Easy Japanese vegan snack using leftover baked Japanese sweet potatoes—no added sugar, only kinako (roasted soybean flour). Just mix and roll—soft, mochi-like balls.
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🍂 From the Winter Kitchen
I was thinking about ways to use up leftover baked sweet potatoes—beyond just reheating them—when my eyes landed on a bag of kinako (きなこ) in the pantry.
It's roasted soybean flour, something we always have around for New Year's mochi, and we had way too much this time. "What if I mixed it with baked sweet potato?" That's how these started.
I once read in a hiking article that kinako mochi makes ideal trail food—the balance of carbs and protein is apparently perfect for climbs. While making these, I kept thinking they might actually work better than kinako mochi for hiking. Easier to eat on the go, and the soft texture means no worrying about them being too sticky or dry.
If you're into hiking, I'd love to hear what you think ⛰
🧺 What Makes This Recipe Special
- Perfect for leftover baked sweet potatoes - use up those small ones that are tricky to peel
- Traditional Japanese ingredient - kinako (roasted soybean flour) brings subtle nutty flavor
- No refined sugar needed - sweet varieties need no added sugar
- Easy vegan Japanese recipe - just mix and roll, simple enough for kids
- Healthy snack with protein - kinako adds plant-based protein
- Soft, mochi-like texture that's surprisingly comforting
🍠 Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes: I'm using small ones that are tricky to peel with a knife. Since we bake them first, then peel, you end up using more of the flesh this way.
🌿 Beni Haruka is my top choice here—the strong sweetness and creamy texture mean no sugar needed and the balls hold together beautifully. - Kinako (roasted soybean flour): Acts as a binder to shape the sweet potato into balls. Bonus: excellent source of plant protein.
- Sugar: Optional, add if you want. Powdered beet sugar blends in easiest.
See detailed measurements in the recipe card below 👇
⛏ Equipment
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- Bowl
- Fork
- Shallow dish or tray
- 1 teaspoon measuring spoon
- ½ teaspoon measuring spoon
🗻 Instructions
No complicated steps—fun and easy to make with kids too 🦔
- Bake the sweet potatoes
- Wash the sweet potatoes to remove any dirt.
- Rinse quickly and place on a baking sheet while still damp.
- Bake in the oven—no preheating needed. 200°C/400°F for 30+ minutes until cooked through.
- When done, turn off the heat and let them cool in the oven.
- Mash the potato
- Once cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and put the flesh in a bowl.
- Mash with a fork until smooth.
- Mix in the kinako
- Add kinako to the mashed sweet potato and mix well.
🌿 If you like, add ground black sesame or cinnamon too— see variations below for ratios.
- Roll into balls
- Spread kinako on a shallow dish or tray.
- Scoop the mixture with a spoon and shape into balls.
- When roughly shaped, place on the kinako-lined tray and roll to coat while shaping into neat balls.
🌿 Using 1 teaspoon and ½ teaspoon measuring spoons makes it easy to scoop and shape evenly—see the video tutorial below for the technique.
🌈 Variations - Mix It Up
- Cinnamon - Mix a bit of cinnamon into the kinako. Reminds me of yatsuhashi /八つ橋 (Japanese cinnamon sweets). I start with 200g sweet potato : 1 tablespoon kinako : ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon, then adjust to taste.
- Ground black sesame - Use instead of kinako. The sesame texture and toasted aroma are quite different from kinako. Start with 200g sweet potato : 1.5 tablespoon ground black sesame and adjust from there.
📷 Shaping Tip
Using 1 teaspoon and ½ teaspoon measuring spoons makes it easy to scoop and shape the balls evenly.
☀️ Storage
These are best eaten fresh. If you need to store them, keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. The texture firms up a bit when cold but they're still good.
👦 Making with Kids
If you want to roll these by hand with young children:
- Add extra kinako until the mixture isn't sticky anymore
- Dust hands and fingers with kinako before rolling
- Use fluffier sweet potato varieties (the drier, fluffier types rather than the creamy ones)
When you add more kinako, the flavor becomes stronger and the texture denser—but it's still delicious. For the black sesame version, mixing kinako with the black sesame works better. Keeps the sesame flavor from being too intense.
💭よくある質問
I tried wrapping them in foil a few times, but the center took forever to cook through. Since then, I've been baking without foil.
My thinking:
❶The sweet potato skin already acts like foil.
❷Keeping the skin damp after washing mimics the newspaper-wrapping method—helps keep them moist inside.
I've been making baked sweet potatoes this way for years and they always turn out delicious. Give it a try.
You can add sugar when mixing in the kinako after mashing, or mix it into the kinako coating at the end. Try both and see what you prefer.
Some sweet potato varieties—especially the fluffier, drier ones—can be harder to shape. If that happens, add a bit of maple syrup or plant milk to help bind everything together. Just add a little at a time until it holds its shape.
🚶 More Sweet Potato Recipes
Got extra sweet potatoes? Other ways I like to use them:
🎃 Kabocha Season
Some of my favorite autumn kabocha recipes:
🍙 Latest Vegan Recipes
Recent healthy vegan recipes:
✏️ Recipe Card｜Printable
Leftover Baked Sweet Potato Bliss Balls
Equipment
- oven
- baking sheet
- Bowl
- fork
- cooking tray
- rubbe spatula
- tea spoon
- ½ tea spoon
Ingredients
Basic version
- 200-250 g Japanese sweet potatoes (small Beni Haruka recommended - yields about 200g baked flesh)
- 1~ tablespoon kinako (roasted soybean flour - for mixing)
- 2~ tablespoon kinako (- for coating)
- sugar (optional, to taste)
For flavor variations
- ground black sesame or cinnamon powder (see notes for amounts)
Instructions
- Bake (or use leftovers): ▶︎ If starting with raw sweet potatoes: Wash, place damp on baking sheet. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30+ minutes until cooked through. Let cool in oven. ▶︎ If using leftover baked sweet potatoes:Skip to step 2.200-250 g Japanese sweet potatoes
- Mash: Peel cooled sweet potatoes, place in bowl, mash with fork until smooth.
- Mix: Add kinako and mix well. Add spices if you want.1~ tablespoon kinakosugar
- Roll: Spread kinako on tray. Scoop mixture with spoons, shape into balls, roll in kinako to coat.2~ tablespoon kinako
Notes
☕️ Final Thoughts
Another roll-and-shape vegan dessert I make: Vegan Guilt-Free Adzuki Chocolate Truffles. Adzuki beans, sweetened with prunes. Perfect for chocolate moments.
Getting colder now.
These small homemade things—they help keep me going 🕊
Vegin Vegan Vegun! says
質問やコメントお待ちしています♪