These tasty little delights may look like they’d be a fair amount of work in the kitchen but I’m SO happy to tell you they’re insanely easy to whip up and the time they take to make really just lies in waiting for a sweet potato to bake and the quinoa to cook. They’re the kind of dish you serve your friends, impress your significant other with, and wish someone would make for you at a dinner party. All the while being so freaking healthy it’s silly. That’s right, these suckers are HEALTHY. As in: protein packed, antioxidant rich, low in saturated fat, HEALTHY TOWN, USA. Make them, please! Heck, while you’re at it make them twice!! xx- Sarah {more after the jump}
SWEET POTATO QUINOA PATTIES
{makes roughly 12 patties)
INGREDIENTS:
– 2 cups baked sweet potato, skins removed & mashed (approximately 2 medium sweet potatoes)
– 2 cups cooked quinoa
– medium yellow onion, diced
– 3 cloves of crushed garlic
– 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme (more to garnish)
– 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
– sea salt
– fresh cracked pepper
– earth balance vegan butter or coconut oil for cooking
METHOD:
– Prepare quinoa according to package instructions (I cook 1 heaping cup with a scant 2 cups of water in my rice cooker).
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees, pierce sweet potatoes with fork and bake for 45 minutes or until soft. Remove skins, mash with a fork to remove all chunks and place in large mixing bowl.
– In a sauté pan combine onions, olive oil, a hearty pinch of sea salt and cook over medium-low heat until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook an additional minute, stirring continually to prevent the garlic from burning. Add thyme at the very end and mix well.
– Add onions, quinoa, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (more to taste), a bit of fresh cracked pepper to large mixing bowl with sweet potatoes and stir until well combined.
– Form mixture into golf ball size ball, flatten into a patty, and cook in earth balance vegan butter on a non stick pan for approximately 2 minutes on each side (you want them to brown up and crisp!). Repeat to make as many as you’d like. Enjoy with a generous sprinkling of fresh thyme leaves and some finishing salt! Save any leftovers in the refridgerator to make later.
Gorgeous! I love that these are easy to make because veggie burgers can be such a pain sometimes. I'm always looking for easy weeknight recipes so this one is perfect for me. Pinned.
It really works as a quick weeknight dinner? My personal rule of thumb for a weeknight dinner is, among other things, something that can be made in under half an hour. Do you precook the quinoa at the beginning of the week? That would cut time to make this recipe way down.
Doug.
Doug, you can easily cook the quinoa in a rice cooker. It does take a little bit but do it on a weekend in a big batch or the night before and it works well.
You can also make big batches of quinoa and when it’s cool, just freeze it in 1 or 2 cup amounts. Thaw in the fridge.
These look devine! I can't wait to try them… soon!!
You always have the best recipes! 🙂
Great minds think alike! I just posted a very similar recipe on my blog last week. I can't get enough of these sweet tater cakes!!!
Love the creativity! Beautiful.
HELLO. YUM.
These look insanely delicious! Thank you.
These look great! Perfect for my new gluten-free diet.
Yum yum yum!
Can't wait to make this! Do you just use the regular 'white rice' setting on your rice cooker for the quinoa?
Thanks everyone, happy you're as excited about them as I am!!!
@Byanka- my rice cooker only has an on-off button (not very fancy!). 🙂 Maybe there's suggestions in your owners manual! xx
These look lovely! 🙂 What would be the process of baking them (time, temperature, etc)?
Hi Katie! Not sure what you're asking? The recipe outlines how to bake the sweet potatoes and the patties themselves are cooked on the stovetop. 🙂 Let me know if I'm missing something!
These look so good. I am a fan of anything I don't have to shred or grate!
They look so beautiful and delicious, can not believe they are mega healthy too! I know what is for dinner tonight!
Yum! These look delish! Can't wait to try out this recipe at home…we love anything sweet potato! xoxo
3girls1apple.com
Sorry for the confusion! Just to clarify – would it be possible to cook the patties in the oven instead of on the stovetop?
Hi Katie,
oh I see! I'm not sure if they would would stick together quite as well. The browning really helps bind them. But I'm sure they'd taste the same, just might be missing a bit of the crunch that comes from browning and may not be as solid! Let me know if you try! xx
You can fix that by changing to your oven’s broil setting for the last 10 minutes.
I baked mine at 375 for about 20 minutes – tasty!
Yum, these look delightful, and so easy too!
Do you use Quinoa Flakes ? They sound yum can not wait to do them.
