Sweet potato and pea samosas that are baked and not deep-fried! Delicious puff pastry samosas made with a spiced sweet potato and pea filling.
(This recipe was first published in October 2017 and has been updated with detailed instructions and tips)
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What are Samosas?
In India, the classic samosas - legendary deep-fried potato and pea-stuffed samosas, are available at every corner. An authentic samosa is made with a savory flour-and-oil-based pastry flavored with carrom seeds and stuffed with a spiced vegetable filling and then deep-fried to a flaky goodness. Samosas are best enjoyed with a hot cup of masala chai.
Traditionally, samosas are a fried Indian snack food, but these baked vegetarian samosas are a healthier alternative to traditional samosas and are easy to make as well. These sweet potato and pea samosas are a variation of the popular traditional potato samosas.
Why you will love these Sweet Potato and Pea Samosas
- Baked, not fried!
- Easy to make, with store-bought ingredients, and minimal prep
- Perfect for snacking, brunches, and for a party
- A good option for meal planning - Filling can be made ahead
List of Ingredients
To make these easy baked sweet potato and pea samosas, you will need the following ingredients:
- Puff pastry sheets
- Sweet potato
- Peas
- Spices: Cumin, Turmeric Powder, Chaat masala, Ginger, Garlic Powder, red chili powder or chili flakes
- Egg - for egg wash (this is optional)
- Salt to season
How to make Sweet Potato and Pea Samosas
- Pre-heat your oven to 180 C or 350 F.
- Start by preparing the filling. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and cook them for 6-8 minutes in a pot of water on the stovetop until tender.
- Let the cooked sweet potatoes cool. Then transfer to a bowl. Mash them coarsely, using a fork or a potato masher, and add the frozen peas to it. Give it a good mix.
- In a pan on the stovetop, prepare the tempering for the mixture. Add the oil, and heat it on low heat. Add the turmeric powder, chaat masala, garlic powder, red chili flakes, cumin powder, ginger, and saute for a minute. Turn off the heat and add to the potato-pea mixture.
- Add salt to season. Give the mixture a good stir, so that all the ingredients are well combined.
- Roll out a puff pastry sheet and cut out equal-sized squares.
- Place a heaped tablespoon of the filling into each square and fold the side over, forming a triangle. Press down the sides, sealing in the filling.
- Using a pastry brush, brush a little egg wash on the puff pastry.
- Transfer the sealed samosas parcels onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake it at 180 C (350 F) for 10-15 minutes, until the puff pastry is golden and baked through.
- Serve your sweet potato and pea samosas with green chutney or ketchup!
Expert Tips and Recipe Variations
The filling should be cool: Make sure the sweet potato and pea samosa filling has cooled down before you fill the pastry with it. If not, the puff pastry can get soggy while baking. For a crisp baked samosa, the filling should be added to the puff pastry only after it has cooled down.
Use phyllo pastry instead of puff pastry: You can substitute puff pastry with phyllo pastry. Add the samosa filling to a rectangular sheet of phyllo, and fold the samosa so that you have a few layers of phyllo encasing the filling. Brush with oil and bake.
Use Chaat Masala as a seasoning: I highly recommend stocking up on some 'chaat masala', this is key to the unique blend of sweet-spice-sour taste in many Indian savory snacks (read my guide to Indian spices for more helpful tips on Indian cooking)
Serving Suggestion: Serve your samosas with either date and tamarind chutney or green chutney which are perfect accompaniments to samosas.
More Indian Snack Recipes
Here are some more Indian snack recipe for you to try:
Kerala-bakery inspired egg puffs
Sweet Potato and Pea Samosas
Ingredients
- 3 medium to large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into cubes
- 1 cup peas I used frozen peas
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala found in all Indian stores
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 inch piece of ginger grated
- Salt to season
- 1 puff pastry sheet
- 1 egg beaten, for the egg wash
Instructions
- Start by preparing the filling. In a pot filled with water, cook the sweet potato cubes until they are soft, around 8 minutes. Drain the water and let the potato cubes cool down.
