The flavor of sweet potatoes can get a bit boring when you have them over and over again, but when following a paleo diet you’re restricted to what sauces you can use to add extra pizazz to your recipes. Ketchup, mustard, and mayo are unfortunately not paleo-friendly, but this doesn’t mean you have to have bland meals with no sauces at all.
We conjured up this tahini butter recipe to see if we could pair it with our baked sweet potatoes and it turned out perfectly. The tangy kick off the tahini is the ideal partner for the sweetness of the potatoes and it creates a creamy, dreamy flavor that just melts in your mouth.
We’ll be showing you exactly how you make the tahini butter to top your potatoes and also how to nail this recipe to impress your family.
What Ingredients Will You Need For Tahini Butter?
In a regular recipe, you probably would just use tahini, butter, and some other additional ingredients. However, following a paleo diet, you can’t eat some of the typical ingredients such as soy or butter so we’ve substituted them out and found some great (and tastier) alternatives to create this recipe.
The butter is replaced with ghee. Ghee is a form of clarified butter but has a lower lactose content than butter does and adheres to paleo diets.
Soy sauce was switched out for coconut aminos, making it more paleo-friendly and also slightly healthier in terms of the salt content.
That’s not it though, there is also minced garlic, lime juice, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, and generous salt and pepper seasoning to bring this tahini butter to life.
Making Your Tahini Butter
Tahini butter is so simple to make. It requires no cooking and barely any time as you can just add all your ingredients to a food processor and let it do the rest for you.
Minimal effort, minimal dishes to do afterward but maximum flavors and results, that’s what we love to hear.
Just add all your ingredients (both dry and liquid) to your food processor and blend until it’s all combined and merged into a creamy consistency.
Make sure to do the taste test to see if your tahini butter could do with a little something extra, a little more lime juice, or maybe even some spices can change the game.
How To Get The Perfect Sweet Potatoes?
You can cook your sweet potatoes however you like. If you’re lucky enough to own an instant pot then this is an easy way to get perfect sweet potatoes every time.
Just pour some water into your instant pot (not full) and then place your steamer basket in the bottom of your pot and then add your sweet potatoes into the basket. Add the lid back on and then turn the valve to seal everything inside.
You’ll want to use the Instant Pot on a high-pressure setting for 15 minutes and allow the sweet potatoes to steam. Allow the pressure to release naturally after the potatoes are done steaming by not taking them out or touching the pot for 10 minutes once they’re done.
You can then just top them with your tahini butter, or allow them to cool before storing them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
If you want to bake them in the oven, just preheat your oven to 400 degrees F, poke your potatoes with a fork all over the surface and then wrap tightly in foil and place on a baking tray in the oven.
Bake them for 1 hour and then test to see if they’re ready by seeing if a knife can pass through the center easily, if not, they could do with 10-20 more minutes.
Regardless of how you’re cooking your sweet potatoes, make sure to give the external skin a good wash under the tap to make sure they’re clean.
How Long Will The Tahini Butter Last?
Store-bought tahini can last for months in the refrigerator whereas homemade tahini will only last around a week. Ghee will last surprisingly long in the refrigerator but it’s always best to eat homemade recipes like tahini butter as quickly as you can.
As the recipes contain rice vinegar and lime juice, the acidity in these ingredients will help preserve the tahini butter for a bit longer.
We’d recommend keeping your homemade tahini butter for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator, but if it hits the 2-week mark and it still tastes and smells ok then feel free to help yourself.
What Is Best To Serve With Sweet Potatoes With Tahini Butter?
If you want to make this into a meal, then we’d recommend adding some protein to the plate. Add some grilled chicken or fish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top. You could always incorporate meat underneath the tahini butter, shredded chicken, or pulled pork goes great with this recipe.
Don’t forget your greens, add some steamed crunchy broccoli or some roasted Mediterranean veg to add a bit of color to your plate.
Sweet Potatoes with Tahini Butter Recipe Card
Yields: 6 servings Prep Time: 5 mins Cooking Time: 30 mins Total Recipe Time: 35 mins
Ingredients:
- 3lbs of sweet potatoes (or 6 sweet potatoes)
- 6 tablespoons ghee
- ¼ cup tahini
- ½ minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
- Sesame seeds
- Salt & Pepper to season
Instructions:
- Steam your sweet potatoes in an Instant Pot for 15 minutes or instead, bake them wrapped in foil on a baking tray for 1 hour (could vary depending on your oven)
- Whilst your sweet potatoes are cooking, gather all your ingredients to make your tahini butter
- Add both your wet and dry ingredients at the same time to a food processor, pulsing a few times to break up the solids, and then run the blend mode until it smooths out
- You may want to take the lid of the processor and scrape down the sides to make sure everything is combined
- Leave tahini butter out in a bowl or put it in the refrigerator for it to firm up whilst the potatoes cook
- Once the potatoes are done, leave to cool on the side for 5-10 minutes
- Cut your sweet potatoes in half with a knife longways and then add however much tahini butter that you’d like
- Add sesame seeds for a bit of crunch and then season with some black pepper