They're absolutely gorgeous! I have a sweet potato and zucchini patty I make, but nothing as pretty as yours! Pinned!
So tasty patties
I stumbled across your blog earlier this week, while searching on Pinterest for a duvet cover. I saw a photo of these delicious looking patties and had to click on the link. I was happy to discover your food blog. I clicked on your Chron's link just out of curiosity, only to find myself reading every bit of it. I went through a very similar experience five years ago, and it was terrifying. I was on those steroids for a few weeks when I finally decided I wasn't going to take them any longer. So I went to a holistic doctor who changed everything by telling me to do an elimination diet. Within that next year of going to her I felt like I was getting my life back. I have no clue why certain Gastro specialists don't suggest that food might be a part of the problem!
Also I made these patties last night and they were so delicious. I have now shared the recipe with a few of my girlfriends, and will making them again soon! Yumm. Thanks for the inspiration.
I made these last week! Really delicious, and they came together very quickly (I wasn't planning to make them, but realized at the last minute that I had the ingredients on hand). Seasoned them with paprika and chile powder instead of thyme. I had a little difficulty flipping them so they didn't come out nearly as pretty as yours, but they were soooo tasty! Thanks!
love the idea and can't wait to try them!
was thinking of steaming the sweet potato instead – would this give a very different result? also searching for yummy sauces/dressings to go with these, any suggestions? thanks!
@Michelle- maybe a little more coconut oil in the pan, or a nonstick pan might help! 🙂
@lea- I'm sure you can steam the sweet potato! I would just maybe add a little more quinoa to absorb some of the extra moisture. And for sauces I think an herbed aioli (vegan mayonaise, chopped up fresh thyme, lemon juice and sea salt!) would be amazing! 🙂
I made these a couple nights ago and they have great flavor. Definitely stick to making them in small sizes because I tried to make bigger patties and they proved to be difficult to flip. What l loved most was they were soooo darn good, AND healthy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I can't wait to try this! It sounds soooo good! I have a boring rice cooker with only one setting. I make white rice, brown rice and quinoa in it. I even use the same grain to water ratio. Bur I never use water anymore – broth always. So much extra flavor!
These were incredible! Thanks for sharing!
I attempted these tonight and can't see how you only get 12 patties out of the mixture. I got a solid 24 patties. Are you using 2 cups of quinoa or just one (per your cooking instructions say " (I cook 1 heaping cup with a scant 2 cups of water in my rice cooker) " but your ingredient list calls for 2 cups of quinoa. Also when you are cooking the patties in the pan is that on high heat or medium heat? Liked the flavor – but not as easy with so many different prep steps. Not a quick dinner idea.
Hi Laci! It's 2 cups of cooked quinoa, 1 cup dry. Cook on medium heat, with oil or ghee (or vegan butter) to brown them. Every burner is different but you want to create a sear across the patty so they've got some crunch and stay together well! Hope this helps!
When I found this on pinterest, I happened to have all the ingredients needed. It was perfect to make while being snowed in all day. I happened to use cilantro instead of thyme since I had a bunch on hand, plus I like that flavor combo. I only had one problem that mine didn't stick together too well, but It didn't bother me or my husband. We both loved the sweet nuttiness and the crunchy pieces. Thank you!
I made them and it was DELICIOUS! FRESH thyme made all the difference 🙂 thank you very much for that recipe
Hi I'm going to make these tomorrow.. Do u know if u cook them are they okay to eat the next day, like to reheat for work next day or can u freeze them or the mixture??
Lyndall
Thanks for this recipe Sarah. I have never cooked with quinoa before and made these yesterday for lunch with a friend. We both loved them!
I made these la few nights ago. Overall, a fantastic recipe. These really do taste wonderful. A few notes:
1) As someone else mentioned, I followed this recipe to a T, but I yielded WAY more than 12 patties. I made 12 the first night, and had enough to make 8 more the next night.
2) 2 minutes per side was not near enough time. After that amount of time, they were not very crispy on the outside and still very soft on the inside. I ended up doing 2 min/flip/2 min/flip/2 min/flip/2min/remove.
3) This is not a quick and easy recipe that you could just whip up on short notice, at least not for me. It took me several hours. And given that I could only fry 2 patties at a time, just frying them took a considerable amount of time, not even including all the prep work.
