Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes — Stuffed sweet potatoes make a healthy meal that’s easy, ready in 15 minutes, satisfying, and doesn’t taste like health food!
Stuffed Savory Sweet Potatoes
Healthy meals that are fast, easy, and don’t taste like health food are my kind of meals. And this is right up my alley for warm, hearty, vegan, gluten-free comfort food.
After spending the day in the kitchen fussing over stacks of cookies and slices of cake, the last thing I ever do for dinner is create a fussy one.
I could live on squash, steamed Brussels sprouts, and spoonfuls of Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter, but for my family’s sake, I try to get a bit more creative.
These cheesy black bean stuffed sweet potatoes are a great way to spruce things up, but in a very low-key and easy way. They’re ready from start to finish in 15 minutes, and they’re a family favorite.
The soft sweet potato flesh, the crispy skin, the chunky texture of the filling, and the melted cheese, contrasted with the smooth avocado crema, provide so many textures in every bite.
Between the protein in the beans and cheese, the healthy fats in the avo, the fiber from the corn, beans, potato, and avocado, the potatoes are very hearty and will keep you full for hours. No meat necessary.
If you have no idea what to make for dinner, but know you don’t have much time to do it in, yet don’t want to break your caloric or financial budget with takeout or delivery, here you go.
What’s in the Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes?
To make the stuffed savory sweet potatoes, you’ll need:
- Sweet potato
- Corn and bean salsa
- Shredded cheese
- Avocado
- Sour cream
- Lime juice
- Salt
- Fresh cilantro
How to Make Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
The recipe is written for one sweet potato, but if you need more, double, quadruple, etc.
Begin by microwaving one sweet potato for about 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the size. You could roast the potato in the oven for about 45 minutes, but I don’t want to run my oven that long for just one potato, and I don’t find the micro compromises the taste or texture.
I stuffed the potato with Trader Joe’s Cowboy Caviar Salsa. If you don’t have a TJ’s, use a chunky, hearty, texture-laden bean and corn salsa instead. There are so many to choose from in most grocery stores.
Top with shredded cheese (or vegan cheese) and pop it under the broiler just until the cheese is bubbly.
Watch your potatoes closely so they don’t burn. Broilers are very unforgiving.
For added flavor, plant-based creaminess, and some healthy fat to help me feel full and satisfied, I made avocado crema for drizzling. It’s optional, and if you prefer plain potatoes, great.
Simply blend together avocado, sour cream, lime juice, and salt before drizzling over the potatoes. It’s creamy and cooling against the spicier salsa-stuffed potatoes, and adds so much extra flavor.
The lime juice and avocado, along with the cilantro garnish, really add a Mexican or Southwestern-inspired flair.
Can I Add Other Toppings?
Of course! Feel free to add any other Mexican-inspired toppings you’d like. Shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, crushed tortilla chips, and so forth would all work well.
Can This Recipe Be Prepped in Advance?
You can cook the sweet potatoes in advance and then stuff and reheat them day-of. That’d be the easiest lunch or dinner ever!
What to Serve with Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Try serving these cheesy black bean stuffed sweet potatoes with one of the following:
- Grilled Mexican Corn
- Baked Tortilla Chips
- Mexican Zucchini, Corn & Peppers
- Veggie Rice and Beans
- Mexican Wedge Salad
Tips for Making Healthy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Since I usually one make 1 or 2 potatoes at a time, cooking the sweet potatoes in the microwave is great for me, but if you’re making 4 to 6 potatoes, the oven is likely a better choice.
Instead of using black bean salsa, you can also use canned blacked beans, canned or frozen corn, and hit it with a little chipotle seasoning.
However, I think prepared salsas are a big time saver, and they’re always packed with flavor.
The only caveat with the avocado crema is that it makes more than you’ll use for one sweet potato. You could use half of an avocado and half of a lime, but that’s silly to me, and I may as well just blend all of it.
After the photos were done, drizzling turned into drenching. I used about 8 times what’s shown. Not photogenic, but highly tasty.
The extra is great as a guacamole-like dip for chips. If you’re making 4 or 6 potatoes to serve a larger crowd, you won’t have any issue using it all at once.
