Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

You’ll love the black bean, bell pepper and corn filling piled in a baked sweet potato and topped with yogurt or sour cream, avocado, cilantro and fresh lime juice.

These are super easy to customize with different toppings (like cheese!) and make the perfect meatless meal the whole family will enjoy. They are filling, very easy to make, loaded with flavour and super nutritious too!

Sweet potato and black bean is a classic combination. You can also try them together in Vegan Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers, Sweet Potato Black Bean Tacos and Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili.

Recipe Highlights

• They’re super easy to make for a healthy weeknight meal.
• If you bake the sweet potatoes in advance the recipe takes just 15 minutes to make.
• They’re vegan (dairy-free and egg-free), naturally gluten-free, nut-free and can be made oil-free.
• They’re low in fat and high in fiber and plant-based protein.
• Make them in advance for a healthy meal prep idea.
• They can be customized with your favourite toppings like cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, or scallions.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Sweet Potatoes: You’ll need 4 single-serving sized sweet potatoes. Whatever size works for you for eating the whole thing. You can also do half a large sweet potato. You can also use regular potatoes!
• Olive Oil: A little olive oil is used for cooking the veggies but you can use water if you prefer the recipe to be oil-free.
• Onion: You can use red, white or yellow onion.
• Red Pepper Pepper: This can be substituted with any colour of bell pepper or even poblano pepper (green pepper, yellow pepper, etc.).
• Spices: You’ll need cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder to season the black bean and corn filling. Don’t have all these on hand – try taco seasoning!
• Black Beans: Canned black beans work. You can also cook your own but that would be done separately from this recipe. Chickpeas, pinto beans and lentils work as a substitution.
• Corn: Canned or thawed frozen corn works.
• Serving: Try avocado, any plain dairy-free yogurt or sour cream, lime and cilantro. You could also make this cashew garlic lime cream, tofu-based lime crema, avocado sauce or chipotle cashew sauce.

Variations

Cheesy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

For cheesy stuffed sweet potatoes, either:

• Sprinkle grated cheese over the black bean mixture in the skillet and let it melt before scooping it into the sweet potatoes.
• Sprinkle grated cheese over the stuffed sweet potatoes (before other toppings) and put them back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese.

Spicy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

For spicy stuffed sweet potatoes, you have a few options:

• Serve with your favourite hot sauce or add hot sauce to the black bean mixture.
• Add 1 minced jalapeno when you add the onion and bell pepper. Some thinly sliced jalapeno served on top is good too!
• Add up to 1 tsp cayenne pepper or red chili flakes when you add the other spices.

Adding Extra Veggies

• Other vegetables that work well in this recipe are poblano pepper, cabbage, zucchini, carrot, diced tomatoes, spinach and kale.
• If you’re adding zucchini, poblano pepper, cabbage or carrot, add them with the onion. If you’re adding diced tomatoes, spinach or kale, add them with the black beans.
• You can also cook the kale or spinach separately and stuff into the sweet potato underneath the black bean mixture.

Adding Grains

For a heartier filling you can mix in up to 1 cup cooked grains like quinoa, farro, rice or cous cous along with the black beans and corn. I think this rice and lentil filling, cranberry quinoa filling or Mediterranean quinoa filing would all be good for stuffed sweet potatoes too!

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Bake the sweet potatoes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and poke a couple times with a fork.

Bake them for about 45 minutes until you can easily piece them with a fork and they’re cooked through. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of the sweet potatoes.

Quick Note: For easy clean up, line the baking pan with foil or parchment paper.

Step 2: Make the filling.

When the sweet potatoes have about 10 minutes of baking time left, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until softened.

Add all of the spices and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Quick Note: Love spice? Add up to 1 tsp cayenne or red chili flakes along with the rest of the spices. You could also top your stuffed sweet potatoes with your favourite hot sauce.

Finally, add the corn and black beans and stir to mix it all up. Cook for 1-2 minutes until heated through.

Step 3: Stuff the sweet potatoes.

Slice the sweet potatoes open lengthways with a sharp knife.

Making Ahead & Storing

• Cool before storing.
• The sweet potatoes can be baked up to 4 days in advance and stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat them in the oven or microwave until heated through then stuff and serve!
• The stuffed sweet potatoes without the toppings can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until heated through, add your toppings and enjoy.
• The stuffed sweet potatoes are not suitable for freezing.