Sweet Potato Hummus
Delicious vegan hummus recipe that's bursting with flavor, both sweet and spicy. Enjoy it as a snack with pita wedges and veggies or as a spread!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on December 19, 2024
Meet my new favorite snack, spicy sweet potato hummus! It’s brilliant orange and bursting with flavor, both savory and sweet. I’ve been eating it with everything: pita wedges, bite-sized vegetables, toasted bagels and quesadillas.
Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian or self-professed carnivore, I’ve posted several savory sweet potato recipes you’ll love. This sweet potato chili is my end-all, be-all vegetarian chili recipe. It’s so good that I don’t even want to try any others. Then there’s my recipe for sweet potato fries, which includes my tips for attaining crispy fries. I’m so excited that sweet potatoes are in season that I’ve been snacking on sweet potato fries the past two nights in a row!
Just in case those aren’t enough to satisfy your sweet potato tooth, I also have an easy recipe for baked rosemary and parmesan sweet potatoes and sweet potato enchiladas over here.
Sweet Potato Hummus
This sweet potato hummus is bursting with flavor—it’s savory, a little sweet, and spicy if you wish. Enjoy it as a snack with pita wedges and veggies, or use it as a spread! This recipe yields about 3 cups of hummus (a lot!).
Ingredients
- 1 medium-to-somewhat-large sweet potato (8 to 14 ounces)
- ⅓ cup tahini
- 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- Zest of ½ lemon (about 1 teaspoon)
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 to 3 tablespoons cool water, as needed
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- Up to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, for spice)*
- Optional garnishes: Olive oil, cayenne pepper, or sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the sweet potato on the middle oven rack or in a baking dish for 45 minutes to 1 hour. It will yield to a gentle squeeze when it’s done baking.
- While the sweet potato is cooling, combine the tahini, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt and cumin in a food processor. While processing the mixture, drizzle in 1 tablespoon of the water. Blend until the mixture is super creamy, pausing to scrape down the bottom or sides as necessary (you may need to add 1 to 2 more tablespoons of water if your tahini was thick).
- Add the drained chickpeas and process until the mixture is completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Once the sweet potato has cooled enough to handle, use a knife or your fingers to peel off the skin. Discard the skin and add the sweet potato flesh to the food processor.
- Blend until the mixture is completely smooth, about 1 minute. Taste, and blend in a pinch or two of cayenne pepper if you’d like your hummus to taste spicy. Enjoy as is, or garnish it with a drizzle of olive oil, a light sprinkle of cayenne pepper or sesame seeds. This hummus will keep well in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
Notes
Adapted from My New Roots and Whole Family Fare.
*Spice level: The recipe originally was quite spicy, calling for 1 ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (start with less, season to taste) and ½ teaspoon smoked paprika. My current jar of cayenne is so spicy that I could not tolerate the full amount and found it quite spicy at ¼ teaspoon. I also found that smoked paprika muddied the sweet potato flavor, so I omitted it. If your hummus tastes too spicy at first, just refrigerate it for a day and try it again—it should be just right!
2024 recipe adjustments: After retesting the recipe, I made the spice edits mentioned above, increased the tahini from 3 tablespoons to ⅓ cup for thicker hummus, omitted the olive oil, restructured the blending process and incorporated water, and increased the salt for more overall flavor.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Forgot to rate it…5 stars!
This looks so great! I’m having friends over for dinner this weekend, and I’m definitely thinking that this would be the perfect appetizer!
Just made it. Let me quot my husband – Mr. Picky, – ” the best hummus ever! A+ !” If you would know my husband, you would know how hard it is to get such grade ;-) Thank you for sharing such great recepies. By the way – sweet potato fries became our favorite snack, too.
Edita, thank you! So glad this hummus pleased Mr. Picky. I’m roasting up some sweet potatoes right now!
Yum! Swapped the olive oil for some chickpea liquid from the can and the consistency was perfect.
I was in a rush so baking the sweet potatoes was a bit time consuming, so next time I might try microwaving or steaming the sweet potato instead.
I eat houmous pretty much every day so this was a nice change!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Charlotte x
Thanks, Charlotte! So glad you enjoyed it!
Has anyone tried this with canned sweet potatoes?
I’m not sure. I didn’t know that canned sweet potatoes were an option!
Hello! I love this recipe so much. I made mine without as much oil or tahini, and it still turned out great! The creamy sweet potato makes up for it! thanks again,
Kirby
Thank you, Kirby!