- Mash the potatoes coarsely, using a fork or a potato masher, and add the peas to it. Give it a good mix.
- In a pan, add the oil, and heat it on low heat. Add the turmeric powder, chaat masala, garlic powder, red chili flakes, cumin powder, ginger and saute this for a minute.
- Turn off the heat and add the potato-pea mixture.
- Add salt to season.
- Give the mixture a good stir, so that all the ingredients are well distributed.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180 C or 350 F.
- Roll out your puff pastry sheet and cut out equal-sized squares.
- Place a heaped tablespoon of the filling into each square and fold the side over, forming a triangle.
- Press down the sides, sealing in the filling.
- Using a pastry brush, brush a little egg wash on the puff pastry.
- Transfer the sealed samosas parcels onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake it at 180 C (350 F) for 10-15 minutes, until the puff pastry is golden and baked through.
- Serve your samosas with chutney or relish of your choice.
Notes
- Make sure the sweet potato and pea samosa filling has cooled down before you fill the pastry with it. If not, the puff pastry can get soggy while baking.
- You can substitute puff pastry with phyllo pastry. Add the samosa filling to a rectangular sheet of phyllo, and fold the samosa so that you have a few layers of phyllo encasing the filling. Brush with oil and bake.
- I highly recommend stocking up on some 'chaat masala', this is key to the unique blend of sweet-spice-sour taste in many Indian savory snacks.
- Serve your samosas with either date and tamarind chutney or green chutney which are perfect accompaniments to samosas.
Loretta says
I make these regularly, but always in a round shape, I like the triangular shape better. Just found your blog via FF and will be following you 🙂 I'm sure the sweet potato added a subtle sweetness to it?
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
thank you Loretta! Appreciate the follow! Yes, the sweet potatoes are mildly sweet, and they go well with the Indian spice mix.
Lizet Flores de Bowen says
Mmm. So yummy! Never had it with sweet potatoes. Next time I'll try your recipe.
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Glad you liked it!
Trcaey @MyBajaKitchen.com says
I love a cheat recipe. I think I’ll try puff pastry with my Mexican empanadas. We use similar fillings and pastry.
Thank you,
Tracey
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Do you have the recipe for the empanadas? I'd love to try them some time!
Angie | Fiesta Friday says
I've actually made samosas from scratch a couple of times, but it took me the whole day pretty much, lol. Needless to say, most of the time now when we crave samosas we just order them from our favorite restaurant. But now that you've shown us this easy and quick way, maybe I'll start making them again myself! Thanks, Shinta! Pinned!
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Glad you liked my 'cheats' samosas! You could use filo pastry which is also good, but I like the flakiness of flaky puff pastry. Nothing can beat original samosas though, and I'm sure you would agree Angie!
Hilda says
This is a great way to use some of the excess pumpkin I have this year. Thanks for sharing.
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
thanks Hilda! glad you liked it!
Suzanne says
These samosa's are amazing. I've always wanted to learn how to make them. Great recipe and thank you for bringing to the party!
Joanne / No Plate Like Home says
I love samosas and sweet potato samosas sound awesome. Great recipe.
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Thank you Joanne! So glad you liked it!
Alison's Allspice says
Trying samosas at home is on my to-do list! Your recipe looks delicious!
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Thank you! These are what I call my short-cut samosas! I hope you give it a try
TurksWhoEat says
These look and sound delicious, and so warming and comforting this time of year!
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Thank you! They really are perfect for cold weather
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They sound so delicious! I love samosas, but I wait till my boyfriend makes them as he is better at folding them than me!
Shinta @ Caramel Tinted Life says
Thank you Kat! Aah the puff pastry is easier to handle and fold than the traditional pastry made for samosas! Hope you give it a go