These Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are incredibly delicious! Made with BBQ sauce, black beans (optional chicken) melty cheese, avocado and cilantro -perfect for mixed households who have meat-lovers, vegetarians, and vegans, all living under the same roof. Vegan-adaptable and gluten-free.
Learning takes place only in a mind that is innocent and vulnerable. ~Krishnamurti~
I keep hearing from so many of you of how challenging it is to accommodate different diets in your households (vegans, meat-eaters, gluten-free) and the difficulty of wanting to serve more veggies while having to prepare several different meals each night.
This recipe for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes allows you to prepare one meal, altering only the protein. Use either black beans or chicken (or both!) and either add melty cheese like I do for Brian, or keep it lean and vegan and add avocado. And either way, it’s gluten-free!
Sweet potatoes or yams (here in the states) are baked until tender then smothered in Homemade BBQ Sauce,(of course, store-bought is OK too) then topped with your choice of chicken or black beans (or both) and finished with either melty cheese or avocado, sprinkled with cilantro and scallions. So yummy!
How to make Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Step one: Roast the Yams! When making this with chicken for mixed households, like I am here for Brian, simply place the chicken on the same sheet pan as the yams. Drizzle it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and place in the oven to bake for roughly 30 minutes. How easy is that?
If you like onions and peppers add to the sheet pan as well!
While this bakes, get all your other ingredients ready.
Step 2: Drain and rinse your black beans. Chop cilantro, avocado, scallion or red onion. If adding cheese, grate it. Smoked mozzarella is especially yummy on this, or keep it light lean and vegan with avocado.
Step 3: Stuff away!
Mash the sweet potato just lightly and season with salt and pepper. Add a layer of BBQ sauce. Add the blackbeans or chicken or both.
The one on the left with black beans is mine. The one on the right is Brian’s. This is how I can easily accommodate both of our preferences ( vegetarian vs. carnivore) in one meal.At home, I rarely ever create a whole separate meal, I just adapt one meal. Hopefully this makes sense.
Step 4: Top with more BBQ Sauce and melty cheese if you like, and plop it back in the oven until the cheese is melty and beans and chicken are warmed through.
Top with Avocado and cilantro and enjoy!
If thinking about making your own preservative-free and high-fructose corn syrup free, Homemade BBQ Sauce, here is my recipe which I love. Make a batch and store it in a jar, it will keep for months in the fridge!
Ok I hope you like this one as much as we do- it’s pretty darn tasty!
Thanks so much, newcomers, for answering my “What is your biggest challenge in the Kitchen”. I have read every single one and this recipe was for those of you who have told me the challenges of cooking for mixed householders ( vegans/vegetarians/ GF/ and meat-eaters) all living under the same roof.
Hope it helps!
xo
More recipes you may like
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
- Sweet Potato Salad
- Oaxacan Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Miso Butter
- Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe (vegan)
- BBQ Tofu Sandwich with Slaw (Vegan)
- BBQ Chicken on the Grill
- Grilled Corn with Chipotle-Lime Butter
Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main, Vegetarian
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are incredibly delicious! Made with BBQ sauce, black beans (optional chicken) melty cheese, avocado and cilantro -perfect for mixed households who have meat-lovers, vegetarians, and vegans, all living under the same roof. Vegan-adaptable and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 2 extra-large yams or 4 small ones
- optional: one 8-ouce chicken breast (feel free to leave out)
- Generous pinch salt and pepper
- 14-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed, seasoned with salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce– store-bought or homemade
- 1/4– 1/2 cup shredded cheese -mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, jack, cheddar- all optional
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/8 cup chopped scallions or red onion, optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425F
- Cut large yams in half lengthwise (or poke a few fork holes in small whole ones) and lace on parchment lined line sheet pan, open side down.
- If adding chicken, coat the breast in a little oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on the sheet pan with the yams and bake 30 minutes.
- Check that yams are fork tender and chicken is cooked through ( 160F) at the thickest part. If not, continue cooking for a bit longer, removing whichever is done, so as not to overcook.
- Turn yams over and leave on the sheet pan. Remove the chicken and shred it into bite-size pieces with two forks.
- Using a fork, scruff up the inside of yams, careful to leave the skin intact and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Then mix in 1-2 tablespoons (or more if you like) BBQ sauce in with each yam. Divide the chicken and seasoned black beans among the yams and add a few more tablespoons of BBQ Sauce over top. Top with cheese if using. Return these to back to the oven and bake 10-15 more minutes ( until beans are heated through) and cheese is melty.
- Garnish with avocado slices, scallions and cilantro.
Notes
If making these the same, feel free to mix the bbq sauce with the black beans and chicken, before stuffing.
These can be stuffed ahead and reheated- will keep 3 days in the fridge.
Nutritional value based on vegan version ( no chicken, no cheese, with an avocado).
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 16.4 g
- Sodium: 861.5 mg
- Fat: 0.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 63.4 g
- Fiber: 12.3 g
- Protein: 9.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I made these today and they were great! I made them vegan style with store bought bbq sauce for a quick lunch. My husband who is very picky really enjoyed them as well.
Oh perfect CJ!
These were great! A wonderful mix of flavors. I used spicy BBQ sauce from a bottle. Heated up the sweet potatoes in the microwave for 2 min. before baking to hurry the time along; finished in the oven. Mixed black beans and rotesserie chicken left overs with scraps of cheese bits. No food waste here! Thank you.
So tasty. Just used Trader Joes BBQ Sauce.
Everyone loved these!
Hi looks amazing but can you suggest any other alternatives for the bbq sauce? where i live we dont get half the ingredients for the sauce and i dont want to buy something from the store?
I loved these for a fast dinner! I had no BBQ sauce so spiced my beans with onion, cumin, ground chili powder, cilantro stems and some chilis in adobo (just open the can and grind it all up in a mini blender for an instant smoky spicy salsa–freezes beautifully) and some cherry tomatoes for a bit of depth. Mash some of the beans (adding a bit of water or stock) to make it creamy. Loved the black bean -sweet potato combo with a nice cheddar. A good squeeze of lime on the avocado and it was perfect, though next time I think I will mash it coarsely so it’s easier to eat. Yummy–thanks
Sounds tasty Bri! Thanks for circling back and sharing your adaptations. Helpful. 🙂
These stuffed sweet potatoes sound so amazing, what an incredible idea, I love that they are so versatile to accommodate different diets, my household needs this! thank you for the recipe and inspiration 🙂
You are welcome!
I love this! Easy to throw together on a busy weeknight! Thanks for sharing!