Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree
This sweet potato and chickpea puree recipe is super-simple to make. It’s also VERY versatile and can easily be ‘customized’ to suit your baby’s tastes!
This is a vegetarian recipe, ideal from around 6 months of age – but you may wish to delay its introduction a little if your baby has a sensitive tummy. This is because some parents find that chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) tend to make their babies a little gassy!
The puree is smooth, velvety and packed with nutrients, including beta-carotene and antioxidants from the sweet potato, plus minerals, fibre and healthy carbohydrates from the chickpeas.
In fact, the chickpeas make this dish a very satisfying one – we’ve always liked to include it in our babies’ menu as their appetites have grown and they’ve needed something more substantial than a simple vegetable puree.
Ages and stages…
This recipe is perfect for all stages of development…
- Serve the puree ‘just as it is’ for younger babies, using the suggested ‘customizations’ to suit your baby.
- Mash the sweet potato instead of pureeing it to create a little more texture as baby grows.
- Use it as a dip or a healthy spread – try it with homemade whole wheat bagels… delish!
- Serve it as a healthy side dish with the family meal!
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree Recipe for Baby
1 small, cooked sweet potato
2 tbsp chickpeas*
1 tbsp milk
*You can use dried or canned chickpeas. Dried chickpeas need to be boiled until tender, according to the directions on the packaging. If you use canned chickpeas, look for the no-salt or reduced sodium varieties. If you’re unable to find them, then rinse the chickpeas thoroughly before use (you can also slip off the skins if you wish).
Preparation is easy peasy – simply puree the ingredients together.
If you chose to leave the skins on the chickpeas, then the mixture will take a little longer to blend to a perfectly smooth texture.
The resulting puree may be fairly thick, depending on the moisture content of the sweet potato. For a lighter, more ‘whipped’ texture, add more milk.
Serve warm or cold. Leftovers may be refrigerated for up to 48 hours or frozen for up to one month. We recommend thinning the puree AFTER it’s thawed if necessary, otherwise it may be too runny on thawing.
Do NOT freeze this dish if you prepared it with previously frozen breast milk.
Variations
- For a gourmet puree – add a clove of roasted garlic to the mixture before blending. We always do this – our little ones LOVE that rich flavour! Here’s a post on our blog about how to roast garlic.
- For a more savoury flavour – use chicken stock instead of milk to thin the mixture (but remember that this will no longer be a vegetarian dish!).
- For a sweeter flavour – use apple juice instead of milk to thin the mixture (VERY yummy!).
- To make the dish more ‘calorie-rich’ if your pediatrician has recommended boosting your baby’s calorie intake, stir in a little olive oil (there’s more about the benefits of olive oil here on our blog).
We hope your little one enjoys this simple recipe for sweet potato and chickpea puree – you’ll find loads more tips and recipes for cooking with sweet potato on our Sweet Potato Baby Food Recipes page and here are some more great ideas for making baby food with chickpeas.
Discover more ideas for baby’s menu…
White potato baby food recipes
Pear baby food ideas and guidelines
Butternut squash baby food recipes
