Chipotle Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Happy accidents in the kitchen. are my favorite. Especially this one because if this recipe didn’t turn out, I was honestly going to have to buy dinner on my way home from work and I really just did NOT want to do that with a fridge full of food.

Let me back up…so we took the kiddo to the Polar Express in Arizona (totally worth it by the way), and I thought I was being all productive by making my grocery list while we were out there so we could go grocery shopping on our way home from the airport. Combine trying to make a grocery list in a hotel room with a kid, along with catching a cold on the way home from this adventure, and needless to say I didn’t get enough of the ingredients I needed, but didn’t know it until I went to go make this recipe which was originally intended to be something completely different.

Cut to the present and me standing in my kitchen wondering what I was going to do because I’ve just realized I don’t have the right ingredients, I’m on a break from the studio so time is limited, but I also have a sleeping child upstairs so I can’t leave to go to the store.

So I looked at all the things I had in my fridge, and figured what the heck, I’ll just throw these things together and see what happens. If it’s awesome, cool, if it’s the worst thing ever and tastes like poison, then no one will ever hear about it ever again AND I’ll be ordering take out.

Luckily for me, not only did this recipe come out AMAZING, it also left my husband asking for seconds and finishing off all of the leftovers by the next morning. Obviously now this one will be a regular in the rotation, not just because of its deliciousness, but also because it was super easy and fast to make. I know what you’re thinking ‘sweet potatoes take forever in the oven’ and you’re right they totally do and if you have the time to cook the potatoes in the oven, go for it because it’s worth the extra time to get the crispiness on the skin of the potato. But if you’re short on time, heat them up in the microwave until they’re fork tender (probably around 8 to 10 minutes).

chipotle stuffed sweet potatoes

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes to 1 hour

Serves: 4

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 jalapeños, seeded and diced

1 pound of ground beef

2 canned chipotle peppers, diced

1/4 cup of the chipotle sauce from the can

14.5 ounce black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup salsa

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

sour cream, optional

If you are going to cook your sweet potatoes in the oven, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray. Rub olive oil on your potatoes, sprinkle with salt and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until fork tender. After cooked, set aside and allow to cool.

If you are not cooking the potatoes in oven, wrap each in a paper towel and heat them in the microwave for 8 to 10 minutes or until fork tender, set aside and allow to cool.

In a medium skillet, heat the remaining olive oil, add in the onion, garlic and jalapeños, cooking until the onions are translucent. Add in your spices along with your meat, sautéing until the meat is cooked through and crumbly. Add in the chipotle pepper and chipotle pepper sauce, allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

While it simmers, slice the sweet potatoes in half and scoop out most of the inside. Add the sweet potatoes along with the black beans to the meat mixture, mix in the salsa and stir until well combined and warmed through. Put the cheddar cheese into the mixture and cook until melted through.

Decrease your oven temperature to 350 degrees. Divide the meat mixture evenly between the sweet potato shells, put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Top with sour cream and cilantro, serve while hot! Enjoy!