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Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
Sweet Potato and Filling
- 1 medium/large sweet potato
- heaping 1/2 cup corn and black bean salsa (I used Trader Joe’s Cowboy Caviar Salsa
- salt and pepper, optional and to taste
- heaping 1/4 cup shredded cheese blend (Mexican, Pepper Jack, Monterrey, vegan cheese
Avocado Crema
- 1 medium ripe Hass avocado, peeled and de-seeded, reserving a small portion for garnishing
- ¼ cup sour cream (or vegan sour cream
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, from about medium 1 lime
- pinch salt, to taste
- water, if necessary
- cilantro, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- Sweet Potato and Filling:
- Pierce potato with fork a few times before cooking in microwave on high power for about 7 minutes (medium) to 10 minutes (large). Cook until fork tender and done; don’t overcook because potato will be broiled briefly. I micro 1 potato for 7- 10 minutes, and 2 potatoes for about 10-13 minutes. This varies by potato size and micro strength. Alternatively, roast potatoes in a 375F oven for about 45 minutes, or until fork tender and done.
- While potato is in micro, preheat oven to broiler setting.
- Remove potato from micro and slice in half lengthwise on a cutting board.
- Hollow out a center column of each half with a spoon. I don’t remove any flesh, but just redistribute it so the center column is a bit shallower to make room for the filling, and there’s more flesh built up around the edges.
- Place the halves on a non-stick baking sheet.
- Evenly divide the corn and bean salsa between each potato half.
- Optionally add salt and pepper to taste
- Evenly top each potato half with cheese.
- Broil for about 3 minutes, or just until cheese begins to melt and is bubbly. Keep a very close eye on them so they don’t burn.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool momentarily. While potatoes cool, make the avocado crema.
Avocado Crema:
- In the canister of a food processor or blender (mini food processors work great here), combine most of the avocado (reserving a small portion of chunks or slices for garnishing and set it aside), sour cream, lime juice, salt to taste, and blend until smooth and creamy. If mixture is thick, add water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Drizzle avocado creama over potato.
- Garnish with reserved avocado and optional cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Sweet Potato Dinner Recipes:
ALL OF MY SWEET POTATO RECIPES!
Sweet Potato, Corn, & Black Bean Enchiladas — Warm sweet potatoes, slightly spicy corn and beans, all smothered in cheese and red sauce. They’re satisfying, hearty, and you’ll never miss the meat!
Coconut Lime Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry — An EASY, one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and tastes BETTER than a restaurant!! Juicy chicken and tender sweet potatoes simmer in a lime-scented coconut milk sauce that tastes AMAZING!
Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpea Buddha Bowl — A big ole round bowl full of goodness just like Buddha!! The bowls are fast, EASY, naturally vegan and gluten-free! If you need a HEALTHY recipe that tastes like comfort food, this is it!!
Sheet Pan Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chicken — EASY, HEALTHY, and a great way to enjoy roasted sweet potatoes in less time!! A DELISH one-pan juicy chicken dinner that’s ready in 30 minutes with zero cleanup!!
Sweet Potato and Chickpea Coconut Curry — An EASY one-skillet curry that’s ready in 30 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous flavors!! HEALTHY comfort food that tastes AMAZING!!
Mexican Sweet Potato and Black Bean Buddha Bowl – A HEALTHY and EASY alternative to a salad!! Loaded with Mexican-inspired ingredients and topped with a light lime-cumin vinaigrette! Ready in 20 minutes and perfect for MEAL PREPPING!!
Chili and Brown Sugar Spice Rub Chicken and Sweet Potatoes – An EASY sheet pan meal that’s ready in 30 minutes and loaded with layers of flavors from the spice rub – a mixture of chili powder, brown sugar, cumin, and more!!
Eating this right now! So good and fast and easy!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying it & glad you’re enjoying it! :)
Oh wow! With how crazy my diet has been lately and all the restrictions… I’m SO loving this one! Totally up my alley!!
I can only imagine the restrictions but glad this would work!
Oh man – you had me at “stuffed”! And how did you know that sweet potatoes are my ultimate weakness? I absolutely love this healthy twist!
I made these tonight and they went down so well!! Love all the southwestern flavors and it was a nice change for our usual sweetly topped sweet potatoes. I found some roasted corn salsa in the deli and added black beans. All so easy…and we have a batch of salad dressing too with the rest of the avocado. I think this is even easy enough for Jon to make later this week (he has said he’d like to do a little more cooking)! Oh–a little off topic but I roasted a spaghetti squash earlier today and just left it whole. OMG it is so much easier to deal with. I think I can safely say I’ll never cut a raw spaghetti squash again!
