Sweet Potato Rounds with Herbed Ricotta, walnuts, cranberries, and honey are a winning appetizer for any occasion! This easy two-bite finger food is loaded with flavor and is so fun to make and share!
I know what you’re thinking.
You want to fold these up like mini tacos and eat them for dinner.
“Appetizer, my foot!” you say. To which I respond: get out of my head.
These sweet potato rounds go down so seamlessly when you fold them in half and snarf them in one bite. They’re just the dandiest little swanky root vegetable tacos.
Hey! I double dog dare us to make sweet potato round sandwiches out of these and wrap the whole thing in bacon.
We’d do that, wouldn’t we? That’s so us.
In all seriousness, If you’re looking for a last-minute holiday appetizer or tasty finger food for any occasion, I’ve got you!
This is the perfect side dish for the holiday season or any time of year.
The Inspiration for This Recipe:
I was inspired to make this healthy appetizer recipe over the weekend because I had a partial tub of ricotta cheese that needed to find a home lest it get round filed.
I took one look at the ginormous sweet potato sitting on my counter, and the answer was immediately clear: ricotta-topped sweet potatoes.
Much to my delight, this ingenious idea resulted in the tastiest little appetizer nugget that happens to be perfect for holiday entertaining!
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for this delicious side dish! The best part is all of the ingredients can be found at all major grocery stores.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Rounds:
Sweet Potato
Ricotta Cheese
Honey
Italian seasoning
Raw walnuts
Dried cranberries
Sea salt
Recipe Substitutions:
- I use whole milk ricotta because it provides a nice rich creamy flavor, but you can also go with part skim ricotta.
- If you prefer brown sugar or pure maple syrup over honey, feel free to make the swap!
- Do you have fresh herbs on hand? Feel free to finely chop up fresh herbs and use them in place of dried Italian seasoning.
- Swap the walnuts for pecans if you’d like!
- To make this recipe vegan, use vegan ricotta and swap the honey for pure maple syrup, agave, or coconut nectar.
- All kinds of sweet potatoes will work. Japanese sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, traditional orange skin sweet potatoes, and garnet yams are all great options.
- Get creative with your topping options. Savory versions are great too with sour cream, parmesan cheese, lime juice, black beans, ground meat, garlic powder, etc.
How to Make Sweet Potato Rounds:
These swanky root tacos (or, sweet potato treats) are super easy to make.
Start by preheating the oven, then use a sharp knife to carefully slice up a large whole sweet potato into 1/2-inch thick rounds.
Place the rounds on a baking sheet in a single layer and lightly coat with cooking oil (I use avocado oil). Roast the slices in the oven until golden brown and soft!
While the sweet potatoes are baking, prepare the herbed ricotta spread. Simply stir all the ingredients for the ricotta in a bowl. Give it a taste test and add more sea salt or herbs if you’d like.
Once your baked sweet potato slices are cooked through and through, simply top rounds with the herbed ricotta and dried cranberries and serve.
An optional fancy step is to put the rounds back in the oven after you top them with the ricotta spread and broil for a couple of minutes.
This will make the ricotta nice and gooey and golden-brown.
Don’t forget the drizzle of honey on top!
It’s like dessert in the form of euphoria on top of divinity sprinkled with jubilation doused in love potion.
A perfect addition to any gathering necessitating food, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly these sweet potato wedges disappear!
Storage Options:
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat this sweet potato recipe in the air fryer, toaster oven, or the oven. I don’t recommend reheating in the microwave.
If you’re making this ahead of time for your Thanksgiving table or Christmas dinner, simply transfer the prepared baked sweet potato slices to a large sheet pan and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until warm.
And that’s it! Your this healthy side dish is your ticket to a crowd-pleasing appetizer (slash dinner if you’re like me 😉 ) that wins every time!
My sister is certifiably obsessed with these cheesy delights, and this is by far my most popular appetizer recipe on this site!
They are a great way of keeping guests tied over before dinner, or a great snack for everyday living.
The next time you’re looking for a delicious way of preparing sweet potatoes for a special occasion, whip up this easy recipe!
For my fellow sweet potato lovers, be sure to make my Sweet Potato Casserole with Streusel Topping recipe and my Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries too!
If you love this recipe, also check out my Roasted Sweet Potato Rounds with Guacamole and Bacon and my Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese and Roasted Cranberries!
Sweet potato tacos for life!
Cheers!
Sweet Potato Rounds with Herbed Ricotta and Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato sliced into ¼-inch rounds
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
Herbed Ricotta:
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp honey
- ¼ tsp sea salt to taste
For Serving:
- 1 cup raw walnuts roasted and chopped
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- honey
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients for the herbed ricotta to a small bowl and stir well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Use a sharp knife to slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick rounds.
- Add the sweet potato slices to a large mixing bowl and drizzle with avocado oil. Sprinkle sea salt and ground cinnamon over rounds. Use your hands to rub the oil and seasoning on both sides of the sweet potato rounds. Arrange rounds on a large baking sheet (or two if necessary). Bake for 20 minutes. Flip the rounds, then bake for another 17 to 20 minutes, or until rounds are cooked through and crispy on the edges
- Spread walnuts on a baking sheet. 8 to 10 minutes before the potato rounds are finished cooking, place the walnuts in the oven to roast.
