This Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat inspired by Indian flavors might be your new favorite way to enjoy sweet potatoes for the holidays! Garnished with cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney, pomegranate and fresh herbs this is also vegan and gluten-free!

I love chaat anything and everything and I think I have mentioned that so many times on the blog. I make a chaat out of everything from pizza to kala chana to potatoes to my favorite sweet potatoes. I have shared a sweet potato chaat recipe on the blog before but I have now found a new way to enjoy it!

Enter Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat! This is a really fun way to serve and enjoy sweet potatoes. Cut in slices, the entire sweet potato is baked and then topped with chutneys, fresh herbs and crunchy papdi! And all these chaat

The beautiful shape and the pop of colors makes it an idea dish for the holidays. And the best part? It’s also vegan and gluten-free which makes it perfect for people with dietary restrictions as well.

By the way, did you guys know the hasselback potatoes first originated in Sweden in 1940s in a restaurant named Hasselbacken, so that’s where the name hasselback comes from. They gained popularity all over pretty quickly as people loved the crispy outside and soft inside.

My take on the hasselback potatoes is a bit different, I haven’t made them crispy from the outside. Since I am serving them as chaat and with so many toppings, I sliced it little thick and didn’t crisp it up in the oven.

This Hasselback Sweet Potatoes Chaat

• makes a great vegetarian/vegan dish for the holidays!
• great way to serve and enjoy sweet potatoes.
• the burst of colors makes them super festive!
• can be served as a side or even a main dish.

Honestly, I was so full with eating 1 of these potatoes, that I think it can easily be served as a main dish.

Ingredients

The ingredient list for this recipe is not very long!

Sweet potatoes: choose similar size sweet potatoes for the recipe. I used sweet potatoes which were anywhere around 225 grams to 260 grams in weight for this recipe.

Oil & spices: the potatoes are brushed with a marinade made with oil, chaat masala, kala namak (black salt) and Kashmiri red chili powder. These are the spices that we often use in chaat in India. For the oil, you can use any oil of choice, I have used avocado oil.

Garnishes: I have used chutneys, fresh herbs, papdi (a cirspy fried Indian snack made with gram flour) and pomegranate for the garnishing here. But you may also use yogurt, peanuts, sev, those all will make great toppings as well!

Tips To Make Hasselback Potatoes

Other than cutting them right and making sure you don’t slice them in half (read below on that), here are few other things which are important to get these right!

Choose sweet potatoes that are less than half a pound in weight. This size is ideal for making hasselback potatoes. More than a pound and over are way too big and I don’t like using them for this recipe.

Also, make sure to use same size of sweet potatoes so that they cook at the same time in the oven. If they are of different sizes, they will take different time to cook in the oven with the bigger ones taking much longer to cook.

Use a sharp serrated knife, this really helps in getting clean slices.

Remember to brush the potatoes twice– once in the beginning and once at the halfway mark. This makes it easier to get the marinade in between the slices.

How To Cut Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

When I started making these first, I would cut them in a standard way by placing them on a chopping board and slicing them. While some attempts were successful, others would result in a disaster where I would cut all the way through the potatoes.

There’s actually a hasselback potato slicer that you can buy but I didn’t want to spend money on something that I would hardly use and so here’s something I learned (thanks internet!) to make sure that we get the slicing right every time without any hasselback slicer and there’s no wastage. Use chopsticks! Yes, use chopsticks, the ones with flat ends are even better.

Place the potatoes in between a pair of chopsticks and then slice them. Stop as soon as your knife hits the chopsticks, this prevents slicing them all the way through and you get perfect hasselback potatoes.

Once you use this method, this whole process will become so much easier! Also, using a serrated and sharp knife helps.

Hasselback potatoes usually have thin slices but I sliced these little thick for the chaat. You can however slice them thinner.

Step by Step Instructions

1- Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes. Then place one of the sweet potatoes between a pair of chopsticks. Start cutting from one side (using a sharp knife). Cut 1/2 inch piece from one end and discard it. Then start cutting 1/4 inch slices. Stop slicing as soon as your knife hits the chopsticks. This will prevent slicing the potatoes all the way through.

2- Slice all the potatoes similarly. Pre-heat oven to 425 F degrees.

3- Now, make a marinade – to a bowl or jar, add 3 tablespoons oil of choice, then to that add-

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala, 1/4 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon kala namak. Mix until everything is well combined.

4- Now, brush the sweet potatoes with the prepared marinade using a pastry brush.

5- Also, try to get the marinade in between the slices. It’s okay if you can’t get in between all the slices. We brush the potatoes again at the halfway mark and that time since they are half cooked, it’s much easier to separate the slices and brush the marinade inside. So, do as much as you can at this point.

6- Wrap the sweet potatoes with aluminum foil and bake at 425 F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

7- Then take them out of the oven, brush with the remaining marinade again. Try to get the marinade between slices – it will be much easier now since they are half cooked and will fan out easily.

8- Place the potatoes back into the oven and bake uncovered at 425 F degrees for additional 25 to 30 minutes now. This time will vary depending on the size of the sweet potatoes you are using. Bigger ones will take more time and smaller ones will take less.

Remove from oven. Garnish the hasselback sweet potatoes with cilantro chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, crushed papdi, fresh cilantro, mint and pomegranate seeds!

Serving Suggestions

This makes a great side or even main vegan/vegetarian dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I would serve it as it with more chutneys and toppings on the side so that everyone can add more of these as needed. You can also keep spices like chaat masala and cumin powder on the side while serving.

It’s actually quite filling and can definitely be served as a main dish for the holidays.

Do We Eat The Skin?

You may eat the skin of sweet potatoes or remove it before eating. Just make sure to clean and scrub the potatoes well.

Notes

• You can definitely drizzle it with some yogurt if you want. Other topping ideas include sev, peanuts. You can also sprinkle them with cumin powder, chaat masala, red chili powder.
• Add the toppings right before serving, it looks and tastes best that way.
• Cook time will vary depending on the size of sweet potatoes. Choose medium size ones for this recipe.

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