Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes

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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.

Five sweet potato quinoa cakes stacked.

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.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes ingredients in a bowl before mixing.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cake Ingredients

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.

  • sweet potatoes – the sweet potatoes in this recipe are steamed and mashed and act as a binder to hold the patties together
  • quinoa – you’ll cook the quinoa before making the patties so this step can be done a few days in advance to save on time
  • wild rice – I really like using Lundberg wild rice and this is another ingredient that can be prepped in advance
  • green onions
  • dried cranberries
  • dried sage – sage pairs with sweet potato beautifully, but you could also use dried thyme
  • sea salt and pepper

Sweet potato quinoa cakes on a wire rack, close up shot.

How to Make Quinoa Patties

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.

Five sweet potato quinoa cakes stacked close up.

How to Serve Quinoa Cakes

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.

How to Store Quinoa Cakes

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.

More Quinoa Recipes to Try:

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4.42 from 12 votes

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes

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.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 cakes

Ingredients  

  • 1 lb. sweet potatoes, 2 medium sized, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked (1/2 cup dry quinoa)
  • 1 cup Lundburg wild rice blend, cooked (1/3 cup dry rice)
  • ½ cup green onions, sliced
  • ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon dried sage
  • ½ Tablespoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Cook your rice and quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside to cool when done cooking.
  • Steam sweet potato chunks for 20-25 minutes. Then mash/puree sweet potatoes in stand mixer. You could also use a food processor or blender. You want the sweet potato mixture to be thick and a tad chunky, not completely smooth like sweet potato soup.
  • Combine mashed sweet potatoes, cooked quinoa, cooked rice, green onions, cranberries, sage, salt and pepper.
  • Form and flatten portions of the “dough” into patties. You should get about 8 small cakes or 6 large cakes.
  • Lay the patties onto parchment paper that has been sprayed with cooking spray (or stoneware) and bake for 15-20 minutes until they’re lightly brown and crisp on the outside. Serve warm.
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat leftovers in the oven to serve warm or enjoy cold straight from the fridge.

Nutrition

Serving: 1quinoa cake | Calories: 221kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 485mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 9g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: quinoa cakes
Did you make this recipe?Mention @eatingbirdfood and tag #eatingbirdfood!

About Brittany

Hey there, I’m Brittany, the creator of Eating Bird Food, cookbook author, health coach and mama of two littles. Here you’ll find quick and easy recipes that make healthy fun and enjoyable for you and your family!

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111 Comments

  1. I love Whole Foods… I am going to look into this, it sounds like a great program! 🙂

    I *LOVE* quinoa… these look delicious!

  2. I worry that the ANDI scores will dissuade people from eating healthy foods. As you mentioned, an apple is relatively low but still a healthy, whole food item. I hope people don’t see a low number and assume it’s not worth eating.

    Those cakes look so good!

  3. You know what’s also amazing about that Whole Foods program? It looks like it’s almost totally free from lobbying by the meat, corn, and dairy industries. Plant-based foods –oh, I can’t wait until our country’s schools finally get that ideology shoved into their cafeterias. ANYTHING is better than pizza and chicken nuggets for breakfast.

    Have you heard about Bill Clinton’s vegan diet? He’s on it with a doctor’s full support, has lowered his cholesteral and scaled down his heart issues, and he was (is?) talking about the benefits of a plant-based diet on national television. Popular culture is waking up!

  4. Love the philosophy of the new program! I wish there was a WF nearby… but my wallet does not.

  5. It seems like many companies are taking the scoring technique. Im not really sure where I stand with it all. On one side, it seems like a great way to value your nutritional content without only focusing on the calories/fat. I think too many people only focus on the fat grams and nothing else. But then, I also see it as another way for people to constantly judge themselves based on a number. I hate that everything in life has to have a number associated with it in order to determine its value. I’m kind of indifferent on this one.

    But something I am completely and 100% for are these quinoa cakes!!!!! Holy yum!!

  6. These look delish! As if we needed another reason to love Whole Foods. I’ll look for signage the next time I’m there :}

  7. Those quinoa cakes are so adorable.

    To be honest I think scoring systems like that are just confusing. I too find it odd that some of the foods you listed had a low score — I think by categorizing foods that way leads to “good” foods and “bad” foods. And I don’t think an apple should be considered “bad”!

  8. those cakes look so good! And I love the addition of cranberries – so fun for a fall dish 🙂

    I think the program as a whole sounds good, but the scoring does sound like it could be very confusing. But…I don’t have a WF here to worry about it 🙁 Maybe some day!

  9. Those are the most adorable little cakes! I’ve had a great run so far with trying out your recipes, so I think this is definitely going to be on my list to make asap;)

  10. These look really great! I just added them to my To-Make recipes folder. Do you think the cranberries could be replaced with another ingredient?

  11. I agree that the scoring system seems completely confusing. I do appreciate that Whole Foods is taking this initiative though.

