These sweet potato black bean quesadillas are the perfect addition to your weeknight dinner menu. They’re vegetarian (great for Meatless Monday!), but you can easily add ground beef, ground turkey, or another meat of choice if you prefer.

We started making these in our home when we decided to experiment with grocery shopping 99% vegetarian. For about three months we have cooked almost entirely vegetarian (if you know my husband, this may come as a shock lol). But we are loving it!

The reasons we decided to try cooking vegetarian include:

1. We wanted to see if this way of cooking saves us money on our grocery bills. (It has!)
2. I’m always interested in experimenting with a wider variety of recipes and ingredients.
3. We thought it would be a great way to increase our veggie consumption.

In our vegetarian cooking experiment, we discovered how much we LOVE this combination of sweet potatoes, black beans, avocado, and the spices/flavors in this recipe. David usually doesn’t have a quesadilla, and he adds eggs to his – more of a sweet potato black bean breakfast bowl!

And I eat the leftover sweet potato mixture sans tortillas the next day for lunch. It’s a super versatile recipe! There are so many ways to make it your own, and that’s the beauty of using recipes as guides.

Ideas to make this recipe your own:

• Add meat – ground beef, ground turkey, diced chicken, etc.
• Make it into a breakfast bowl – add eggs, no tortilla
• Turn it into a breakfast burrito – add eggs, wrap it up in a tortilla
• Create tacos instead of quesadillas
• Have it as a bowl by itself

This style of versatile cooking and using recipes as suggestions is the name of the game at Nourish with Nik! If you don’t have an ingredient on hand, such as fresh cilantro, use dried or simply omit the ingredient altogether. Nothing is set in stone, and it makes cooking way more fun 🙂

Alright, here’s what ya do if you do indeed want quesadillas!

1. Cook your sweet potatoes in the oven or microwave. We poke holes in our potatoes with a fork, wrap em up in paper towel, set on a plate, and cook in the microwave for about 6 minutes.
2. Mash sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Mix in spices and cilantro.
3. Sauté onion, jalapeño, and garlic in a pan. Add black beans toward the end.
4. Mix everything together and spread onto a quesadilla, like this…

5. Sprinkle cheese and avocado on top of mixture (or wait to put avocado on top of your quesadilla). Top with second tortilla. Cook ~3-4 minutes on each side. And ENJOY.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Quesadillas

Serving Size: 3-4
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 jalapeño, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1-2 avocados
• tortillas (we use 8-inch)
• salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste
• olive oil + butter for cooking

DIRECTIONS:

1. With a fork, pierce sweet potatoes 4-5 times. Place on microwave-safe plate and microwave for 5 minutes, turning halfway through if your microwave does not rotate your food. Continue to cook in 1-minute increments until sweet potatoes are very easily pierced through the middle with a fork.
2. Once cooled slightly, mash cooked sweet potatoes in a large bowl, and stir in cilantro, chili powder, and cumin.
3. Heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add onion, jalapeño, and garlic. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add black beans and cook until heated through.
4. Mix onion, jalapeño, garlic, and beans in with sweet potato mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Lightly butter the outside of two tortillas. Spread sweet potato black bean mixture onto one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and avocado.
6. Cook on pan over medium-high heat (3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown). Cut into triangles and feel free to add salsa, green onions, sour cream, and any other toppings you like!

I’d love to see how you make this recipe your own – comment below and let
me know how you adapted this recipe to fit your unique preferences!