Sweet Potato Tikki

The perfect fall snack for your cup of chai. Sweet potato tikki wins at both flavor and texture. It’s crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside and it’s spicy and sweet!

This is the best way to eat sweet potato. A bold statement, I know, but it’s the truth. Sweet potato tikki is so flavorful – sweet, spicy, tangy. And it has a buttery crisp layer encasing a creamy center. It’s a dream snack.

I already have recipes for stuffed aloo tikki and crumb-coated Kerala meat cutlets on my website. This recipe for sweet potato tikki, also known as shakarkandi ki tikki, is perhaps a bit healthier? It’s certainly just as delicious as any other pan-fried patty out there.

So let’s get started!

The first step is to cook the sweet potatoes. You can either boil them on the stovetop or pressure cook them in an instant pot. I’m sharing both methods in the recipe card below.

Once cooked, peel the sweet potatoes and place them into a bowl along with a handful of spices. Then mash, mash, mash.

Form the spiced mashed sweet potato into round patties. I use a medium cookie scoop to measure out two scoops worth of the mixture, then I roll it into a ball and flatten it out into a patty. This amount makes 12 to 14 patties.

After that, shallow fry the patties in ghee or oil. I prefer to shallow fry sweet potato tikkis in ghee, it makes the tikki taste more decadent.

Do I Need to Add Flour to the Patties?

I don’t add any flour to these patties, but you can if you’d like. The patties hold up just fine, but if you have any trouble you can always mix in some rice flour or you can put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set prior to pan-frying them.

Should I Use Orange Sweet Potatoes OR White Sweet Potatoes? Does Variety Matter?

Nope, it doesn’t matter. I’ve made this tikki using orange sweet potatoes and white sweet potatoes. It’s great either way.

What Should I Serve With The Tikki?

These are so flavorful that you can eat them on their own – the perfect snack to go with a cup of chai.

If you’re serving these for a party, make sweet potato tikki chaat! Serve the tikki with tamarind chutney or cilantro chutney. Top with chopped onion, cilantro, crispy sev (besan noodles), and pomegranate arils (if you want to be a bit fancy).

Want to make this tikki a meal? Turn it into a veggie burger! Place it in a bun and top it with whatever you’d like: ripe tomato, pickled onions, chutneys.

How do you plan to enjoy this tikki? I want to know 🙂

Sweet Potato Tikki

Sweet Potato Tikki

4.94 from 16 reviews

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Servings 12 -14 patties

Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

 

• ▢ 2 pounds sweet potatoes cooked and peeled (see directions for how to cook)
• ▢ ⅓ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• ▢ 1 Serrano pepper minced
• ▢ 1 teaspoon minced ginger or ginger paste
• ▢ 2 teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves kasoori methi
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon roasted ground cumin powder*
• ▢ ½ teaspoon garam masala
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
• ▢  
• ▢ Ghee or oil shallow fry
• ▢ Cilantro garnish, optional

Instructions

 

Sweet Potato Tikki:

• Place the cooked and peeled sweet potatoes and the remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Using a potato masher or spoon, mash until well combined.
• Using a medium cookie scoop, take two scoops of the mixture and form it into a ball, then flatten it into a patty. Repeat until all the mixture has been formed into patties.
• Add 4 tablespoons of ghee/oil to a frying pan over medium heat and shallow fry the patties in batches, adding more ghee/oil as needed. Fry the patties for 3 minutes per side, or until browned.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve with chutney or ketchup if desired.

To cook the sweet potatoes:

• To cook the sweet potatoes on the stovetop: add the sweet potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Bring the pot to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender. Remove the sweet potatoes from the pot and place them onto a plate. Once cool enough to touch, remove the peel. 
• To cook the sweet potatoes in an instant pot: pour 2 cups of water into the instant pot, put a trivet inside the pot, and then place the sweet potatoes on top of the trivet. Cook for 15 minutes at high pressure (for medium sweet potatoes, 9 to 12 ounces), then naturally release pressure. Remove the sweet potatoes from the pot and place them onto a plate. Once cool enough to touch, remove the peel. 

Notes

Sweet potato tikki tastes best soon after you pan-fry them. To reheat them later, I suggest warming them up in a pan on the stovetop.

I don’t add any flour to these sweet potato patties, but you can if you’d like. The patties hold up just fine, but if you have any trouble you can always mix in some rice flour or you can put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to set prior to pan-frying them.

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