allow the burgers to defrost on the counter 30 minutes before cooking or in the fridge 4 hours – overnight.
How to reheat
- To reheat the burgers after freezing and defrosting, you can heat them in a pan over medium low heat (spray the pan with some non-stick spray to avoid sticking) until heated through.
- You can also reheat in the oven or in the air fryer. Bake the patties at 375 for 6-8 minutes in the oven or 350F for 4 minutes in the air fryer.
These look amazing, thank you. Can one freeze them?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried freezing these, so I cannot comment on their texture after freezing. Let us know if you try it!
Mercy, that looks amazing! Thanks so much for taking the time to link up with us at the #HomeMattersParty – we hope to see you again on Friday!
This looks so amazing! I can’t wait to try it. Pinned and tweeted! Thanks for being a part of our party. I hope to see you, tonight at 7 pm. Lou Lou Girls
I invite you to share this wonderful hamburger alternative at my Thursday favorite Things blog hop ( you can link up through Saturday midnight) Hugs
Thank you for joining the Small victories Sunday linkup party. Please join again. Pinned to the group board.
These sound so yummy! Pinned to make over the summer.
These sound great. I’m not vegetarian, but I love veggie burgers. They make great healthy lunches. I love the pita sandwich you made with these. Can you omit the hemp hearts (or use a substitute)…I have everything else on hand but don’t keep hemp hearts.
I love Garam Masala and this sounds like a fantastic way to use it! thanks :)
YUMMY! Sweet Potato Lentil Burgers sounds so appetizing and full of delish stuff! Loved the addition of garam masala! :)
Wow these burgers look SO good! I purchased lentils a few months ago and have still never used them in anything! I am definitely pinning this recipe!
Janelle, that’s a perfect use for your lentils! These burgers are super easy too! Enjoy them!
These look delicious, and I love the mix of spices in them! Garam masala is awesome. <3 I have lentils that I've been meaning to use in a recipe, so this will be perfect! <3 Thanks for sharing!
I always forget about lentils too! So glad you are a garam masala lover as well, its such a fun flavor!
Yum! These look delicious with such a nice mix of spices. Agree about the veggie burgers – making them at home is a much better option when possible.
Homemade is always best, I get so calm in the kitchen and I have food for the week double win! Hope you are enjoying your day!