Created by Laura Wright
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Grilled sweet potatoes with chili lime tahini sauce is a super flavourful and simple-to-make side for your cookouts and summer dinners.
I make grilled sweet potatoes often at home. For this recipe, we par-boil and grill sweet potatoes all the time when the weather is right. They usually fit into some sort of grain bowl, as a side for grilled veggie burgers, or just as a meal-prep kind of thing to have on hand for a snack. Recently we finished them with a simple drizzle made with tahini, adobo sauce, lime, and garlic. Sweet, spicy, tangy, so lovely. You might know adobo as the thick sauce that surrounds canned/jarred chipotle chiles (large jalapeños that have been dried and smoked). The origins of adobo can be traced to the Phillipines, where Spanish colonizers witnessed the preserving/marinating of protein in vinegar and seasonings (pre-refrigeration times!) around 1565. The Spanish word adobo comes from the verb adovar, which means “to marinate,” so when the Spanish originally witnessed this preservation method at work, the term was applied from their own point of reference. Adobo has been translated across Latin America in varying formats (dry seasoning salt, a spice mixture, condiment/sauce, a vinegar-based braising liquid, a cooking method in and of itself). For a very quick explainer, check out The adobo that we’re using here is the one typically surrounding preserved chipotles found in North American grocery stores. It’s made of vinegar, tomato, spices, garlic, onions, and herbs. The sauce is deep red, super savoury, a little bit spicy, and just right with the creamy tahini base used here (we’ll talk about tahini another day–learning a lot about its wide array of applications in Sami Tamimi’s brand new
I hope that you try these grilled sweet potatoes the next time you fire up the grill.
Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Chili Lime Tahini Sauce
Grilled sweet potatoes with chile lime tahini sauce is a super flavourful and simple-to-make side for all of your cookouts and summer dinners.
Print Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes mins
Cook Time: 20 minutes mins
Total Time: 35 minutes mins
Servings 4 -6
Ingredients
CHILE LIME TAHINI SAUCE:
- ¼ cup tahini, well stirred
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce from a jar/can of chipotles in adobo
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- sea salt, to taste
- ¼ cup ice water, plus extra
GRILLED SWEET POTATOES:
- 2 lbs sweet potatoes, scrubbed
- oil spray of your choosing (I like avocado)
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- any garnishes you like: chopped herbs, sliced fresh chiles, chopped toasted nuts/seeds
Equipment
Grill
Notes
- Spray oil is preferable here in terms of ease and efficiency, but if you don’t have any, simply pour your oil of choice into a small bowl and brush it over the slices of par-boiled sweet potato.
- I find the sauce alone is quite flavourful and really nice with the simply seasoned grilled sweet potatoes. That said, if you want to go in with some other complementary spices: I say go for it :)
- Make sure your tahini is fluid and well-stirred! Makes whisking the final sauce much easier.
- Leaving the skin on the sweet potatoes helps the slices hold their shape on the gril (and adds a little extra fiber to your life, yay)
Instructions
Prepare the chile lime tahini sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together the tahini, adobo sauce, lime juice, and salt. Then, add the ¼ cup ice water. Slowly whisk to combine and then speed up your whisking. The sauce should become slightly pale and be fluid enough to drip off of your whisk. Add more ice water by the tablespoon if necessary. Check the sauce for seasoning, adjust, and then set aside.
Slice the sweet potatoes crosswise into ½ inch thick slices. Place the sweet potato slices in a large pot and cover with water. Put a lid on the pot and bring the sweet potatoes to a boil. Let the sweet potatoes boil until they yield to the prick of a paring knife with minimal pressure, about 4 minutes.
Drain the sweet potatoes and allow them to dry off a bit. Preheat your grill to high.
Lay the par-boiled sweet potato slices out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Spray the sweet potatoes with your oil spray and season them with salt and pepper. Flip the slices over and repeat with the other side.
Grill the sweet potatoes until char marks appear, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the grilled sweet potatoes to a serving platter. Drizzle the chile lime tahini sauce over top and garnish with fresh herbs, sliced chiles, toasted nuts/seeds etc! Enjoy immediately.
Author: Laura Wright
Course: Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: Dairy-free, Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword: barbecue, chipotle, fall, grill, summer, sweet potatoes, tahini
17/06/2020 (Last Updated 14/03/2024)
Posted in: autumn, creamy, earthy, gluten free, grain-free, grill, nut free, quick, refined sugar-free, roasted, salty, sauce, side dish, smoky, spicy, spring, summer, sweet, sweet potatoes, tahini, vegan, winter
14 comments
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Virginia Could I make the sauce and par-boil the sweet potatoes a day in advance?
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Laura Yes definitely! Just keep the par-boiled sweet potatoes in a sealed container in the fridge.
-LReply
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Katy Ionis This sauce is bomb and so easy to make! I pulsed it in my mini cup blender to make it instantly smooth. Thanks!
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Kallyn SO GOOD! (So good, in fact, that I was licking the spatula during clean-up time…) I made this last night, and I will definitely be using the chile lime tahini sauce on many types of veggies in the future. Thank you for posting this!
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Colleen Hieber Thank you for taking a stand through your business! Looking forward to the recipe :)
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Roslyn Levin HI, Lovely words which I know you will put into action in future recipe posts.
However, do not forget other groups that are being hurt through racism. In particular I always think of indigenous people who have been marginalised, forced to live on other than their own lands and in many cases without proper access to clean water and even the most basic facilities.
Indigenous people also speak out for the environment and for that are arrested, beaten, tear-gassed
Thank you for not only your fine recipes, but also for your caring.
Many Blessings, RoslynReply
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Sherryn Adair Plant based diets also support a cleaner, greener environment; POC are disproportionately affected by air and environmental pollution. Your contributions and support for a more humane and green world have implications that reach far and wide.
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Hilary Beautifully said Laura. Thanks for doing the work, and being a lighthouse for us to look towards. Been a follower since the early days and always appreciate your vibes
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Claire Really appreciate this! One note: italicizing “foreign” words like chipotle and adobo is othering and a form of linguistic gatekeeping. Here’s the article that taught me that: https://catapult.co/stories/column-the-case-against-italicizing-foreign-words-khairani-barokka. Food for thought!
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Laura Claire, Thank you for sharing this article and perspective with me. Very helpful!
-LReply
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susan mernit I 100% appreciate these thoughtful comments.
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Jen Thank you so much for sharing your journey. We all have so far to go, but every step forward, every self challenged assumption, every moment we educate ourselves on what ways we can amplify the momentum of this movement will raise awareness and inspire others to do the same.
Black Lives Matter
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Kit Thanks for your thoughtfulness going forward. It’s much appreciated, as is this recipe!
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Rachel Laura – this is the most beautiful post. I love the recipe (obviously!!) but your words and sentiment really resonated with me. I am sending you lots of love and hope I get to meet you one of these days when travel is something we can actually do rather than dream about. In the meantime, I just wanted you to know you have a huge fan over here and I love reading your newsletters!
Rachel xxxReply
