Easy Purple Sweet Potato Puffs Recipe (with variations)
These Easy Purple Sweet Potato Puffs are a fun and delicious appetizer or snack. In this recipe, purple sweet potato is combined with a tasty blend of spices and stuffed between buttery puff pastry for a portable treat!
Made with a delicious and comforting purple sweet potato filling, these puffs are so quick and tasty. I like to serve these Easy Purple Sweet Potato Puffs as an afternoon snack or side dish at get-togethers.
If you have ever wondered where puff pastry came from…
According to some, puff pastry is thought to have been invented by the Mosca brothers. However, I recently stumbled on an article that said otherwise.
The abridged (or Cliff’s notes) version of the article is that puff pastry, also called pâte feuilletée, was invented in 1645 by Claudius Gele in France. Gele was a pastry cook apprentice who set out to make a loaf of bread for his ill father who was on a diet of flour, butter, and water. Gele made a loaf of bread with flour and water and folded butter into it, and, baked it despite opposition from the pastry cook he was working with. The resulting loaf surprised himself and the pastry cook. He kept perfecting his invention into what has become puff pastry today.
If you love puff pastry, then I think you just might love these puffs too!
What are the ingredients to make the Easy Purple Sweet Potato Puffs?
In addition to puff pastry, you will need the following 9 ingredients and some salt and black pepper too:
- Purple Sweet Potatoes
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Coriander
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Smoked Paprika
- Egg, and
- Puff Pastry
And you will also need some salt and pepper to season the purple sweet potato mixture. Totally optional is some fresh parsley to garnish.
Variations
This recipe can be adapted to suit your preferences and/or what ingredients you might have in your kitchen pantry. Below are a few ingredients that can be swapped out.
Purple Sweet Potatoes: I grew my second batch of purple sweet potatoes this year and harvested so many. I baked most and have a ton of baked purple sweet potatoes in my freezer. So, I used half of a purple sweet potato I had on hand. However, you could use orange sweet potatoes instead. And, you do not have to have them pre-baked. In fact, a raw sweet potato could be chopped up and sauteed until tender, along with the onion, ginger, and garlic mix.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Any oil you have on hand will work in this recipe. The oil is mainly to saute the ingredients in.
Onion: While I used a yellow onion, feel free to use a red one. If peeling and chopping onions are too tedious for you, feel free to use some of the peeled and chopped onions that are in the produce section of most stores. Fresh onions give these puffs so much flavor so I would not recommend substituting onion powder instead.
Garlic: In this recipe I used fresh garlic, however, if you have garlic powder on hand, feel free to use it instead. The ratio to fresh garlic to garlic powder is for one clove of fresh garlic, use 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder.
Ginger: As with the garlic, fresh ginger can be substituted with ginger powder. For 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger, use 1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger.
Coriander and Smoked paprika: While I would highly recommend keeping both these ingredients in, if you do not have one or the other of these two ingredients, you can use what you have on hand. If you have only coriander on hand, use that only or smoked paprika only. Or if you have cumin and paprika, use these two instead. You could also replace both these ingredients with 2 teaspoons of harissa, curry powder, or berbere. And, if you feel these spices would not be a good investment as you won’t use them again, well, these spices work so well on everything from roasted vegetables to meats. And, I have a bunch of recipes on here you could refer.
Red Pepper Flakes: I like to balance off the sweetness of the purple sweet potato with some red pepper flakes or cayenne powder. But, this is totally optional.
Puff Pastry: If you want to cut down on the calories of these puffs, you could use a few sheets of phyllo dough. Or, you could use pie crust like I did when I made these handheld cherry chicken pies.
Egg: For this recipe, the egg white and yolk are mixed and used as a wash to brush over the puffs. The egg wash results in a golden sheen on the puffs as well as helps them crisp up when they are baked in the oven. So, I would not suggest replacing the egg.
How to make these easy puffs:
- First, gather and prep your ingredients. Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it that out a bit so it is easier to handle. Peel and chop the fresh onion, fresh ginger, and fresh garlic. If using a raw sweet potato, peel and chop it into (approximately) half an inch sized cubes (the smaller the pieces, the quicker they will cook) as well. If using a pre-baked sweet potato, cut it into bite sized pieces.