4) I had a hell of a time getting my patties to stay together. If I flipped with anything other than the utmost care and delicacy, they would crumble to pieces. Even after thoroughly crisped on the outside, the insides just did not want to stay together. I actually had better luck baking and then broiling the patties (on my second batch), though they lacked the wonderful crispy texture of the original recipe. I feel like something else needs to be added as a binding agent.
Thanks for posting the recipe, it was surprisingly good.
– Dickfart
These look absolutely delicious! I had a sweet potato sitting on the counter (but just one) — and wasn't sure what to make. I just halved the recipe… the mixture is sitting on the counter, waiting to be sauted! I'm excited to see how they come out. Probably won't be as pretty as yours… but it smells delicious! yum….! thanks for sharing. Excited to try these…. I love both sweet potato & quinoa…yum yum yum
Oh these look sooo YUM. I am making them tonight!
My father-in-law has the most enormous crate of sweet potatoes in his garage. (He has a crazy huge garden, which I LOVE getting veggies from!) So I'm always on the lookout for sweet potato recipes. I'll have to try these tonight!
Oh. My. goodness!! I LOVE sweet potatoes – recently posted about baked sweet 'tater fries on our site, and this will be a terrific new recipe to add!
Giving credit, of course, to where credit is due 😉
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this!!
I made these some weeks ago and love them so much that we have repeated them like four times!
I also have to tell you that I love your food photos, such a lovely light in them!
Can you freeze these?
I just finished making these after seeing them on Pinterest.
They were tasty but I had similar issues mentioned above ( very hard to fry without falling apart, took longer than expected and made double wht the recipe suggests). Other than that they were good!
Making these as I type …. my taste test is successful! Thanks for an easy, creative, healthy recipe!
These were tasty but fell apart..thinking an egg would help?.,
these WERE delicious! thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe. Like many others, my patties did not want to hold together (I even added a little panko). Even when making a nice sear on both sides, the insides were crumbly and fell apart very easily. Any ideas? maybe an egg?
We LOVED these. My 1 year old devoured his, then took what was left on my plate. We put a bit of a spin on it and added a few things. Check out our version here: http://wellfrockedlass.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/sweet-potato-quinoa-patties/
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
How gorgeous easy to these look to make. And I think I have all those ingredients without having to leave the house!
Mine turned out quite well, but didn’t stick all that great, I think b/c I boiled the potatoes instead of baking them. I put some bread crumbs in to help absorb the moisture. I topped mine with some hot sauce and they were delish!!! 🙂
I made these exactly as written, except I used dried thyme because I didn’t have any fresh. We aren’t big sweet potato fans, and my husband isn’t crazy about quinoa, but we both loved these. I served them as a side dish to a breaded turkey cutlet. I’d made a browned butter and sage sauce to go over the turkey and drizzled the tiny bit of leftover on the quinoa patty. YUM!
These did not stay together like a patty. Any tricks? They crumbled when I tried to flip them. I would use an egg next time to hold the mixture together, but I don’t think you eat eggs. Anyway, I turned it into a hash with a fried egg on top and it was still good.
I have red quinoa left over and a big sweet potato just waiting for me to eat, I will make this for sure. 🙂
For Moroccan-style patties, I sprinkle a good amount of home-made ras el hanout on the sweet potato before baking it, then add chopped pistachios, shredded preserved lemon, finely chopped parsley and fresh coriander leaves to the mixture.
Regarding Katie’s question about baking: for non-vegan folks how about adding an egg to the mixture; or maybe spray with cooking spray?
I made these tonight… absolutley deeeeee-lish. Such an amazing and simple recipe. Thank you so much 🙂
Just made these tonight. Divine! Making them again with leftovers for breakfast to update my mom’s potato pancake recipe she made growing up!
Xx
Allison
http://www.otisunfiltered.blogspot.com
I made these tonight. They were SOOOOOO good, Sarah! All of the ingredients complement each other perfectly. Definitely adding to my rotation of quinoa meals. 🙂
These were really delicious and easy to make. I had no problems getting the patties to stay together whilst grilling although I did coat them in breadcrumbs first. Highly recommend this recipie as it’s easily adapted to what you have available. I used fresh coriander instead of thyme!!
I made this with some chicken stripes in soya sauce and it was a delicious combination.
The patties unfortunately did stick to the pan, so they were far from looking like
the pictures :), but the taste was fantastic. Especially loved the thyme in it!
These look amazing and ridiculously easy to make…just how I like it! I was wondering if anyone on here had any recommendations on what would make a great companion/side dish to these cuties?! Plant-based/Vegan-friendly.
