These delicious sweet potato, lentil and cheddar croquettes are a great food for baby led weaning, as well as a good way of sneaking in some veggies to fussy children.
One of the first recipes I posted to Little Grazers, this Sweet Potato, Lentil and Cheddar Croquettes is very popular.
I love how versatile lentils can be. I use them often in soups, chilli, bolognese, curry and a great source of protein and fibre.
A couple of my favourites are:
- Lentil Bolognese
- Lentil Shepherds Pie
- Lentil Curry
- Roasted Butternut Squash and Lentil Curry
- Mini Zucchini Parmesan Lentil Patties
- Mexican Lentil Bake
- Aubergine, Sweet Potato Lentil Curry
For these Sweet Potato, Lentil and Cheddar Croquettes, I use red lentils, they have a much softer texture and are almost like a paste when cooked compared to chunkier brown or green lentils, which hold their shape.
Just a few ingredients combined make this recipe perfect for forming into little croquettes that your little ones can pick up and devour.
I don’t add salt to these when making for little ones, but if making for older children or adult, you may want to adjust the seasoning. You could even add some spices or herbs of choice.
When cooking the lentils, it’s important to let them sit with the lid on for 10 minutes, with the heat off, once the majority of the liquid has absorbed, as the steam trapped underneath will continue to cook them and make them lovely and soft. If you don’t follow this important step, the mixture will be too wet and impossible to form into any shape.
For the sweet potato, I pierce and cook in the microwave, again this avoids any excess liquid, which helps the consistency of the mixture. If not cooking in the microwave, I recommend steaming over water, to avoid the mashed sweet potato from being too wet.
All these steps ensure this recipe, doesn’t need any flours and keeps it gluten free.
If your little one is allergic to eggs, you can ensure this binds together by either adding more cheddar or using a flax egg, which you can make by combining 1 tbs of flaxseed meal to 3 tbs of water, this will be a replacement for 1 egg in a recipe. Once combined allow the mixture to sit for approx 10 minutes until it has a beaten egg like texture.
To spray the Sweet Potato, Lentil and Cheddar Croquettes with oil before cooking, I use either olive oil or avocado oil in my Misto Sprayer, but if you don’t have one of these, you can carefully brush over the top with a silicone pastry brush, this just helps them to brown in the oven, because they are not being fried.
I love packing these in the kid’s Yumbox lunch box with a dip (usually tomato based) like my Low Sugar Ketchup. They are also a great side alternative to homemade chips (fries).
They should freeze perfectly too, just add back to the oven for a few minutes to heat through.
SWEET POTATO, LENTIL AND CHEDDAR CROQUETTES
This recipe is gluten free, nut free and vegetarian-friendly
Ingredients
- 100 g Lentils, uncooked, 1/2 cup
- 300 g sweet potato, raw, 10.5 oz
- 70 g carrot, grated, 2.5 oz
- 100 g cheddar, grated, 3.5 oz
- 1 large egg
- 40 g frozen peas, 1/4 cup
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- olive or avocado oil
- 240 ml low sodium chicken or vegetable broth, 1 cup
Instructions
- Add the lentils to a saucepan, cover with the broth, bring to a boil and simmer till all liquid is almost absorbed, turn off heat, cover with a lid and leave for 10 mins.
- Pierce sweet potato with a fork and microwave for approx 6 mins, until soft to touch (if you don't have a microwave you can steam)
- Remove skin from sweet potato and mash until smooth.
- Preheat oven to 200c or 400f
- Add lentils to a bowl, along with sweet potato, cheddar, carrot, paprika and combine
- Add the egg and mix till combined
- Stir in the peas
- Form into croquettes or patties (approx 15) and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper
- Spray or brush over the top with olive or avocado oil
- Bake in the oven for approx 30 mins, until firm and lightly golden.
- Enjoy!!
how long is the baking time? they sound perfect for my littke guys.
I assume that these freeze up well. Both Baby Bug and Big Brother love sweet potato, and these sound like better snacks/lunches then some of the junk that can end up in my market basket.
yes these freeze fine 🙂
Hi I made these today but as I didn’t have lentils I substituted it with a few tablespoons of flour and I have to say they were yummy!! My blw little one enjoyed !! Thanks
glad your little one enjoyed them
OH MAN, i just added all of these ingredients to my shopping list. YUMMY!
I commented on these a few days ago saying that I thought they were pasty and tasteless but now don’t see my comment anymore. I hope you don’t only keep the positive reviews!
Hi. These look so good that I decided to make them. Unfortunately, it was so runny that I couldn’t make them into croquettes. Not sure where I went wrong. How much would the weight of the medium sweet potato be approximately? Oh, I did bake the sweet potato instead of steaming it…
How much cheese are you using 40g=?
Made these today. They sort of fell apart so they are little bites now. Can’t wait to see if my guy likes them.
Love these! When I made them for the wee man, I ended up eating half myself 🙂 We also do a version that uses butternut squash and lentils, it’s his favourite: https://www.littlegourmetbaby.com/baby-led-weaning-recipe-blog/2016/12/6/savoury-lentil-cupcakes-with-butternut-squash
I like your recipe, I made it but I added a few things to make it tasty: scallions/ cilantro/ cumin/ adobo/ salt/ black pepper/ paprika and it was awesome!
Are the peas still frozen when added to the mixture? Thanks! Can’t wait to try 🙂
Hi there, yes the peas were added frozen, although probably lightly defrosted by the time they got in the oven 🙂
I’ve just popped some of these in the oven although I’m a little dubious about how they’ll turn out as the mixture was rather sloppy after adding the egg. Fingers crossed!
Hi Michelle, it sounds like the lentils were not cooked enough to absorb the liquid, and I realize that wasn’t very clear in my write up, so have edited to reflect that. Hope it didn’t affect them too much for you.
Good idea, I wanted these to work as they’d be a good source of iron for my little guy but they were fairly tasteless and there was no way they were going to form into croquettes- the batter was far too gooey/runny! I added baking powder and baking soda and salvaged them by turning them into pancakes and adding curry powder for flavor.
It sounds like the lentils were not allowed to absorb enough of the liquid when cooking, which would result in the mixture being too wet. My kids loved these when baby led weaning and they were also tested out on a baby group at the time before adding the recipe to my blog, so I was sad to hear they didn’t work out for you. I omit salt, because young babies should be limited on their salt intake, but if serving for adults or older kids, then you can add some for some more seasoning. The lentils being too wet from not absorbing all the liquid would of affected the flavour too.(I have made an edit to the recipe to make that more clear). Curry powder was a great idea for an addition. Some cilantro (coriander) would pair well with that also.
Have you tried making these as mini muffins/muffins instead? Thanks!
Hi Danielle, I am sure that would work. They can literally be made into any shape really. Hope that helps 🙂
I just made these with a few adjustments. I replaced regular egg with a flax egg, smoked paprika instead of regular. I added a few shakes of garlic powder and onion powder. They smell and taste great! I can’t wait to have my little one try them! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this today for the third time. It taste good but lentils seem to get harder after croquets are cooked in the oven. Not sure how to make them softer.
are you using red lentils? They are almost like a puree once cooked, so shouldn’t get hard.
I just whipped these up and I have to say, was skeptical because I found them very gooey to shape into croquettes, however, they turned out delicious! My 9 month old is currently eating them and seems to be enjoying them! I think they would also be delicious dipped in some ketchup, but I don’t have any at the moment. Haha.