Baked lentil sweet potato falafel (with avocado cream sauce!) is a healthy twist on a fried favorite. Pair with a big salad for a light lunch or dinner.
Look at all the green in this recipe. So good, right? Falafel is so good, what with all the chickpeas and spices and fried goodness. But we gave traditional falafel a makeover, for a baked recipe that’s high in beta-carotene and iron.
Baked Lentil Sweet Potato Falafel with Avocado Cream Sauce Ingredients
For the Falafel
- 2 cups lentils
- 1 (15-ounce) can sweet potato puree
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. paprika
- ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For the Avocado Sauce
- 1 large avocado, pitted
- 2 tbsp. unsweetened coconut milk
How to Make Baked Lentil Sweet Potato Falafel
This recipe comes together fairly quickly. It requires you to cook the lentils, which can take a little bit of time. You can certainly make the lentils ahead of time and store them in the fridge if you want to break this meal prep into even smaller steps. Otherwise, make the lentils, and then drain them. Then, combine them with the sweet potato puree, along with some garlic, cayenne, paprika, coconut flour, salt, and pepper in a food processor or a high-speed blender.
Form them into patties and then transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment. While that's happening, make the cream sauce with the avocado and some unsweetened coconut milk. It's so delicious, you'll figure out ways to put it on all kinds of things other than as a bit of a garnish for this baked lentil sweet potato falafel.
How to Serve and Store Baked Lentil Sweet Potato Falafel
We've suggested a good salad alongside this baked falafel meal prep. We like it with kale or spinach, and some cut-up pieces of cucumbers, peppers, and grape tomatoes, for example.
Once it's been prepped and stored in containers in the fridge, it will keep for 4 days or so. You can eat all of this cold or even at room temperature, if desired, if you're taking the meal preps on the go with you. But if you'd rather, you can heat each falafel patty up in a hot skillet, or wrap them in foil and pop them in a 350 F oven for about ten minutes.
Substitutions and Alterations
Sometimes sweet potato puree can be hard to find. Feel free to substitute pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie puree).
You can make this with regular brown lentils, or use red lentils; the latter cook more quickly. The French kind, Puy lentils, will take much longer and may not puree as well as the other types; they tend to hold their shape longer and are best used for salads and room-temperature dishes.
Tips for Avocado Cream Sauce
You can use the canned coconut milk (just shake the can well, it's thick!) or the type that comes in the refrigerator section that's meant to be used more as a plant-based milk substitute. Either will work; the consistency will be a little different (i.e., thicker) with the canned milk. But it's up to you!
Double the recipe if desired and use the cream sauce on the salad you might eat alongside this healthy meal prep.
READ MORE: Easy Falafel Meal Prep
Ingredients
Falafels
- 2 cups lentils
- 15 ounces sweet potato puree canned or baked and then pureed
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- salt & pepper to taste
Avocado Sauce
- 1 large Avocado pitted
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened coconut milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place lentils in a pot of boiling water. Boil 10 until tender and drain.
- Place the lentils in a high-speed blender or food processor with the other ingredients for the falafels. Blend on high until smooth.
- Scoop ¼ of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet to form a patty. Repeat for the remaining batter until there are 12 patties.
- Bake at 375 F 25-30 minutes until golden and edges are slightly crusty.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet while you prepare the avocado sauce.
- Place the avocado and milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk to obtain desired consistency.
- Serve falafels with avocado cream sauce over a salad with your favorite veggies.
Which lentils do you use? Green, brown, red?
Any should work, but we usually use brown lentils. AND if you want a hack, you could use the pre-cooked / steamed lentils
Thank you! Looking forward to making these later this week 😊