- Remove sweet potato rounds and walnuts from the oven. Place walnuts on a cutting board and chop.
- Place oven on high broil setting and move the oven wrack second to the top shelf. Place a dollop of herbed ricotta on each sweet potato round and place in the oven for 2 minutes, just until ricotta is melty and warm.
- Add chopped walnuts and dried cranberries to the rounds. Drizzle with honey and serve!
Video
Nutrition
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This was a huge hit for Thanksgiving! Doubled the recipe and they were gobbled up. I used honey in the ricotta mix, and maple syrup drizzle. Had some fresh herbs on hand so used those in place of dry, and pecans instead of walnuts. Love love love and will make again.
All of that sounds amazing! Thanks so much for sharing, Lisa! xo
Could I sub the walnuts for pecans?
Absolutely! Pecans work great here 🙂
I would love to try these but wondering how you cut the potatoes so that you get similar small sized disks…diameter speaking not thickness. Our sweet potatoes here are huge and would be approx 5 inches in diameter so too large to make nice little appetizer rounds. Thanks
Hi Lori! I typically buy longer rather than wider sweet potatoes in order to get a smaller diameter so that the rounds can be eaten easily as finger food. If all the sweet potatoes and yams in your area are very thick, you could try using purple sweet potatoes or white sweet potatoes if you can find ones that are thinner. Otherwise the recipe will still work using rounds that are larger in diameter – you would perhaps just want to eat them with a fork 🙂
Not a fan of ricotta. What can I substitute it with?
Ooh, that’s a toughy. I’ve never tested the recipe using anything else and I’m not sure there’s a like-replacement for ricotta. You could try cottage cheese or mozzarella, or really any cheese you enjoy. The texture will be different, but they should still be delicious!
@Rochelle, you can use tofu. Wrap tightly in good clean kitchen towel or lots of paper towels for as long as possible, I personally do this over night to remove as much liquid as possible. You can make a wonderful faux ricotta, use the seasonings add a pinch of good salt Celtic or Himalayan and a good squeeze of lemon. I don’t measure 😏 it’s all by taste for me but this variation is a great substitute 😉
Thanks so much for sharing this! Great advice 🙂
Thanks!
Looks delicious, I plan to make this as a side dish for Thanksgiving! One question — the list of ingredients includes avocado oil but the recipe calls for drizzling with olive oil. Is it either/or or is there a mistake? Thanks!
Sorry about that, Barry! I used to use olive oil, but switched to avocado oil a few years ago, so I must have edited part of the post but not the whole thing. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
This is going to be a wonderful addition to our holiday celebration food fests! I can’t wait to taste it. In fact, I think I’ll make it tomorrow to get in the mood. 🙂 Thank you!
I’m happy to hear it, Cathy! I hope you and your loved ones enjoy it! xoxoxo
This Looks so tasty. Thanks for the recipe.
My pleasure! Let me know if you try it! xo
This is a very interesting snack option! I see that this dish is simple enough to cook, even a novice cook can handle it, using your detailed and understandable recipe. I can’t wait to cook and taste these beautiful sweet potato rounds with herbed ricotta and walnuts (sounds veeery appetizing). An interesting combination of additives. Thank you very much for such an interesting idea!
So glad you like the concept, Ann! They make for a great holiday appetizer as well 😀
These look amazing and we love sweet potatoes. Have been edging my partner off of a lower meat diet to healthy vegetarian. Cannot wait to make these this weekend.
Thank you. Your recipes are fabulous.
For the herbed ricotta part, you mention honey in the ingredients, then in the instructions you say combine all ingredients for the herbed ricotta, does this mean I add the honey before I broil ? I thought the honey was to be drizzled on top after broiling, right before serving. Could you please clarify? Thank you!
Hi Alexis,
Use the honey in the ricotta and for drizzling. So mix the heaping 1 Tbsp (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) honey into the ricotta, and when the rounds come out of the oven, you can drizzle them with as much or as little honey as you would like 😀 Let me know if you have any other questions! xo
Hi! Can I prep these a day ahead, up until topping them with herbed ricotta and broiling? So stopping before step 5? I am wondering if I can just top them, broil them and serve. Thanks!
Hi Catherine,
I would think that would work out great! Roasting the sweet potato rounds ahead of time is a magnificent idea. Hope you enjoy!
Do you have the nutritional for this recipe? It looks amazing.
We are going to a friends house for Thanksgiving this year and I want to make these as my contribution but I have a 40 minute drive to her house and will be eating at noon! Should I cook them and just serve cold you think??
Hi Dee! I think that would work just fine! I always served mine either chilled or at room temp. I hope your friends enjoy them! xo
I have made these a few times now (thank you Julia, you are a rock star!!!), and personally I like them warm. I would pre-bake the slices (keep them al dente) and prepared the ricotta mixture ahead of time. Pack everything and take it to your final destination. Assemble everything on site on baking sheets and give it a few minutes in the oven. Yum! That’s my plan for this thanksgiving. This recipe is a gem. Hope you’ll enjoy them.
Looks amazing! I’d like these in my mouth now please. KThanks. I’m going to try these out. Thank you for making yummies 🙂
I made these for my Gourmet group and they were literally delicious! It was easy to make and it’s on our make again menu !