Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tacos

Has your family tried a Meatless Monday yet?  We don’t always do it on a Monday, but we go meatless at least once a week.  Not only is it good for our health to have a vegetarian meal, but it saves money and usually takes less time to prepare.  Last week I took the small sweet potatoes that were leftover from our Bountiful Basket and made vegetarian tacos with them.  I put this together on Thursday afternoon, thinking it would be a perfect quick meal for after T-Ball practice.  Unfortunately, the green chiles I used were WAY hotter than expected, so the kids couldn’t eat them.  Jeff and I thought they were perfect though!  We had tacos on Thursday night then taco salad with the leftover filling on Friday night.

Here’s how you make them:

Take 2-3 small sweet potatoes (or one large sweet potato), peel and dice into small chunks.  Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  No need for oil.  Throw the roasted sweet potatoes into a large bowl with 1 can of rinsed black beans (no salt added), 2 diced tomatoes, 2 diced green chiles, 3 cloves garlic.  Add in your favorite taco spices and a splash of olive oil, toss it all together and let refrigerate until you are ready to make your tacos.meatless taco filling meatless tacosMeanwhile, you can do any number of things.  This is what my kids were up to that day.

Hooray for hoodie weather!

When you are ready to make your tacos, take a package of corn tortillas (if you are gluten-free, make sure the package specifies gluten-free corn tortillas), and heat a skillet or griddle over medium high heat.  Place a tortilla onto the hot skillet until the first side becomes browned (about 2-3 minutes).  Flip over and heat up the other side.  When the tortilla is nice and crispy but still pliable, fold in half and set aside.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.  This is my favorite way to use corn tortillas so that they don’t crack or tear.Heat up the taco filling in the microwave or on the stove then make your tacos.  You can add any taco fixing that you like.  I had some iceberg lettuce on hand from last weekend’s basket, and it ended up being the perfect thing to balance out the heat from the green chiles.
sweet potato black bean tacoStuff, serve, enjoy.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Tacos

Ingredients
  

  • 2-3 small sweet potatoes peeled and diced
  • 2 to matoes diced
  • 1 can no-salt added black beans rinsed
  • 2 roasted green chiles diced (or 1 small can)
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • ½ tsp. each of salt pepper, cumin, oregano
  • 10 corn tortillas
  • taco fixing lettuce, cilantro, green onions, avocado all optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread diced sweet potatoes into single layer on large baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes.
  • Take out and set aside.
  • In large bowl, combine roasted sweet potatoes, tomatoes, black beans, green chiles, garlic and spices. Toss and refrigerate until time to eat.
  • When ready to make tacos, heat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Place a tortilla onto the hot skillet until the first side becomes browned (about 2-3 minutes).  Flip over and heat up the other side.
  • When the tortilla is nice and crispy but still pliable, fold in half and set aside.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.
  • Heat filling in microwave or on stove, then assemble tacos with filling and any toppings you prefer.

 

Does your family eat meatless meals often?  What is your favorite meatless recipe?   


  • JenCoen October 10, 2011 at 10:20 am

    Yum!! I am *definitely trying this recipe! The hubs and kids will love it!

  • Heather @ Get Healthy with Heather October 10, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    We definitely do meatless meals… A lot of them lately, but usually they’d be on random days… Not always Monday. Looks delicious!

  • Tiffany October 10, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    Yum! These look delicious! Thanks for the recipe! Meatless meals can be challenging in my house since my husband believes meals = meat. But we try a meatless meal at least once every 1-2 weeks.

    This Fall Vegetable Curry recipe looks like another winner: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fall-vegetable-curry-10000002012769/

  • Susan Woodford October 11, 2011 at 6:18 am

    I made these for dinner last night. Thanks for the great recipe, David and I both loved them!

  • cindy litwin October 11, 2011 at 9:16 am

    looks delicious! definitely trying this recipe … thanks for sharing the recipe!

  • Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen October 11, 2011 at 5:58 pm

    I love the combination of black beans and sweet potatoes but I’ve never had them in a taco! What a great easy dinner idea.

  • Selene@ABCsofMealtime October 11, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    These look delicious! I actually made something similar to that but not in tacos…never thought of that! We have started doing Meatless Mondays and am still exploring recipes. This week I made vegetarian chili: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/crockpot-mexican-chili/

    I tweaked it a bit but it came out really good and hubby and kiddo approved!

  • EA-The Spicy RD October 15, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    Love this recipe Alysa! I want to try your method for heating corn tortillas too. I usually “steam” mine in the microwave, but then they cool off pretty quickly and get too hard. My husband boss is on a gluten-free diet too and she has a friend who makes homemade corn tortillas, so she has passed on a bunch to us. Can’t wait to make your tacos with them!

  • Meghan October 17, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    This looks absolutely delicious! I love Mexican-inspired, and I find that tacos are one of the easiest foods to make my boyfriend to forget he’s not eating meat…Thanks for the recipe!

  • Darcie-such the spot October 24, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    Sweet potatoes and black beans make such a great combination. I did similar enchiladas last week and I have no doubt they’ll be making another appearance on our menu this fall/winter.

  • Gina January 7, 2012 at 11:50 pm

    These are amazing! I made them tonight for me and the kids – everyone ate them up. We had made black bean dip with our beans earlier in the week so I used that to hold all the other ingredients in the taco shell. My kids don’t do well with tacos so this helped a lot!

    The beans + sweet potato combination was a hit! Thanks Alysa – keep the great recipe ideas coming!