If you love tacos (and who doesn’t?!) you’re going to love these Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes stuffed with taco seasoned ground beef, black beans, and your favorite taco toppings! Warm, filling, and the vibrant colors make for one of the most beautiful dinner plates!
Recipe at a Glance
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30-32 minutes
Notes: This recipe calls for 4 sweet potatoes, sliced in half to make a total of 8 sweet potato boats. If this is too many you can reduce the amount of ground beef and sweet potatoes, but you’ll have extra corn and beans from the cans that you can save or a different recipe during the week…or nachos!
How to prepare the sweet potatoes
So first, it’s really important to by the medium sized potatoes. If you haven’t worked with sweet potatoes before, they’re much denser and harder than a baking potato. Cutting through them takes more work, moe careful and steady-handed work. Those huge giant sweet potatoes just won’t work here. In my opinion, they’re too difficult to get a clean line cut through and not a safe thing to attempt. So, go for the smaller sized potatoes and they’ll work just fine here!
After you’ve cut them in half length-wise, you’re going to score the tops. I do this to help them cook through. You want to make sure can easily fluff the interior when they get out of the oven, and you don’t want any of the inside to be left under cooked and dense. I score mine by taking my knife and make one cut down the center of the potato from the top to the bottom. Then, make three lines cut across the width from left to right. One at the top, one in the center, and one at the bottom.
Lastly, the final step to preparing them for the oven is to brush the tops with some olive oil then sprinkling them with salt, garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder. Now your potatoes are ready for roasting!
Cooking Tips
- Have fun with these Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and fill them with your favorite taco fixings! If you like a different kind of bean or cheese, use that! You can also add lettuce, crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, or avocado. There’s really no wrong way to top these.
- Roasting time will depend on the size of your potato. For the size I used here, 32 minutes at 450 degrees was perfect. Give them a test with a fork, if they are easily pierced with a fork they’re done! If you still feel resistance or stiffness they need more time. Add 2 minutes at a time and keep checking them until they’re done.
- We loved these, and the serving size in the recipe card is good for a family of 4 for dinner. If you’re cooking for less you can scale down the meat and potatoes, but you probably won’t use all of the canned beans and corn. You can save the excess for a recipe during the week. Or, make the full batch and you’ve got leftovers!
I really love Mexican inspired recipes. I just love the flavors, the spices, and the ingredients. If you do too…you’ll want to check these out!
Crunchy Taco Meatballs
Creamy Mexican Corn Chowder
Taco Smashed Potatoes
Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Taco stuffed sweet potatoes are roasted sweet potatoes stuffed with taco seasoned ground beef and your favorite taco toppings! Filling, warm, and savory. The colors of this recipe make for a gorgeous plate!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 halves
- Category: Mexican
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
1lb ground beef
4 medium sweet potatoes
Olive oil, Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika for seasoning the potatoes
10oz can black beans, drained
10oz can corn, drained
1 packet taco seasoning mix
8-10 cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes), diced
1/4 of a red onion, diced small
Cheese for topping, I used queso fresco
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 450. Very carefully, slice your sweet potatoes in half length-wise. This is why the medium size potatoes are best, the giant ones are too difficult to slice this way! After the potatoes are sliced, score the tops by making one slice down the center and 3 across. Brush with olive oil then sprinkle each with garlic powder, salt, and paprika then a dash of the onion powder. See photos above for visuals. Bake for 30-32 minutes until they are easily pierced with a fork.
2. While the potatoes are roasting, heat a large pan over medium heat and add the ground beef. Cook until browned, then drain the oil and return the beef to the pan. Add 1/3 cup water and the seasoning packet and cook until the sauce has thickened, add the drained black beans and keep warm until the potatoes are done!
3. Once the potatoes are done and removed from the oven, use your fork to fluff the potato. I kind of scraped the potato to loosen it then also pressed down to help spread the potato skin and create a pocket where you can put the meat and toppings.
3. Next, fill each potato with the ground beef and black been mix, top with corn, diced red onions, diced tomatoes, and cheese. You can also add a taco sauce or sour cream. Serve warm and right away!
Notes
This recipe calls for 4 sweet potatoes, so once you slice them in half you’ve got 8 sweet potato boats.
what sides do you serve these with…thinking veggies?
I think a salad would be good! These are already pretty packed with lots of ingredient so I think keeping it light is good.