Sweet potato and chickpea cakes – grated sweet potato mixed with chickpeas, egg, spices and herbs. A quick and nutritious lunch, snack or finger food.
I can’t believe I hardly ate sweet potatoes until I had kids. I was seriously missing out for years. I’m making up for it now though, thanks to both Finn and Rory’s love for them! They are so adaptable and we have them in many ways, mashed to top pies or to put into croquettes, spiralized into noodles, made into fries, wedges or used to make sweet truffles and brownies.
These sweet potato and chickpea cakes are a new favourite way to enjoy them. I grate the potatoes so that I don’t have to pre cook them before forming the cake. If your kids are funny about texture and you think they would prefer a smoother cake then you could always boil/steam/roast the sweet potatoes before hand and mash together with the chickpeas.
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Cakes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 13 minutes
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 1/2 cups) grated sweet potato
- 240 g (1 tin drained) chickpeas
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 handful chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp oil (for frying)
Instructions
- Mash the chickpeas
- Mix together all the ingredients (apart from the oil)
- Form into heaped tablespoon patties (I made ten)
- Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cakes to the pan and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
Love this recipe. Nice and simple and I love that they have chickpeas in them. The faces are adorable.
Thanks Cristie! 🙂
These are a great little idea – we love to make fritters and cakes with all kinds of veggies. The faces on them are super cute.
Thanks Shari, they are a great way to up veggie intake 🙂
Great recipe. I enjoyed making these little golden treasures (and eating them!) My little one nommed them up with avocado and cucumber. And I got to use up the leftover roast sweet potatoes in a much more interesting way than just mash. Result!
Thanks for the recipe
Hi Jonesy, thank you for your comment and kind feedback. I’m glad they were a hit 🙂
I’ve just tried to make these this morning and it was a massive fail! They’ve all just crumbled apart and filed the kitchen with smoke! What could I have done wrong?! Is the sweet potato supposed to be cooked before grating? They look so nice in your pictures so would love to figure out where I’m going wrong.
Hi Hannah, I’m trying to think what went wrong here. I used raw sweet potato so that isn’t the problem. Perhaps your eggs were smaller if they crumbled? What heat did you cook them on? I should have said to reduce the heat to low once the oil had heated. Maybe it was too high a heat?
Cooked mashed worked way better than raw in my opinion. I recommend changing that in the recipe. It was a no fail what way and when I grated them it was a bit of a crumbly mess!
Thanks Sarah, I’m glad the mashed sweet potato worked better for you ?
Hi Amy, I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. Just wondering if they are suitable for freezing? Thanks
Hi Emma, I haven’t tried freezing them so can’t say for certain. I’m sure they would freeze well but rather than using the raw, grated sweet potato I’d cook the potato and mash it. This way they will be firmer and hold up better for freezing.
My baby hates parsley. Is there another herb recommendation that would work well with the sweet potato and chickpea combination?
Hi Gigi, you can just miss out the parsley if you wish. Sometimes I sub it for coriander (cilantro) depending on what I have in the house.
Can you bake these instead of frying them? If so, what temperature and for how long? Thanks!
Hi Shannon, I have never actually tried baking these so can’t say how they would turn out. I’d try baking at 180C for around 25-30 mins.
Can these be frozen??
Thank so much
Hi Michelle, I’m so sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I have never actually frozen these but I think they would freeze well. 🙂
Any ideas on how to adjust for a baby who is allergic to egg?
HI Sophia, I have never tried any egg replacements in this recipe so can’t say how they would work. You could maybe try a chia or flax egg?
Hi, yeah these were a bit flimsy. I was hoping to take to work and eat at my desk, but they are too crumbly. I added a spoon of flour with last batch, but no change. Also, feel like they ‘needed something’ to lighten the dryness. Ate with sweet chilli dip – delicious and filling. Thanks for the idea, I will keep trying the recipe until I get it right for my taste buds!
Hi Kym, thanks so much for your feedback. I’m actually going through my old recipes, retesting them and updating with better instructions. It is great to know what is working and what isn’t. This is actually on my list to work on this week and I will take into consideration your feedback. 🙂