Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Crispy Lentils
These Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Crispy Lentils are an easy and budget-friendly plant based meal smothered in a Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing. A low effort meal with complex flavors.
With just a few simple steps, you can elevate the most basic meal and make it taste gourmet. So yes, this is a baked stuffed sweet potato with lentils and kale, but the flavors are elevated and the play on the soft textures of the potato with the crispy bits of kale and lentils on top really transform this dish. Don’t even get me started on the dressing. It ties everything together and is good enough on it’s own to make regularly for any meal. So let’s make it.
Why You’ll Love These Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Budget-friendly. No need to break the bank with your next meal. We are using sweet potatoes and lentils as our base and layering flavor to make these budget-friendly ingredients taste more gourmet.
- Easy to make. The oven is doing all the work in this recipe. While everything is roasting, you make the sauce by just whisking it together in a bowl. Simple, no extra equipment needed.
- Great for meal prep. Prep the individual ingredients separately and use to build quick meals during the week.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sweet Potatoes: Aim for potatoes that are relatively the same size. You can swap with regular baked potatoes if you prefer.
- Lentils: To make this as easy as possible, I chose to use canned French lentils. Feel free to cook your lentils from scratch according to package instructions. If you want to experiment with other lentils, note I do not recommend using red lentils. Refrain from over cooking or making your lentils mushy as they won’t roast as well. Alternatively to lentils, you can roast chickpeas, white beans or tofu as another option. Just bake on a separate pan from the veggies as they will take longer to roast.
- Kale: Use curly or Lacinato kale. You can also roast other veggies like broccoli florets or cabbage.
- Garlic: Use a full bulb of garlic. Feel free to use less cloves based on your preference, but as the garlic bakes it mellows out the flavor and gives it sweeter undertones.
- Tahini: Good quality tahini is important. Highly recommend brands like Soom Foods. If you are allergic to sesame, you can also make this sauce with almond butter, cashew butter or sunflower seed butter.
- Lemon: For the most flavor, use fresh as we do need the zest and juice.
- Mustard: I used Dijon mustard to compliment the sweeter undertones of the sauce.
- Maple Syrup: To help mellow out some of the tangy flavors. You can use other liquid sweeteners as an alternative like agave syrup.
How to Make Crispy Lentil Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Preparing the Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Vegetables
Preheat oven to 425F. Wash/scrub the outside of your sweet potato really well then carefully poke a few holes into the surface with a fork and place on a parchment lined baking tray.
Place your garlic bulb over foil. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of oil over the exposed cloves then sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Wrap the garlic in the foil and place on the tray with the potatoes.
Place the baking tray in the oven. Roast for 40 minutes, then remove the garlic and set aside to cool. Return the tray to the oven using the bottom rack and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes have cooked through.
Pat the lentils dry with a clean kitchen towel then spread out on a separate parchment lined baking tray. If there is enough room, spread the kale out on the other half of the baking tray or use a separate tray. Drizzle the kale with 1 teaspoon of oil, half the garlic powder and a pinch of salt. For the lentils, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil, remaining garlic powder and a pinch of salt. Toss both to coat evenly then spread out on the tray in a single layer.
Place the tray of lentils and kale in the oven on the middle rack and roast during the last 10 minutes of cooking time, stirring both sides half way through.
How to Make the Tahini Sauce
Remove all trays from the oven and set aside to make the dressing. Combine the tahini, squeeze in half the roasted garlic cloves, mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice and zest, and a generous pinch of salt. Mash the garlic with a fork then whisk to combine until thickened. Pour in 3 tablespoons of water and whisk again until creamy and adjust seasonings to taste. Add additional water as needed if you want to thin the dressing out more.
Cut the sweet potatoes in half and squeeze 1-2 roasted cloves between each potato with a pinch of salt. Using a fork, lightly mash the garlic into the potatoes. Top the potatoes with the kale, lentils and a few spoons of the dressing then enjoy.
Expert Tips
- Don’t forget to poke holes in your potato before baking. The holes in the potato help act like a vent to release steam from the roasting potato. This will prevent the low risk of your potato exploding in the oven.
- Roast your potatoes ahead of time. If meal prepping for the week, roast 3 sweet potatoes and store in the fridge to help save time when making this meal through the week.