Many thanks!
These look really yummy. I was wondering, do you serve them alone or along side something else?
Do you recommend anything as a side dish?
Just finished rolling and flattening the sweet potato quinoa mix, mine still look quite crumbly are they supposed to set in the fridge? Im worried they may fall apart in frying and burn too much. –
I should have read all the comments before I tried making these – they totally fell apart I couldn’t get them to hold together AT ALL! After reading the comments I realize the ingredients call for 2 cups COOKED quinoa (1 cup raw). I totally made 2 cups raw Quinoa. It’s a hot mess, and all my ingredients are wasted. Still tastes good – but is too crumbly to serve. Bummer.
Can I suggest you edit the original post to clarify 1C raw (2 C cooked) for dumb-dumbs like me?
Looking for something to do with leftover cooked quinoa and sweet potatoes. Can’t wait to make these tonight, but after reading the comments I think I’ll try adding an egg and some breadcrumbs to get a good consistency. Do you know if they’ll freeze well? Every time I make patties (black bean/quinoa or lentil) I like to put a few uncooked in the freezer for quick meals.
I make these ALL the time– they are my boyfriends FAVORITE and i love them too, super easy and pretty cheap, I usually make a double or triple batch and keep them in the fridge, they save so well (have lasted us for up to a week and a half)
Thanks so much for this simple amazing recipe!
can we bake them instead ?
Sounds wonderful I can’t wait to make this.
I made these tonight. I didn’t have any fresh thyme in the house so I substituted fresh cilantro. They were awesome!
these look amazing, will try them out immediately. Was thinking of adding a dollop of whipped coconut milk on top too, yummmm 🙂
Making these as we speak. Sweet pot just finished in oven and quinoa on stove. Going to mince my garlic and onion so all I have to do is patti everything tonight. A few people had mentioned adding a sauce on top. Im thinking like a yogurt and lemon juice sauce, something kind of thick. Cant wait to taste them!
Okay, what am I doing wrong?? I want so badly for this recipe to work, but I’ve tried it twice now with no luck. The mixture tastes amazing, but I can’t get the patties to hold together after cooking. This second time, I added panko crumbs to the mix hoping it would bind everything together a little bit better, but they still fell apart when I went to take them out of the pan. Any suggestions would be awesome!
These were delicious. I added an egg to the mix and rolled them in Panko. They were still delicate to handle but using two Egg flips made it easier. I also froze some made up patties and they turned out fine. Next time I would halve or quarter the amount of ingredients as it is way too much. Thank you for this recipe.
Awesome flavor! I attempted to fry them, and they fell apart easily. I added one egg and GF panko breadcrumbs, and they didn’t fall apart. Thank you for inspiring a search for other quinoa-veggie patty recipes. The possibilities are endless! Zucchini, carrot, etc. Now if I can only actually make them look like tator tots!
After reading most of the comments and the problem being these fall apart when cooking I decided to add one beaten egg to the mix and it was really easy to make and they did not fall apart. I also melted some gouda cheese on top of some of them for my kids and they loved them! Great recipe 🙂
the taste is fantastic, but these would NOT stick together for me at all. i did nothing to deviate from the recipe. there was so much moisture, i couldn’t even flip them. i’m on an egg free, soy free, corn free, gluten free, dairy free diet, so i appreciate the flavor, but couldn’t figure out how to fix the consistency problem. any advice?
I modified a recipe and surprisingly it is almost identical to yours. they are delicious. I do add thyme and oregano, and chopped olives in the mix and one egg to help bind. I mis all together and mash with my hands to blend the olives and its juices in the mix. I will try flax seed egg to make it vegan.
1 spoon of flax seed to two of water to make an equivalent of an egg to help binding. I also used melted cocoanut oil in the mix and it helped.
mine kept falling apart/not sticking after they cooked on the stovetop. Am I missing something?
What would you serve this with? Just a side salad or as part of a veggie bowl? They look delicious! I guess I’m just trying to figure out if these are a side dish or entrée. I’m new to the plant-based lifestyle and am still figuring things out.
This recipe was a complete waste of time. I followed everything exactly and they were a crumbly mess. Won’t be trying this again. Very disappointing because they look so delicious in the pictures!
How do you keep these to stay together? I just made them and they completely fell apart. Still delicious just a quinoa bowl not patties.
This looks delicious. I’ll double the recipe, and freeze some, Great for a quick lunch, or snack for the kids.