- Then, add some oil to a pan set on a stovetop set to medium heat, and add the onion, ginger, garlic, (if using a raw sweet potato add that in as well, however, if using a baked sweet potato hold off on adding it at this stage) and stir well for about 5-7 minutes, until the onion is golden and/or until the raw sweet potato is fork tender.
- Then, add in the coriander, smoked paprika, (if using ginger powder and garlic powder, add those in at this stage too), and red pepper flakes, and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Then, remove this from the heat.
- If using parsley, rinse, dry, and chop a tablespoon of fresh parsley and sprinkle over the mixture.
- Prepare the egg wash by breaking the egg into a bowl. Using a fork, whisk it well and set aside.
- Take out one sheet of puff pastry and roll it out a bit. Cut the one sheet of puff pastry into four equal squares. Then, brush the outer edges / sides of the squares with the egg wash.
- Place 2-3 tablespoons of the purple sweet potato mix onto one side of the puff pastry. This could be done diagonally (as seen in the photo below) or vertically. Make sure to leave enough room so the puff pastry can be easily folded over. With that said, fold the puff pastry over and seal it by pressing down on the edges (with the egg wash) with a fork or your fingers.
- Place the folded over puffs on a parchment paper lined or Silpat lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the puffs with egg wash. Cut a small sliver into the tops so the steam can escape.
- Bake these in an oven that has been preheated to 425 degrees and in 10 to 12 minutes these puffs are ready to enjoy!
How to serve these Easy Purple Sweet Potato Puffs?
These puffs can be served as they are. They do not need any accompaniments. But, you could also serve them with some sweet chili sauce or mango chutney.
Storage:
If you make a large batch of these puffs, leftovers can be stored in an airtight container that is lined with a paper towel or wax paper, and placed in the refrigerator.These should be good for 5 days or so.
Reheating:
To reheat, pop these into an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes. Alternately, these could also be placed in an air fryer preheated to 375 degrees, and air fried for 4-5 minutes.
Thanks so much for stopping by. If you make this recipe, please let me know in the comments below what you think of it, or tag your creation on social media with @savoryspin or #savoryspin. For more fusion, spice-filled, recipe ideas, please subscribe and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest!
4 More Puff Pastry Recipes For The Holidays
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Purple Sweet Potato baked or raw
- 3 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Yellow Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 3/4 inch Chunk of Ginger (or 1 tbsp approx)
- 2 tsp Coriander
- 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 sheet Puff Pastry
- 1 Egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp OPTIONAL Fresh Parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Take the puff pastry out of the freezer and let it that out a bit so it is easier to handle.
- Peel and chop the fresh onion, fresh ginger, and fresh garlic. If using a raw sweet potato, peel and chop it into (approximately) half an inch sized cubes (the smaller the pieces, the quicker they will cook) as well. If using a pre-baked sweet potato, cut it into bite sized pieces.
- Then, add oil to a pan set on a stovetop set to medium heat, and add the onion, ginger, garlic, (if using a raw sweet potato add that in as well, however, if using a baked sweet potato hold off on adding it at this stage) and stir well for about 5-7 minutes, until the onion is golden and/or until the raw sweet potato is fork tender.
- Then, add in the coriander, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes, and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. If you are using pre-baked purple sweet potato, add it in here. Sauté about 1-2 more minutes, mixing constantly. Then, remove this from the heat.
- If using parsley, rinse, dry, and chop a tablespoon of fresh parsley and sprinkle over the mixture.
- Prepare the egg wash by breaking the egg into a bowl. Using a fork, whisk it well and set aside.
- Take out one sheet of puff pastry and roll it out a bit. Cut the one sheet of puff pastry into four equal squares. Then, brush the outer edges / sides of the squares with the egg wash.
- Place 2-3 tablespoons of the purple sweet potato mix onto one side of the puff pastry. This could be done diagonally or vertically. Make sure to leave enough room so the puff pastry can be easily folded over. With that said, fold the puff pastry over and seal it by pressing down on the edges (with the egg wash) with a fork or your fingers.
- Place the folded over puffs on a parchment paper lined or Silpat lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the puffs with egg wash. Cut a small sliver into the tops so the steam can escape.
- Bake these in an oven preheated to 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until golden, and enjoy!
