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roasted sweet potato hummus served in a stone bowl with healthy toppings

Sweet Potato Hummus with Fried Halloumi and Roasted Red Bell Pepper

This Roasted Sweet Potato Hummus is ultra creamy and super smooth. The perfect easy and healthy snack that turns into a filling meal when served as a hummus bowl with fried halloumi cheese, basil and smoky roasted red bell peppers. This recipe can easily be made vegan by topping the bowl with pan-fried tofu instead of cheese. Makes a great spread for sandwiches and wraps too.

Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Keyword hummus with sweet potato, loaded hummus recipe, sweet potato hummus
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 190 kcal
Author Kiki Johnson

Ingredients

  • 1 head garlic
  • 1 big sweet potato about a pound / 450 g
  • 3/4 cups dried chickpeas soaked and cooked - or used 1 can drained ( 15 fluid ounces 200 g)
  • ½ lemon
  • 2 roasted red bell peppers canned
  • 200 g Halloumi cheese cut into cubes
  • 3 tbsp tahini
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • fresh basil

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Peel and discard the papery outer layers of the whole garlic bulb, but leave the skins of the individual cloves intact.

  2. Using a sharp kitchen or paring knife, cut 1/4 inch from the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
  3. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan, cut side up. A muffin pan works great for this. Drizzle a couple of teaspoons of olive oil over each exposed head. Cover the bulb with aluminum foil.
  4. Pierce the potato with a fork a couple of times. Wrap the sweet potato in aluminum foil and put it in a 400F - 205 C hot along with the garlic. Baking the garlic should take 30 to 45 minutes and the sweet potato up to 60 minutes. Let both cool down a bit.
  5. The garlic cloves should be lightly browned and feel soft when pressed. Cool and remove roasted garlic cloves from their skins: You should be able to squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
  6. While the potato and garlic are baking, drain and rinse the chickpeas if using canned. Let dry well. Juice the lemon. Pat dry the roasted red bell peppers and cut up.

  7. Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil on high heat, add the halloumi cubes and reduce heat. Fry the cheese until crispy, about 4 minutes. Peel the still hot baked potato and cut up a bit.

  8. Tahini and lemon juice go into the food processor first. Turn on the food processor and let it run for a minute or so. You can do this in your Vitamix or blender too.

  9. Add the rest of the ingredients starting with potato cubes, blend, then add chickpeas, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 head of roasted garlic (3 to 4 cloves), and spices and blend until smooth.After all the ingredients are added and processed to a smooth paste, I  drizzle in some cold water with the processor still running. The ice water turns the already pretty smooth hummus mixture into a fluffy, luxurious chickpea dip!

  10. Fill hummus into a bowl and top with basil leaves, fried cheese, and roasted red bell pepper.

Recipe Notes

  • Add some baking soda to the soaking liquid and cooking water. This helps break down the chickpea skins, which means you do not need to peel off the skins individually. 
  • The cooked chickpeas need a quick rinse under cool running water, to wash off the baking soda flavor and cool the chickpeas so your hummus doesn’t develop a weird outer film.
  • Start by blending tahini and lemon juice, then add the other ingredients blending after each addition. 
  • Adding ice water during the final blending is key to a smooth and spoonable consistency.
  • Use freshly squeezed lemon juice and your homemade hummus will taste fresh and delicious.