  12. these sound absolutely amazing and I am going to have to try them! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    The basic idea of the WF’s program sounds great. I hope they’re able to give it the support it needs in store to really reach people and help them. I haven’t checked out the scoring system but I know it won’t help if it confuses people. Maybe they’ll revamp it if they realize that people are’t using it.

  13. This sound and look so yummy…I have some left over baked sweet potatoes that I might just have to give this a whirl….thanks for sharing…

  14. I really love these points on healthy eating. They articulate my aims very well. And this recipe looks great. I bookmarked it to make soon!

  15. Recipe looks awesome.

    The ANDI system seems a bit weird. It’s like NUVAL except seems harder to interpret because the range is so high. Is a squash really 600 points less healthy than Kale? I agree that it is misleading, but still it’s great that somebody is trying to help consumers be more aware of their food choices!

  16. I have been really interested in this program. I’ve been seeing the signs everywhere at Whole Foods, and I’ve been curious. Sometimes the scores make sense, but sometimes I see fruits and veggies that I think should be scored higher. Thanks for sharing what you learned. And thank you for sharing those delicious quinoa cakes…they look and sound delicious!

  17. YES PLEASE! these look amazing, and your photography is GORGEOUS! so excited to meet you in less than two weeks 🙂

  18. Those cakes look AMAZING! I want to make those next week. And I love the whole idea of the “health starts here” initiative, starting with planting quality produce!

  19. Oh those look SO good!!! I will have to make them…perhaps for Halloween as they are slightly orange and black? 😉

  20. These are beautiful, Britt! What a wonderful post and an incredible recipe. Thank you; enjoy your weekend.
    xo,
    Aims

  21. WOW! These are seriously over the top with goodness. I just found them on the 100 ways to eat sweet potatoes post on endless simmer and they totally stood out to me!!

    love love love these and can’t wait to try them!

  22. OH MY GOODNESS!! Just made these yummy little cakes…. Only change was fresh sage. I topped them with plain nonfat greek yogurt and sprinkled chopped green onion on the top. They look so pretty and taste like something off the gourmet menu! Thank you for the yummy recipe! This will be my appetizer dish for my next party!

    Jill b, rn

  23. Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I actually had these from the Whole Foods hot bar a few months ago and had been trying to figure out the recipe. Will definitely make these this week.

  24. I love this cake. It is perfect for my power breakfast or even a afternoon snack… I am glad that I find a recipe here!

    1. I’m not 100% sure they would hold together as well with cous cous instead of quinoa, but you can definitely try it because even if the cakes fall apart, it would still taste delicious! 🙂

  25. Awesome job on these girl!! YUM!!!

    And the pics are beautiful! Great photography!

  26. I followed the link on Oh She Glows and ended up here; I’m glad I did. I have been on a quinoa craze lately, and these quinoa cakes look awesome. Will probably be making this some time next week! Thanks for sharing!

  27. YUM!!! I’m obsessed with both sweet potatoes & quinoa so this looks DELICIOUS!!! Do you happen to know the nutrition stats for these though?

    1. If you make 10 large patties they are about 250 Calories, 2g fat, 0g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 60g carbohydrate, 5g fiber, 6g protein, 275mg sodium.

  28. I followed the link on Oh She Glows, too! Great post. I agree that it is confusing when I go to buy a healthy ingredient like quinoa or walnuts in the bulk section and find that it has a low ANDI score, which makes it seem unhealthy. I have found the rating system helpful in certain situations, for example, I was buying a leafy green for salads for the week and found that between butter lettuce, romaine, and green or red leaf, green and leaf had the highest score. I think it works well for comparing like to like, but not so well for things like grains and beans.

  29. I made these last night to use for my lunch this coming week. Not only did *I* love them, but my husband couldn’t wait to try one and loved it too!
    Thanks so much for the recipe!

  30. Love the clean ingredient list! This will be excellent in the Summer time when burgers are all the rage.

  31. I made these with Yams as opposed to sweet potatoes. They were very good, but they did not get crisp when I baked them. I was wondering if the yam made a difference? The mixture was quite wet. I am going to make them again with sweet potato, and hopefully they will crisp this time. But I love the taste regardless. Thanks for sharing!

    1. I’m not sure if the yams would have made much of a difference, but I would bake them a little longer if they don’t crisp up.

  32. I was just looking on the WF website for this very recipe and could not find it; a google search brought me to your blog. Thank you for posting this recipe! I tried these cakes for the first time yesterday and fell in love with them and I will be making this recipe again. Glad they freeze well!

  33. I want to make these and think my toddler would enjoy a dipping sauce with them. Another reviewer used plain yogurt, but I know that will not go over well. Suggestions? Would ketchup or bbq sauce go well?

  34. Hi,
    I was wondering, is the 1 cup of rice the measurement before or after cooking?
    Also, would plain brown rice work instead?

    1. The 1 cup of rice measurement is for uncooked rice. i haven’t tried the recipe with brown rice but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Although I would use long grain brown rice rather than short because that’s more similar to wild rice.