Glad that you loved these and they totally worked for you and that your salsa improv worked, as well as now having salad dressing with the extra crema! And yes the whole-roasting method…SO much easier! I do the same thing w/ kabocha, too. Just pop em in for 45 mins at 375. I test by squeezing, and then sometimes I will shut oven off and just let it sit in there for another 15 mins, depending on how the squeeze/firmness was. So easy and successful, EVERY time!
My mouth is watering all over the place for this deliciousness! YUM! Talk about flavorful :)
What a great idea!!! I love using things with sweet potatoes (not just because they add a natural sweetness) but because of the healthy nutrients they can add to your dish!
I love turning vegetables, especially sweet potatoes, into dinner. I had a baked sweet potato topped with diced avocado the other night. So good. I always bake my sweet potatoes but it takes way longer than 45 minutes – more like 90!
90 minutes to bake 1 sweet potato? They must be big or you’re baking on a lower temp. I know you’re oven is working properly because you’re a baker, so if that was wonky, you’d have looked into that already :)
I bake on 400. Some of the potatoes are rather big. I don’t know what the deal is. My ovens can be a bit strange. Some things bake faster than I expect, others slower, the top oven is different from the bottom. It’s crazy! And they’re only 2 years old!
Ok that does not sound right AT ALL. I can cook a huge 2-3 POUND squash at 375F in 45 mins.https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/12/how-to-roast-spaghetti-squash-and-12-healthy-squash-recipes.html kabocha, spaghetti, doesn’t matter. And sweet potatoes, even really big ones, are maybe .75 lbs, max. I seriously think you should get a 4.99 oven thermometer from the hardware store and see what it says. Something is off I think!
LOVE your savory recipes! I am definitely going to be on the lookout for the TJ’s salsa next time I’m there.
Thank you & yes you’ll love it!
I would totally eat the heck out of one of these for dinner. And who knew that stuffed potatoes could be so beautiful?! Dang!
You make some extremely gorgeous food out of like…brown rice. As plain as it can be yet you make it look like a supermodel :)
So stunningly beautiful, Avery! I’m with Trish on her comment that you make healthy food look so amazingly good! Your beautiful photo tells the story that lighting is key. So happy you got such great picture; pinning to Pinterest!
Thanks for the compliments and the pin!
I swear to you that I have been planning a twice baked sweet potato for ages. You truly inspire me. GREG
Well great minds think alike then :) And I am truly flattered that I inspire you! I feel like it’s the other way around! :)
Ok, first off. Gorgeous pictures! Secondly, LOVE Tex-Mex stuffed sweet potatoes. I am all over that cowboy cavier from Traders Joes and that Avocado Crema. Can’t wait to spice up my next sweet potatoes with your twist. Thanks Averie! Pinning and sharing on social media! :) Have a great weekend chica!
Thanks for the great comment, the pin, and hope you get to try these sometime! :)
How is it that you can make even healthy food look drool-worthy Averie? I must have stared at the pic for a full five minutes! Your lighting is just gorgeous! You’ve just inspired a trip to TJs this weekend. It’s been WAY too long :)
Thanks, Trish! Glad you love this recipe and thanks for the pin to the BHG board. I appreciate it! :) And I took my time with these photos and had to wait for the right lighting but glad I found it :)
That crema looks killer!
Perfect and wonderfully easy and healthy meal. Plus so beautifully presented! I would triple up on the avocado crema too! Pinned :)
Thanks for pinning and I love your idea to just triple up :)
Averie, I just saw this recipe real quick and just have to tell you how much I love it! I buy that cowboy caviar all the time. One of my favorite go-to Trader Joes products. Among many others, of course (like the dark chocolate peanut butter cups – yum!). Anyway, your photos are gorgeous here! What beautiful lighting. This is such a great meal for me when Kevin’s not home during the weekend I don’t feel like doing much work at all. Love the avocado crema, too!
I can’t even believe you’re taking the time to comment right now, Sally! Thank you!! I should have known you were a fan of Cowboy Caviar, too! And those lil dark choc PB cups, I can’t even buy those anymore :) The lighting…ahh, very first recipe I shot home from Aruba after being awake for almost 2 days and it turned out infinitely prettier than any I had shot all month there. Trust me when I say I was thrilled to see the lighting in these images, too :) Thanks for noticing!