Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils | Slimming Eats Recipes (2024)

Fill a bowl with some of this delicious Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils, a delicious combination of spice and sweetness for a hearty healthy meal.

In the winter time when it's cold, I tend to eat a lot more meat-free meals, My pantry is often raided for pulses and lentils because they are great for making soups, curries or chilli's etc for comforting food that you crave in those chilly winter months.

Not just that, but they are super cheap and really great for bulking out a dish, and making it more filling and high satiety.

You don't need complicated ingredients either, just a simple blend of spices can really add delicious flavour in combination with some healthy vegetables.

Sweet Potato is a perfect addition to this Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils, it adds a lovely natural sweetness to the heat from the chilli's for an amazing flavour on the palate.

The key to adding the sweet potato to this dish is to cook it first. I just pierce and microwave for 5 mins, allow it too cool and then you can scoop out all the flesh and mash. What that does is creates a delicious curry sauce with all the additional ingredients, instead of if you were to add it in cubed.

I prefer to use brown lentils in this dish, a chunkier variety of lentil because when cooked they hold their shape. Red lentils are more for dhals and soups. So for this Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils, I recommend using either green or brown lentils.

Perfect just as it is in a bowl, or pair up with some rice and vegetables of choice for a more filling meal.

If you end up buying a bag of brown or green lentils to make this Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils, you may end up thinking, what am I going to use the rest of these lentils on?

Luckily I have these perfect recipes for you to try:

• Spicy Lentils and Spinach
• Sausage and Lentil Casserole
• Coconut Green Lentil Curry
• Lentil Shepherds Pie
• Lentil Bolognese
• Bacon and Lentil Soup
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Lentil Curry
• Sweet Potato, Vegetable and Lentil Chilli

all suitable for freezing too, so great when you need to get some batch cooking underway to fill your freezer for some grab and go meals.

This Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils can also be cooked either stove top or in a pressure cooker like anInstant Pot.

I love my Instant Pot. It is a 7in1 cooker, which slow cooks, pressure cooks, saute’s, has settings for soup, chilli, rice, porridge and even makes yoghurt (I haven’t tried that yet).

check out some of my Instant Pot recipes for some other delicious meals you can cook in your pressure cooker.

HOW CAN I ADD A ⅓ VEG TOTHIS SPICY SWEET POTATO AND LENTILS?

I could have bulked this spicy sweet potato and lentils out with some vegetables, but I wanted the sweet potato to be dominant as a flavour and felt adding other vegetables would take that away. So instead serve this delicious dish with a side of vegetables of your choice. I served mine with rice and some slices of zucchini (courgette), which I just cooked in a pan for a few minutes seasoned with salt and black pepper to give some colour. Another option would be to ditch the rice and serve with this Roasted Cauliflower Rice. If you have only ever tried cauli rice cooked in a microwave and really didn't like it, you must try it cooked this way. Roasting it gives it such a delicious flavour.

WHAT KITCHEN ITEMS DO I NEED TO MAKE THIS SPICY SWEET POTATO AND LENTILS?

• Deep Saucepanor Instant Pot
• Kitchen Scales
• Measuring Jug
• Measuring Spoons
• Wooden Spoon
• Santoku Knife (perfect knife for chopping veg)
• Chopping Board
• Microwave

IF YOU TRY THIS RECIPE, LET US KNOW! LEAVE A COMMENT, RATE IT AND TAG US IN YOUR PHOTOS @SLIMMINGEATS ON INSTAGRAM

Recipe Card

Spicy Sweet Potato and Lentils | Slimming Eats

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

See Also

Caramelized Pecans (Stovetop Recipe)

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, vegan and Weight Watchers friendly

WW Smart Points - 3

*Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

• 400g/14oz sweet potato, raw
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoon of ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• 1 tbs of ground cumin
• 1 tbs of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 2 cups (480ml) of passata (crushed tomatoes)
• 2 cups (480ml) of vegetable stock
• 1 cup/165g of brown lentils (dry), rinsed
• salt and black pepper
• Cooking oil spray

Instructions

Stove Top:

1. Pierce sweet potato, add to microwave, cook on high for 5 mins and set aside (alternative, you can add to a steamer basket and cooked until softened)
2. Spray a pot of a medium high heat with cooking oil spray
3. Add the onion and fry until softened.
4. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes and cumin seeds, spray with a little more cooking oil spray and fry for a further 2 mins.
5. Remove skin from sweet potato and mash with a fork.
6. Add to the pot with the ground cumin, ground coriander and turmeric, plus a little bit of the stock and mix to combine.
7. Add the lentils, passata and stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and then cover and simmer for 45-50 mins.
8. Season as needed with salt and black pepper.
9. Serve with your choice of sides.

Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker:

1. Pierce sweet potato, add to microwave, cook on high for 5 mins and set aside (alternative, you can add to a steamer basket and cooked until softened)
2. Set instant pot to saute mode, spray with cooking oil spray and once hot, add the onion and fry until softened.
3. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes and cumin seeds, spray with a little more cooking oil spray and fry for a further 2 mins.
4. Remove skin from sweet potato and mash with a fork.
5. Add to the pot with the ground cumin, ground coriander and turmeric, plus a little bit of the stock and mix to combine.
6. Add the lentils, passata and stock.
7. Add lid, ensure valve is closed and cook at high pressure manual setting for 15 minutes.
8. Let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
9. Serve with your choice of sides.

Notes

Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:

• Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
• WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.

If you wish to share this recipe, then please do so by using the share buttons provided at top of this post.

DO NOT COPY AND/OR PASTE FULL RECIPES OR SCREENSHOTS OF ANY CONTENT FROM SLIMMING EATS TO ANY SOCIAL MEDIA OR WEBSITE, IT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

ALL IMAGES AND CONTENT ON SLIMMING EATS ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED

Nutritional information etc are an estimate and are to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary in values from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate values yourself by the ingredients you use and the tools provided to you as a member of the programme you are following.

It is the responsibility of the Reader to assure the products or ingredients they use in any recipes from Slimming Eats are allergen-free (gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free and/or dairy-free, for example). Slimming Eats assumes no liability for inaccuracies or misstatement about products, opinions or comments on this site.

Check Legal section, for Full Disclaimer, Disclosure and Privacy Policy.

Nutrition Information

Yield 4Serving Size 1 serving
Amount Per ServingCalories 296Total Fat 0.9gSodium 523mgCarbohydrates 58.8gFiber 17.2gSugar 11.8gProtein 13.9g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram and tag me @slimmingeats