Loved the hummus. Shared with friends as I had plenty and they all asked for your recipe.
I was wondering how long you think I can keep the hummus in the fridge?
Delighted to hear it! I think it will keep for about 5 days? Keep an eye out for fuzzy mold on top.
I like baked sweet potatoes topped with cinnamon and vanilla yogurt. :)
That sounds tasty!
I have some leftover sweet potatoes in the fridge, but they’re boiled, not baked. Do you think that will make much of a difference in flavour?
Hi Anne, I’m sorry I didn’t answer you sooner, and I wish I had a better answer! I’m not sure. I would suspect that roasted sweet potatoes would have a little more flavor from the caramelization that happens against the hot pan, but you’d probably still end up with tasty hummus with the boiled sweet potatoes.
Another serving proposition (popular in the Middle East):
Pour a little olive oil on top and sprinkle some chopped parsley.
Love that idea! Thanks, Mor.
Made this tonight for Thanksgiving cocktail hour and I had to hide it way back in the fridge so I don’t eat it all with a spoon. Amazing thanks for this recipe
Woohoo, thanks Laina!
Hello…I found this recipe through High Carb Hannah. I made a slight adjustment to it, instead of chickpeas, I added blackbeans and more lemon juice to smooth out the flavours. It was a hit! Thank You.
Awesome! Thanks Tracy!
Hi there, great to have found your website…thanks!! Just wondering if you can omit the tahini in your spicy sweet potato hummus??? Thanks in advance. Kerry
You can, but it won’t be as thick, tangy or delicious without it!
Delicious. Also works great w sweet potatoes cooked in the pressure cooker- 8 mins and done!- or microwave. Enjoy!
Didn’t have any tahini left in pantry, but totally loved the combination. The sweetness shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was. Quite wonderful!
Wow, made this last night. Had an already cooked sweet potato sitting in my fridge that I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with. Seriously seriously good. Mine was the opposite of dry. Like a big orange spicy pillow. Your recipes never disappoint!!
Made this hummus tonight, using one medium sweet potato and about a third of a package of dried lentils I cooked. It is sooo yummy! My adjustments: less of everything else since i I started with smaller portions of garbanzos and potato; my blender was struggling so I used a few splashes of almond milk along with a single splash of dark maple syrup to thin it out a bit. The end result is a pretty color, creamy and with interesting, tantalizing flavors. Taking most of it on a girls road trip so we can snack healthily! Bookmarking this page for future reference. :-)
Excellent recipe . I will now investigate more.
Just made this and it turned out great!
Perfect!
Delicious! This may be my new go-to fall appetizer recipe. I couldn’t find sesame seeds so I used sunflower seeds for a garnish and liked the texture so much that I ended up mixing them throughout the hummus. I also used a little extra olive oil and it came out great!
Great choice, Melissa! Thanks so much for the review!
Is there any way to make this recipe without tahini? Can I just add in sesame seeds and extra oil in its place?
Hi Lav, tahini is a standard ingredient in hummus responsible for the thick texture and tangy flavor. You could try adding extra sesame seeds and blending the hummus as well as possible, since tahini is essentially just blended sesame seeds.
Fabulous!
Thank you, Lynn. I really appreciate the review!
Can you freeze this dip?
It sounds delicious.
I have never tried to freeze hummus, but it might be worth a shot! I would let it defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
Just made this and it’s delicious!! Added in quite a bit of aquafaba from the chickpeas, I think my sweet potatoes were quite large. Love the lemon flavour mixed with the spice. Thanks for another fab recipe Kate :)
You’re welcome, Erin! Thanks for your review.
This worked very well. I added fresh parsley to offset the garlic, omitted cumin and paprika. This is delicious, thank you!
You’re welcome! Thanks for your review.
Yummy as is! Made it several times already. Most recently without the added oil and subbed veggie broth. Still delicious!
Thanks for sharing, Barbara!
I have made this several times and we love it! it’s a wonderful combination of sweet and spicy.
Thank you for sharing, Denise!
Second recipe from here that I tried in 2 days, absolutely amazing!! Thank you for sharing, am now subscibing!!
You’re welcome!
Very dry and difficult to blend. Needed a lot more oil to be able to blend it. Interestingly others (who have actually made it) have made the same comments. Perhaps the recipe needing reviewing. Once the moisture content was sorted it was very tasty. Thank you
Made this last night for a work gathering after I couldn’t hunt down an old sweet potato hummus recipe that I made in the past. It was a total hit and so easy to make with things I already had in the fridge/pantry. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re welcome! I love that you had everything on hand.