That said, I do not see where I can print this out?
Thanx..
Coco,
If these are falling apart, I would use a fresh Farm Egg in the mixture!!!..
(I’m NOT Vegen)
I purchased a quinoi and rice package at Costco and added two tsp flax and followed the recipe and had no trouble with the patty breaking up. I also had some of the rice and quinoi left so melted a bit of butter and added almonds and a it of soy sauce and served along side. Would make again!
Sounds good that one II will definitely make.
I normally don’t leave comments on blogs, but I have to leave one here! We have been making these for over a year now and they are definitely one of our go-to recipes! Delicious, simple, and so healthy. Thank you for sharing! It’s great having the patty mixture in the fridge for an easy lunch during the week. put them in a skillet with some coconut oil, put the patty over a salad, and lunch is served!
I didn’t have luck with these. I switched the spices to make it more breakfast-like. I just couldn’t get them to stick together. So I scrambled it up and poof sweet potato and quinoa oatmeal.
I made these and love the flavor, but it took a long time to cook many patties in a pan, and I felt I used too much Earth Balance to cook them. With half the mix left over, the next day I decided to try baking them. I heated the oven to 425, spayed a baking sheet with Olive Oil, rolled the mix into balls and dipped the one end of each ball into a bit of Earth Balance (to get the flavor). I put the dipped end on the baking sheet and flattened the ball, then I brushed a bit of Earth Balance on top. I baked them for about 20 minutes on one side and 10 on the other to make them crispy. This may seem like a long time, but pan frying so many small patties took longer and used more Earth Balance. They turned out very well.
Tried them for dinner and they taste was fabulous!!
Is there a sauce or chutney that works well with the recipe?
Tastes goo but a disaster to cook. Falls apart in pan. I’d try adding flour to the mixture so it’s more of a workable mixture-
Just finished making these…. not pleased at all. They don’t taste bad, but the cooking process did not go as mentioned in the post AT ALL. This recipe needs much revision. Took two hours to make from start to finish. Didn’t fry up well at all. Yielded a ton… Normally I would be happy about this, but I have no desire to make this again so freezing the patty mixture sounds like a terrible idea to me right now. Not to mention, this ruined my nonstick pan due to them falling apart and the quinoa burning before I could even warm the rest of the patty.
Quelle traduction épouvantable, c’est une honte
I didn’t have 2 sweet potatoes so baked an apple, still did not have 2 cups to mix with the 2 cups quinoa, but mine held together ok when I made 12 patties. Some crumbling, but mostly held together, so not sure if the apple helped, they are very yummy
also maybe used less onion than specified.
Granted, I am not the world’s most magical cook. But I could NOT get these to work. They end up being very soft, I wish they were a little “stronger” of a pattie.
Anyway, I loved the idea!
I just made these as a side at dinner and they were amazing!! I fried them up in a good amount of coconut oil. This recipe made a lot, but I’m glad because these will make a perfect snack for tomorrow. 😀 Thanks, I’m sharing this on my page! 🙂
I made, were so yum but when tried to cook them, they kept
Falling apart, why would they not hold?
Just made these and OMG! Super simple to make and taste delicious. I am definitely going to make these again and soon.
This looks so delicious – I’m a huge fan of sweet potatoes and qunioa. I will make this today.
These were terrible wouldn’t stay together far too wet. It all went in the garbage
You have lots of delecious things on your blog. I can’t stop reading it 😛
Thank you so much!
Why didn’t I read the comments? Total fail but it makes sense, no binding ingredient(I wasn’t looking for one – vegan and low carb) they fell apart in the pan and had a very baby food look and taste. Sorry to say but DONT MAKE.
These are so good! I added red bell peppers and some spinach… so good!
Oh.. I added oat flower to hold them together.
China glass and US prices? Although I’m assuming the quality of these rigs is pretty decent
What would you replace the oil with? I’m WFPB could I use veggie stock or just a non stick frying pan?
Do you think these freeze well ?
I made these but they were too moist….may be I used too large of sweet potatoes? Taste was great but just mushy. Help!?
Ca I freeze them?
I just made these exactly from the recipe without any changes and they are perfection! Mine stayed together just fine. I will definitely be making these again and again and again. Thanks so much. (Now just trying to figure out what would be good sides to serve with this other than bread since my son has decided to go gluten free.)
Mine are far too crumbly/moist to hold together. What can I do to fix this?