What’s not to love about these Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cups! They are sweet and savoury, soft and crispy, all at the same time. The flavour and texture combination makes these savoury cups very delicious and the ingredients make them a really healthy snack, hot or cold 🙂
I especially love the creamy tangy flavour of the goats cheese on the top of these Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cups, but if you’re not a fan of goat’s cheese, just leave it out completely or use Greek feta instead. Either way, I’m sure you’ll love them.
The original recipe was created by Donna Hay
What you need
- 2 sweet potatoes (kumara), 800g – peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – plus extra to drizzle
- 2 cups cooked quinoa*
- 1 large onion – peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons linseeds (flaxseeds)
- 1¾ cups fresh ricotta – crumbled
- 1½ cups finely grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves – chopped, plus extra for sprinkling
- 2 free range eggs – lightly beaten
- 150g goat’s cheese (optional)
What to do
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
Line a 12 capacity muffin tray with paper muffin cases.
Place the sweet potato cubes on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until soft and golden. Then transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool.
In the meantime, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a frypan, then add the sliced onion and cook on a low heat until the onion softens – takes between 15 – 20 minutes. The onion needs to cook slowly for it to sweeten and caramelise, so don’t be tempted turn to turn up the heat.
Once the onion has soften and started to brown slightly, add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and stir through. Continue to cook in a low heat for 10 minutes until it becomes sticky and caramelised.
Add 1¾ cups of the cooked quinoa, onions, linseed, ricotta, parmesan, thyme, eggs, salt and pepper to the sweet potatoes and mix through to combine.
Spoon the mixture evenly to fill the muffin cases.
Top each cup with a little goats cheese and extra sprigs of thyme. Sprinkle the remaining quinoa over the top of each muffin and drizzle with extra olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes or until golden. Serve warm
*1 cup of dry quinoa makes about 3 cups cooked. I like using tricoloured or black quinoa because the colours look so great. Follow the instructions on the packet to cook the quinoa.
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