Creamy Sweet Potato & Roasted Red Pepper Spread
5 from 4 votes

This creamy sweet potato and roasted red pepper spread is one of my all-time favorites for sandwiches, snack boards, wraps, and more. It’s sweet, savory, and silky smooth. Sweet potato contributes to the spread’s richness, while red peppers and tahini create an almost whipped texture. I especially love to serve the spread in a sandwich with homemade vegan tempeh bacon, roasted red peppers, and peppery arugula!

An overhead image of a small white bowl, filled with a creamy roasted red pepper spread and the corner of a cracker peeking out.

Every now and then, I become tired of my customary rotation of dips and resolve to blend up something new.

This delightful sweet potato and red pepper spread is what resulted from one of those forays. Today, it’s a favorite of mine, especially for sandwiches.

Sweet potato and tahini give this spread a lovely, silky, light texture. The roasted red peppers lend a vibrant orange color and tangy, salty notes to offset the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

If you’re looking to try something new for veggie crudités, appetizer boards, sandwiches, or wraps, then I highly recommend this creamy, sweet and savory mixture.

A different base ingredient

So often, I use beans, nuts, or seeds as the base for a dip or spread.

Chickpeas get turned into hummus, of course. I blend cannellini beans into my roasted garlic white bean dip with tahini.

Soaked, un-roasted cashews become cashew cheese, while pumpkin seeds can join forces with lentils to create a spread that’s ultra-nutritious and earthy.

But what about sweet potatoes?

Actually, sweet potatoes are a fantastic base ingredient for dips. They make a mean hummus, if you ask me, and they’re a great addition to cashew cheese, too.

What makes sweet potatoes so perfect for dips and spreads is their creamy consistency, which becomes almost silky when it’s processed or blended. In this recipe, tahini provides an additional creamy component.

Sweet potatoes + roasted red peppers = a perfect pairing

This red pepper spread recipe illustrates my fondness for the pairing of sweet potatoes and red peppers.

I love how their sweet flavors meld and mingle. When jarred, roasted red peppers are involved, there’s also the addition of a tangy, salty, briney taste.

I combine these ingredients in other recipes, including my roasted red pepper sweet potato tortillas and my sweet potato red pepper soup.

In addition to featuring an ingredient combination that I already love, the red pepper spread was inspired years ago by cookbook author Myra Kornfeld.

Kornfeld’s cookbook, The Healthy Hedonist, features a roasted red pepper dip in which tahini “provides the fat necessary for a smooth texture, but the flavor is unobtrusive.”

When I first discovered this recipe, I made it right away; it featured so many of my favorite ingredients, and it didn’t disappoint.

Over the years, I’ve modified the dip and spread, and the version that I’m sharing in this post is the one that has stood the test of time.

Other dip ingredients

Aside from the veggies, the other primary ingredient in the red pepper spread is tahini.

A mere three tablespoons of sesame seed paste is enough to create richness in the dip. The tahini adds healthy, unsaturated fats to the red pepper spread as well.

Yet, as Kornfeld notes, you won’t pick up on any of tahini’s tendency toward bitterness here. It does a lot for consistency without being very apparent from a flavor perspective.

Other ingredients in the red pepper spread: lemon (for brightness and acidity!), garlic, coriander, salt, and pepper.

Making sweet potato red pepper spread

Step 1: Bake or microwave your sweet potatoes

The most time-consuming step in making the sweet potato red pepper spread is to cook the sweet potatoes.

You’ll need their creamy interior, but not the skins. You can remove the skin portion after cooking.

You can do the cooking by baking the potatoes in the oven or microwaving them. Either way, prick the potatoes with a fork prior to cooking. They’ll need about 45-minutes in the oven and 6-8 minutes in the microwave.

An overhead image of two baked sweet potatoes on a white parchment-lined sheet.
You have the choice of roasting or microwaving to prepare the sweet potatoes for this recipe.

Step 2: Scoop the flesh out of the sweet potatoes

Give the sweet potatoes a chance to cool enough to be handled. Then, cut them in half and scoop out their flesh. You should have about 1 cup / 200g of it.

Transfer the cooked sweet potato interior to a food processor fitted with the S blade.

Step 3: Transfer all ingredients to a food processor and blend

The next step in making your red pepper spread is so simple: add all other spread ingredients to your food processor.

Pulse them to incorporate, get the processor in motion, and process the spread until it’s super smooth and creamy. Add extra water as needed, to achieve a texture that you’re happy with.

An overhead image of a small white bowl, filled with a creamy roasted red pepper spread and the corner of a cracker peeking out.
After blending, the red pepper spread should have a silky smooth texture and some lightness, yet it will still feel rich.

Storing red pepper spread

Once processed and seasoned to taste, you can store the sweet potato red pepper spread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.

A stellar vegan sandwich

You can of course use this spread for dipping vegetables or crackers or pita wedges.

But I happen to think it’s especially great in sandwiches, and here’s one of my favorite combinations thereto.

Between two slices of your favorite bread or toast add:

A cross section of a sandwich that has been prepared with tempeh, greens, red pepper, and a sweet potato spread.
Tempeh bacon, roasted red pepper strips, the spread, and peppery arugula make for a hearty and high-protein sandwich.

Not only is this sandwich filling and delicious, it’s also packed with nutrition, including plant protein from the tempeh.

If you try it, I’d love to hear what you think!

A cross section of a sandwich that has been prepared with tempeh, greens, red pepper, and a sweet potato spread.
5 from 4 votes

Creamy Sweet Potato and Roasted Red Pepper Spread

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
  • 2 whole roasted red bell peppers, roughly chopped (these can be jarred and store-bought, or prepared from scratch)
  • 3 tablespoons tahini (45g)
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (adjust according to your love of garlic)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1-2 tablespoons water
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Bake the sweet potatoes:

  • Preheat your oven to 400°F / 200°C and lightly prick the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until they're fork-tender. Alternately, microwave the potatoes for 4 minutes, flip them, and microwave for another 3-4 minutes, or until completely fork tender.
  • Allow the potatoes to cool until they can be handled. Cut them in half and scoop out the flesh. You should have about 1 cup flesh (roughly 200 grams). Transfer it to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S blade.

Prepare the spread:

  • Add the roasted peppers, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and coriander to the food processor. Pulse the ingredients to incorporate. Add a tablespoon of water, then process for 2 minutes, or until you have a silky smooth mixture, stopping the processor a few times to scrape the bowl down, then continuing to blend. Add an extra tablespoon of water if the mixture is too thick (it should be lighter than hummus and easily spreadable). Add freshly ground pepper to taste and additional salt to taste.
  • Serve the spread with crackers or as part of a snack board, or use it for wraps and sandwiches. I especially love to layer it in a sandwich with additional roasted red pepper strips, a handful of arugula, slices of baked, crispy tempeh bacon, and a small handful of 10-minute quick pickled onions, if you like. The spread can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.

Video

Hope you’ll enjoy this versatile spread as much as I have.

xo

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Categories: Recipes, Dips, Snacks
Method: Oven
Ingredients: Sweet Potato, Tahini
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, No Oil, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: Meal Prep

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5 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




    5 Comments
  1. 5 stars
    Delicious! I doubled the amount of coriander, which I ground fresh. Can be eaten with a spoon, on bread, crackers…on anything. I’m enjoying it now on a baked potato! I will be serving it tonight on fresh whole grain-seeded sourdough bread.

  2. sounds delicious …but please help me, before I can make the recepie, please explain how I roast the bell pepper.
    The instruction is missing / or did I miss it :/