- Don’t be afraid to microwave. You can fully cook your potato in the microwave or use it to partially cook it upfront and finish roasting it in the oven to save time. Start by poking holes in your potato, place on a microwave safe dish and cook for 3-5 minutes in your microwave. Then, finish roasting it in the oven at 400F for 15 minutes or until tender.
- Change it up. Try different filling ideas or sauces to top your stuffed sweet potatoes. For example, swap the lentils for chickpeas or kale for other hearty roasted vegetables.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Use this recipe more as a guide or how to, then customize your potato to your preference. Choose different combinations of beans, herbs, spices and sauces to stuff your potato with.
I highly recommend that you do. Take a fork and poke a few holes round your sweet potato. This will allow your potato to vent out some steam as it bakes and will prevent any chance of your sweet potato exploding in the oven.
Potatoes in general are grown in the grown, so they are covered in dirt. So, if you plan to eat the skin, you should wash your potato really well before baking. You can use a brush to scrub the potato under running water to help remove as much dirt as possible.
Yes! Prep the sweet potatoes in advance then allow to cool and store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you are cooking your lentils from scratch, you can also prep them in advance too. Just cook according to package instructions until the lentils are tender. Once the lentils are cooled, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. The sauce can also be stored up to 7 days in the fridge.
To enhance some of the natural sweetness of a sweet potato, sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Feel free to add additional seasonings as desired.
More Quick and Easy Plant Based Meals
- Crispy Black Bean Tacos
- Herby Avocado White Bean Salad
- Easy Baked Peanut Tofu
- Tofu Cabbage Stir Fry
- Tahini Pasta
Roasted Garlic and Lentil Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 3 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Crispy Lentils are an easy and budget-friendly plant based meal smothered in a Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing. A low effort meal with complex flavors.
Ingredients
- 3 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 1 head of garlic, top removed to expose cloves
- 4 cups of curly kale, (about 6–7 leaves with stems removed)
- 1, 15 oz can French lentils, drained and rinsed
- Avocado oil for roasting
- 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
- 3 tbsp good quality tahini
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp maple syrup
- Zest of 1 medium lemon
- Juice of half a lemon
- 3–4 tbsp of cold water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Wash/scrub the outside of your sweet potato really well then carefully poke a few holes over the surface with a fork and place on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Place your garlic bulb over foil. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of oil over the exposed cloves then sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Wrap the garlic in the foil and place on the tray with the potatoes.
- Place the baking tray in the oven. Roast for 40 minutes, then remove the garlic and set aside. Return the tray to the oven using the bottom rack and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes have cooked through.
- Pat the lentils dry with a clean kitchen towel then spread out on a separate parchment lined baking tray. If there is enough room, spread the kale out on the other half of the baking tray or use a separate tray. Drizzle the kale with 1 teaspoon of oil, half the garlic powder and a pinch of salt. For the lentils, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of oil, remaining garlic powder and a pinch of salt. Toss both to coat evenly then spread out on the tray in a single layer.
- Place the tray of lentils and kale in the oven on the middle rack and roast during the last 10 minutes of cooking time, stirring both sides half way through.
- Remove all trays from the oven and set aside to make the dressing. Combine the tahini, half the roasted garlic cloves, mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice and zest, and a generous pinch of salt. Mash the garlic with a fork then whisk to combine until thickened. Pour in 3 tablespoons of water and whisk again until creamy. Add additional water as needed if you want to thin the dressing out more.
- Cut the sweet potatoes in half and squeeze 1-2 roasted cloves between each potato with a pinch of salt. Using a fork, lightly mash the garlic into the potatoes. Top the potatoes with the kale, lentils and a few spoons of the dressing then enjoy.
Notes
Don’t forget to poke holes in your potato before baking. The holes in the potato help act like a vent to release steam from the roasting potato. This will prevent the low risk of your potato exploding in the oven.
Roast your potatoes ahead of time. If meal prepping for the week, roast 3 sweet potatoes and store in the fridge to help save time when making this meal through the week.
Don’t be afraid to microwave. You can fully cook your potato in the microwave or use it to partially cook it upfront and finish roasting it in the oven to save time. Start by poking holes in your potato, place on a microwave safe dish and cook for 3-5 minutes in your microwave. Then, finish roasting it in the oven at 400F for 15 minutes or until tender.
Change it up. Try different filling ideas or sauces to top your sweet potato with. For example, swap the lentils for chickpeas or kale for other hearty roasted vegetables.
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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