  35. I made these using ingredients I already had in pantry. Didn’t have green onion. Added in toasted pecans for a little savory. Yummy!

  36. I just “discovered” your web site, and I love it! However, I have one request, or suggestion: Please include he nutritional information with each recipe. Although I have become a vegeterian, I have to watch my weight VERY carefully. Thank you so much!!

  37. Love your website! I found it when I went searching for this very recipe! I notice that this recipe is missing from your Search results and not listed in your recipe list! I almost couldn’t find it again, if you have a few minutes 🙂 would you add it to the list! Thanks for everything that you’re doing!

  38. Oh my, can’t wait to try this recipe. I just found your page thru 2 other vegan sites. At 53 I am now going vegan after many changes in life, bad marriage ending in divorce for one. But it’s never too late to make positive heAlthy changes. Love your website. I’m trying to get back on my feet, and feeling healthier.

    1. That’s so great Liz. I completely agree that it’s never too late to make positive changes. I’m excited for you!

  39. These are amazing!! We felt these needed some sort of sauce, and actually tried buffalo wing sauce (hey, it was the only thing we had here that we thought might work). It wasn’t perfect, but did add a little zip that was kind of nice. Wondering if anyone has other ideas for a sauce to accompany these amazing cakes? Also, is this best as an appetizer, side, or main course? What other foods go well with these? Thanks!

    1. Maybe try some humus dip with the sweet potato quinoa cakes. I’ve made sweet potato humus before, so thinking it would be a good fit.

      1. Let me know how they are with the sauce, LouAnn. I also include a few sauce options in the blog you could try as well!

  40. Those look great! I love Quinoa Cakes, but your addition of sweet potato is a great idea.

  41. Just made these, happen to have potato Leek soup on hand so I floated one of these in a bowl. So Good! Feels like Thanksgiving. Great flavor combo.

  42. These cakes look amazing! I’ve been making similar quinoa cakes with pumpkin instead of sweet potato, but being a sweet-potato-lover I will give these a try soon 😉

  43. The cakes look gorgeous. Using sweet potato was a ingenious move. Sweet potatos are rich in ketones which are super good for you.

  44. I recently had the WF ones and fell in love! I found your site when I was searching – this recipe is incredibly delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! I have a batch in the oven right now! 🙂

    1. Thanks for the comment Kelly. I’m so glad you like the recipe, it’s one of my favorites. 🙂

  45. omg, THANK YOU for this! I just went to whole foods for lunch and decided to try one of these, they are amazing!! they didn’t have the recipe on their website and i was so disappointed until I found your site! sending you healthy love 🙂

  46. I’m on a veggie-burger round up mission… I intend to consume delicious things all summer. This one looks great, looking forward to trying it (or a variation, I’m not so good at perfectly following directions.)

    Thanks for sharing it!

  47. I love sweet potato & quinoa however, I am allergic to black pepper. Is their a substitute I can use?
    I live in San Diego and when I go to the asian markets I get confused with what they called sweet potatoes. Is it the ones when you dig into the skin it’s yellow inside or white?

  48. Awesome recipe! Can’t wait to try it! Just 1 question, Is the amount of rice and quinoa dry and then cooked which expands and turns into more or 1 cup already cooked quinoa and rice? Thanks

  49. 5 stars
    Awesome recipe! I made them for my family and they loved them!! even my 60 year old carnivore father liked them! healthy and fun! could be a nice alternative flavor with dried cherries!

    1. 5 stars
      I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe Emily! I agree, dried cherries would be nice as well. 🙂

  50. Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve been looking for it everywhere! My hubby and I are new to veganism and I love these but the nearest WF is over an hour away, so I only get there at most once a month. I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.

    Have you tried their kale and avacado salad? Another great one to get the recipe for!!

  51. I have just found your website and it’s wonderful! I am wondering about the sweet potato in the recipe. Is it what is considered yams?? or is it sweet potato. Either way I am anxious to try. Keep it up and thanks for the help.

      1. 5 stars
        Just tried the recipe!! Simply delicious. I put just a small tab of roasted red pepper humus on top. My oh my I will certainly be making these again. Thank you for sharing!

  52. Thank you for posting this recipe! These cakes are my absolute favorite food!! Due to some gall bladder issues, I can’t eat oil or fats, and I also eat a plant-based diet so it is very hard to find something prepared that fits my needs!

  53. Can’t wait to try these!! Question – has anyone tried freezing these?
    I’d love to make a batch and have them on hand…but can’t say I’ve ever froze potatoes!! Any tips are welcomed! Thanks

  54. These sound amazing! I have been wanting to try a homemade veggie patty for a while and this looks like the perfect recipe. My family would devour these!!! Pinned!

  55. 5 stars
    So I just finished making this recipe and lets just call it what it is… great.
    Easy to make but even better to eat. Plus I had no trouble including it with my diet.

    This gets two thumbs up from me!

    Has anyone else tried the Custom Keto Diet?

    https://bit.ly/3hEwXOj

  56. 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!

    1. 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. 🙂

  57. 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!