These Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes with black beans are a super easy, versatile, and nutritious dinner option!
The roasted sweet potatoes act as a delicious base, and you just add your favorite toppings. Easy as pie. It’s a quick, vegan dinner everyone will love.
I’ll also share two options for how to cook your sweet potatoes: baking in the oven and microwaving. (If you’re in a hurry, microwaving is the way to go!)
Why I Love Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Stuffed sweet potatoes used to be one of my favorite super fast and easy go-to dinners back when I was single and lived by myself. They’re pretty much perfect: filling but fast, and you can easily mix up the toppings for a lot of variety.
Microwaving the sweet potatoes saves tons of time, and I love how sweet potato goes so well with so many different types of food. Plus, a lot of the ingredients here are shelf-stable, or at least last a long time – so you can easily buy them ahead of time and make the recipe later on. Gotta love having healthy ingredients on hand!
I even wrote a blog post back in 2009 about my favorite stuffed sweet potato recipe variation at the time, which you can go see if you’d like another recipe idea. (Also if you’d like to see how much photography on blogs has changed in 10 years). 😉 Here’s the super old recipe page: Sweet Potato Black Bean Mess, and here’s the original blog post about it which also includes some random commentary as well: Get In My Belly. (Yep, post titles in 2009 were on point.)
How to Make Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Basically, to make a stuffed sweet potato, you start by tossing the sweet potatoes in either the oven or microwave to roast (I’ll share instructions for both). Then, cut up some veggies, open a can of beans, and cook them up in a skillet for a few minutes. Lastly, slice and stuff the sweet potatoes, sprinkle on yummy toppings, and you are ready to rock!
Love sweet potatoes? Here are some of my favorite sweet potato breakfast recipes!
It’s a filling meal that doesn’t take much effort to make, which is awesome, and it can also easily be tweaked to your taste preferences. (This is especially useful if you have picky eaters, or if you don’t have all the ingredients on hand!)
Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato Toppings
You can really use any veggies or proteins you have on hand for these stuffed sweet potatoes.
In this particular recipe, I recommend using black beans, red bell pepper, red onion, and avocado. Diced green onions work great as a garnish, as does cilantro if you like it!
Season with cumin, chili powder, and smoked paprika to bring out the Southwest flavor. Feel free to top with your favorite vegan (or non-vegan) cheese and some hot sauce or salsa, too!
Here are the basic ingredients:
Of course, additional toppings and/or sauces can be added if desired.
Here are some more topping ideas for stuffed sweet potatoes (some vegan but many not):
- BBQ chicken
- Pecans & homemade marshmallows
- Ground turkey
- Chili (here are some of my favorite chili recipes for inspiration!)
- Quinoa
- Tuna
- Scrambled eggs
- Guacamole and/or avocado crema
- Hot sauce
- Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
How to Bake Sweet Potatoes in the Oven
Baking sweet potatoes in the oven is pretty simple.
First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Then, pierce each potato with a fork 4-5 times. (This lets steam escape so your potatoes won’t explode while cooking!)
Arrange the sweet potatoes on a sheet pan (line with parchment paper or foil for easier clean up, or grease the pan).
Bake for 45-60 minutes until very tender. To tell if they’re done, feel them: they should feel soft when pressed. If a fork can be inserted and removed easily, they’re ready! Simply cut in half and get ready to fill them with deliciousness.
Or, you can microwave your sweet potatoes!
An alternative: to save time, you can microwave your sweet potatoes instead! Here are instructions: how to microwave a sweet potato.
Baking sweet potatoes in the oven allows them to caramelize a little more, but microwaved sweet potatoes still taste deliciously roasted and cook SO much faster – like, 6 minutes instead of 50! So, you do you!
All in all, both options work great for making fluffy, delicious stuffed sweet potatoes.
The full recipe for these Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes is at the bottom of this post.
I hope you love them – please let me know your favorite topping combinations and how you like the recipe by leaving a comment, or by leaving a review/rating in the recipe card! You can also tag me @fANNEtasticfood on social media if you share a picture of yourself making the sweet potatoes – I’d love to see them in action. 🙂
Looking for more easy vegetarian meal ideas? Check these out:
- Sweet Potato & Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas
- Sweet Potato & Lentil Coconut Curry
- Vegetarian Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Baked Portobello Mushrooms with Feta
- Loaded Vegetarian Nachos (Sheet Pan)
- Vegan and Gluten Free Shepherd’s Pie
- Baked Sesame Tofu with Veggies
- Creamy Vegan Garlic & Herb Pasta
- Black Bean Vegan Burgers with Pumpkin
- Easy Lentil Veggie Burgers Recipe
- 6 Sweet Potato Breakfast Recipes
Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
These vegan stuffed sweet potatoes with black beans are a super easy and nutritious dinner option.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 2 green onions, chopped and white and green parts separated
- 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
- 4 medium sweet potatoes, cooked in the oven or the microwave (see below for methods) and split open
- for garnishing: fresh cilantro, diced avocado, finely chopped red onion
Instructions:
To cook sweet potatoes in the microwave:
- Pierce sweet potatoes a few times all over with a fork. This allows steam to escape so your potatoes don't explode in the microwave!
- Wrap each sweet potato in a damp paper towel. This helps keep them moist as they cook.
- Arrange the wrapped sweet potatoes on a microwave-safe plate and microwave at high power for 6-12 minutes, depending on the size of your sweet potatoes. Start with 6 minutes and check the tenderness by squeezing gently. Small sweet potatoes may be fully tender, but if your sweet potatoes don't have any give after 6 minutes, keep microwaving in 1-2 minute increments until fully tender. The sweet potatoes are done when they feel soft when pressed and a fork can be inserted and removed very easily.
To bake sweet potatoes in the oven:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Pierce sweet potatoes a few times all over with a fork. This allows steam to escape so your potatoes don't explode in the oven!
- Arrange sweet potatoes on a parchment paper or foil-lined or greased sheet pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until completely tender. The sweet potatoes are done when they feel soft when pressed and a fork can be inserted and removed very easily.
For the filling:
1. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the diced bell pepper, red onion, and white parts of the green onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just tender.
2. Add the black beans, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, granulated garlic, and salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until heated through and well mixed.
3. Slice open the cooked sweet potatoes and mash the insides to create a pocket for the filling. Divide the filling between the 4 sweet potatoes and top with the reserved green parts of the green onions and any other desired garnishes.