Oh my gosh, this is a delicious hummus recipe. Just whipped up with a leftover garnet yam, and hope I have enough left to put in the frig! I make regular hummus all the time, and this one is special.
Thank you, Ellen!
I love your vegan recipes and rely on thoughtful and helpful comments from cooks. It can be frustrating to read so many comments that talk about WANTING to make a recipe rather than actual comments about the experience and outcome of making the recipe. Thanks to those who share their wisdom, especially when it comes to vegan recipes as I strive to find new healthy recipes for my family.
Hi Diane! Thanks for your comment. I’m happy you are enjoying the recipes. I love to hear what you are excited about and what your experience is with the recipes.
Oh my goodness this is my new favourite!!!! I’ve made this a couple of times now and I love it.
I’m so happy to hear that, Elizabeth!
Awesome recipe. I used coconut oil instead of olive oil which is really good too!
Sweet potatoes are so good you too! I can’t wait to try them in this new way. I never thought of sweet potato hummus but I am pinning it to make soon.
I have a question. It seems most (all?) comments that I have read say that those commenters have not tried this.
I have made other versions that use 3 cloves of (raw) garlic and it was over-powering.
I was wondering: do you roast that garlic first to reduce its “strength”?
Hi Len! It really depends on the recipe. I like this one as directed. But in my best hummus recipe, I mellow the garlic by letting it rest with lemon juice and straining it. I hope that helps some. Here is my best hummus recipe: https://sooka.info/best-hummus-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
This was delicious! I made it for a group of non-vegan gals (I AM vegan) for card night. Made a beautiful presentation on my charcuterie board….it was gobbled up and pronounced very good! I did. I don’t use tahini, so I added about a tsp of sesame oil and 1/4 sesame seeds, and I didn’t add any other oil….whirled up in my vitamin and YUM, so delicious! Thanks. Bookmarking.
I just made this hummus. It is so good. I used chipotle powder because I know cayenne is way too hot for me. I have been using hummus as a salad dressing lately. It really makes for a more stick-to-your-ribs salad. The great thing about this hummus is that is adds another vegetable to my salad. I just love the smoky, spicy, sweet taste.
Thank you for your review, Lindsey!
I’ve made this three times and we all love it!
Once I didn’t have tahini so I used almond butter, and it was still great. Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this recipe and it is incredible!! Our local grocery store used to carry a sweet potato hummus but recently discontinued it. This homemade hummus is 1000x better than the boughten. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kathryne,
This looks delicious! How do you cut/slice the sweet potatoes for baking them? Should they be thinly sliced? Thanks in advance!
Hi Ellie! You can bake them whole, or you can slice them lengthwise and roast them face down.
I bought a purple sweet potato at my local farm stand. Could I use it for this recipe? I think the color will be fun for the holidays
Hi! As long as you follow the recipe, you can try it. Not sure the color result with the other ingredients. Let me know!
Wow! This is delicious and exactly what I wanted to make. I only put 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and it is enough for me. Thank you – I will add this to my list of recipes to make often.
Hooray! I’m glad this will make your list to make more often. I appreciate your review!
Fabulous! Just love this recipe! Thank you! Eased up on the cayenne but other than that made it exactly. A winner!!!!
I made this Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus just as the recipe instructed, then added a cup of roasted pecans at the end. I think it turned out delicious! My husband, however, says, “It has way too much garlic in it.”
Oh well. More for me. ;)
Looks so yummy, and I’m definitely craving a good hummus.
What would be a good replacement for either the chick peas or the tahini.
I’m trying to avoid legumes and seeds right now.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Laurie
Hi Laurie, those are two key ingredients. I don’t know if this recipe is for you, sorry.
Amazing recipe! So creamy and flavorful.
Thank you, Amber! I appreciate your review.
Love the flavors in this recipe! I used one large sweet potato which had been cooked in the microwave. Added extra olive oil and tahini in equal amounts to achieve the desired consistency. Spices added to taste. Topped with coarse sea salt.
This recipe is a definite winner. Super easy and fantastic tast with lovely balanced flavor. I amped up the smoked paprika just a bit and used New Mexico Chimayo ground red pepper in place of cayenne (what I had on hand but a really perfect happenstance). Everyone loves this! I’ll have this on rotation.
I’m glad you think so, Cat! I appreciate your review.
Roast the garlic before making this! I used raw garlic and it was way too strong. Will make again though with roasted garlic!
That’s great to hear, Brit!