A simple four-ingredient kheer or Indian pudding recipe prepared with sweet potatoes! This sweet potato kheer is a delicious vegan, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and nut-free kheer that’s perfect for any occasion!
After a vegan appetizer – sweet potato chaat and a vegan main course – all-purpose sweet potato Tex-Mex, I am back with a vegan dessert with sweet potatoes, and it’s a simple kheer. For all these recipes, we need to steam the sweet potatoes first. Once the steamed potatoes are ready, you can prepare all these in less than 30 minutes. Yes, these recipes are as simple as that.
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I have a few vegan kheer recipes on my blog, like the mixed nuts kheer, carrot kheer, jackfruit kheer, and adding this sweet potato kheer to this lot. This sweet potato kheer is known as shakarkandi kheer in Hindi and sakkaravalli kizhangu payasam in Tamil.
What makes this sweet potato kheer so unique?
✔ It’s not overly sweet. But the goodness of sweet potatoes combined with jaggery and coconut milk makes it a rich and creamy kheer.
✔ As I mentioned in the intro, refined sugar-free, nut-free, gluten-free kheer makes it perfect for people with dietary restrictions.
Ingredients required
Sweet potatoes: For this kheer, I highly recommend sweet potatoes with white flesh. You can find them in Indian groceries or look for the Japanese variety of sweet potatoes. They are comparatively firm and sweeter than the orange varieties. I recommend this variety for all sweet potato recipes. :-)
Jaggery: We need good quality jaggery to sweeten this kheer. I used the block jaggery and grated it. You can use powdered jaggery too.
Coconut milk: We need full-fat or thick coconut milk. I used canned full-fat coconut milk. You can use homemade too.
Cardamom powder: To flavor the kheer, we need ground cardamom or two to three green cardamom pods, crushed.
Apart from these four ingredients, we also need water and saffron strands(optional) to garnish. Please check the recipe card for exact measurements and variations and the substitution section for alternate ingredients and other options.
How to make sweet potato kheer
Steam and grate the sweet potatoes:
- Rinse the sweet potatoes and steam them in your preferred way. I used my Instant pot to steam them.
- Add 1 cup of water to the inner pot and place the tall trivet. Place the sweet potatoes in the steamer basket on top of the trivet. Close the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 3 minutes at high pressure/manual mode and when the cooking is complete, do a natural pressure release.
- Open the Instant Pot and remove the steamer basket. Let the sweet potatoes cool. Then peel the skin and grate them.
Prepare the kheer:
- Add the grated sweet potato, jaggery, and one cup of water to a saucepan.
- Cook this mixture over medium-low heat and mix in-between so the jaggery dissolves thoroughly.
- When the jaggery dissolves, the kheer will look runny, and that’s perfectly fine. Add the ground cardamom and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Now add the coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Simmer the kheer for about 5 minutes over medium-low heat and turn off the heat.
- Garnish it with saffron strands and enjoy the kheer, warm or cold.
Substitutions and variations
Other milk options: I kept this kheer vegan, so I went with coconut milk, my first preference for non-dairy milk, especially for kheer. You can also use whole or evaporated milk if you are not particular about the vegan option. To sweeten the kheer, you can opt for condensed milk.
Using nuts: I kept this kheer nut-free too. You can roast nuts like cashews or walnuts in vegan or regular ghee and add it to the kheer.
Grating or mashing the sweet potatoes: I wanted to add some texture to the kheer, so I grated the sweet potatoes. But you can also mash them roughly or puree the steamed sweet potatoes.
Using the orange flesh variety: I have yet to test this recipe with the orange-flesh sweet potatoes. But you can very well use them. Adjust the measure of jaggery depending on the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.
Storing options
You can enjoy this kheer warm or cold. So far, I have refrigerated this kheer for up to 2 days. Make sure the kheer is entirely cool before refrigerating.
Recipe Notes
- Adjust the amount of jaggery as per your sweet preference.
- As my jaggery had no impurities, I grated it and added it directly. Alternatively, you can first dissolve the jaggery in one cup of water and strain it. You can add the grated sweet potatoes to this strained jaggery water and continue the kheer process.
- Please check the substitution and variations for more details.
More sweet potato recipes
PS: If you try this sweet potato kheer, please remember to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more recipe updates! You can also sign-up for my newsletter for weekly updates.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Sweet Potato Kheer | Shakarkandi Kheer
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup = 240ml; 1tbsp=15ml; 1tsp=5ml;
- 350 grams sweet potatoes steamed and grated (After grating, got approx 2 heaped cups of sweet potatoes)
- 120 grams jaggery grated
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 pinch saffron strands
Instructions
Steam and grate the sweet potatoes:
- Rinse the sweet potatoes and steam them in your preferred way. I used my Instant pot to steam them.
- Add 1 cup of water to the inner pot and place the tall trivet. Place the sweet potatoes in the steamer basket on top of the trivet. Close the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 3 minutes at high pressure/manual mode and when the cooking is complete, do a natural pressure release.
- Open the Instant Pot and remove the steamer basket. Let the sweet potatoes cool. Then peel the skin and grate them.
Prepare the kheer:
- Add the grated sweet potato, jaggery, and one cup of water to a saucepan.
- Cook this mixture over medium-low heat and mix in-between so the jaggery dissolves thoroughly.
- When the jaggery dissolves, the kheer will look runny, and that’s perfectly fine. Add the ground cardamom and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Now add the coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Simmer the kheer for about 5 minutes over medium-low heat and turn off the heat.
- Garnish it with saffron strands and enjoy the kheer, warm or cold.
Video
Notes
- Adjust the amount of jaggery as per your sweet preference.
- As my jaggery had no impurities, I grated it and added it directly. Alternatively, you can first dissolve the jaggery in one cup of water and strain it. You can add the grated sweet potatoes to this strained jaggery water and continue the kheer process.
- Please check the substitution and variations for more details.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Hi,thanks for the recipe. How many days in advance do you think I could make it if I wanted to make it for a party?
Hi, you can steam the sweet potatoes 2 to 3 days ahead and when needed grate and make the kheer.
I am seriously intrigued by this kheer. Sounds so delicious, love anything with jaggery and coconut milk…
Same here. :-) Thanks Rafeeda.