These sweet potato quinoa cakes are made with wild rice and studded with dried cranberries. They are great for meal prep and taste delicious served hot or cold.
If you’ve only ever served quinoa as a fluffy side dish, get ready to have your mind blown because quinoa can do so much more! I’ve experimented with it so many different ways… from quinoa salads to quinoa flour bread and quinoa breakfast bowls. But today’s recipe is one of my faves because we’re turning quinoa into a tasty little cake/patty.
I’ll be the first to admit that these quinoa cakes do take a little bit of time to prepare, but the good news is that you can prep certain parts of the recipe in advance to save on time the day of. And they are absolutely delicious and worth the effort!
The first time I made these cakes was back in 2010 (when I originally posted the recipe). I remembered them being good, but after making them again recently I realized just how much I love them. They’ll now be making a regular appearance on our weekly menu.
The nice thing about this recipe is that you only need 8 simple ingredients and like I mentioned before many of them can be prepped in advance.
Cook your grains: Leftover quinoa and rice work perfectly in this recipe, but if you don’t have any on hand the first step is to cooking both the rice and quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside to cool when done cooking.
Steam sweet potatoes: While your rice and quinoa cook, you’ll steam the sweet potato chunks until soft and then puree in a stand mixer, food processor or blender.
Mix and form into patties: When your grains and sweet potatoes are cool enough to touch, combine the sweet potatoes, cooked quinoa, cooked rice, green onions, cranberries, sage, salt and pepper. Form and flatten portions of the “dough” into patties.
Bake: Lay the patties onto parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes until they’re lightly brown and crisp on the outside.
These sweet potato quinoa cakes are delicious at any temperature. I love them fresh out of the oven, at room temperature and even cold right out of the refrigerator.
For serving, they make a great veggie-based side to just about any main dish… I personally like pairing them with my apple cider vinegar chicken. But you can also serve them as a plant-based main entree with a green side like roasted broccoli, green beans or a kale salad.
If you love sauces and dips, I have a few options that would work really well: dairy-free cashew sour cream, avocado ranch dressing or this zesty tahini dressing.
If you’ll be eating the quinoa cakes within the week I recommend storing in an airtight container in the fridge. They should stay good for up to five days. If you don’t eat them fast enough (has never happened to me, ha!) you can pop them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to three months. The consistency may change slightly after freezing, but they will still be delicious. I recommend reheating in a toaster oven or conventional oven to make sure you can enjoy the crispy edges.
If you make these sweet potato quinoa cakes please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how they turned out for you. Your feedback is super helpful for the EBF team and other EBF readers!
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I’m sorry for the repeated question, but your answer didn’t quite clear it up for me. 🙂 Are you measuring 1cup dry quinoa and then cooking it? Or, are you measuring 1 cup cooked quinoa to the mixture? (Same for the rice.) thanks!
Sorry for the confusion! It’s 1 cup cooked. 🙂
The recipe calls for 1c rice & quinoa. Is the 1c measured cooked or raw?
Both the rice and quinoa should be cooked prior to making the cakes!
The recipe calls for 1 cup each of rice & quinoa; which is it, dried or cooked?
Both should be cooked prior to making the cakes!
Menu planning: please offer ideas & suggestions
Hey Judy – I have a lot of meal prep ideas here and I also have a 6-week meal plan if you’re interested.
I’d love to see the 6 week menu plan.
Thanks!
I’d like to make these from my 18 mos old. But wanted to add some component of fat (for her brain development- I try to incorporate fat, fiber and protein to all of her meals). Could I add some coconut oil to the sweet potato after they’ve cooked? I thought about using some full fat canned coconut milk too. But I also don’t want to ruin this recipe! I’m excited to make it!
Hey Lauren – I think that’d be fine to add some coconut oil in. You could also cook the quinoa in full fat coconut milk if you wanted. 🙂