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Made with roasted sweet potatoes, spicy black beans, tomatillo salsa, avocado, Greek yogurt, and feta cheese, this vegetarian taco sweet potato recipe makes an easy weeknight meal!
What Inspired This Taco Sweet Potato Recipe?
Believe it or not, my inspiration for this taco sweet potato recipe came from an afternoon walk in Central London. Passing by a supermarket, I noticed a window poster featuring a sweet potato piled high with toppings. Not far from that I spotted another poster with picture of a delicious-looking taco. In that moment, I had an idea: Why not put the two together?
I’m a big fan of baked sweet potatoes, and since moving to the UK (where good Mexican food options—and ingredients—are extremely few and far between) I’ve also been cooking more Mexican-inspired dishes at home. These sweet potato tacos include some of my favorite traditional taco fixings, like avocados, green salsa, and feta cheese.
Since I’m also a longtime vegetarian, I decided to make this a meatless taco recipe, substituting black beans for the typical beef or chicken. (This is an easy recipe to make dairy-free and vegan. Just swap the feta for a vegan cheese, and opt for soy yogurt instead of the sour cream).
This sweet potato recipe begins by coating the potatoes in oil and sea salt, wrapping them in foil, and baking in the oven until tender. From there, it’s all about the assembly. Piled with feta cheese, salsa, Greek yogurt, diced avocado, spicy black beans, and a quick squeeze of lime juice, these taco sweet potatoes make for a an easy, healthy, veggie-friendly weeknight meal.
Ingredients for Making Vegetarian Sweet Potato Tacos
To make taco sweet potatoes, begin by gathering the following:
-
- Sweet potatoes – Wash and dried, with any hard ends or small brown spots removed.
- Olive oil – For coating the potatoes and cooking the black beans.
- Coarse sea salt – For seasoning the sweet potatoes. It must be the coarse kind—instead of creating a crunchy texture, fine sea salt will simply disappear.)
- Black beans – Use canned beans for this recipe, and do not drain them—you’ll need the juices, too.
- Garlic – Just one clove to season the beans. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder—add it to the beans along with the other spices.
- Mild chili powder – You want the chili powder blend sold in US/UK supermarket spice aisles (the kind used for making chili) rather than the Indian chili powder, which is pure ground cayenne.
- Ground cumin – I used 1/2 teaspoon, but can add more if you love a strong cumin flavor.

- Feta cheese – Or another cheese you enjoy, like Queso Fresco or Cotija. You can also use vegan cheese, or omit it for dairy-free sweet potato tacos.
- Avocado – A ripe, diced avocado adds a creamy note. If desired, you can use guacamole instead.
- Greek yogurt – Or sour cream, or crema. (Omit if vegan, or replace with unflavored soy yogurt.)
- Green salsa – Such as tomatillo salsa, or salsa verde, or another salsa of your choice.
- Chopped coriander – A.k.a. cilantro, to garnish. You can replace it with sliced green onions if you hate cilantro.
- Chili flakes – Or chipotle chili flakes, for a touch of heat.
- Lime wedges – These are optional, but a squeeze of fresh lime juice introduces a lovely citrus contrast.
- Other toppings – Such as tomatoes, corn, or pickled onions, as desired. See my notes below.
How to Make a Taco Sweet Potato
These vegetarian sweet potatoes might look impressive, but they’re actually super easy to make. Most of the time is spent baking the potatoes—the black beans, toppings, and assembly come together in just fifteen minutes or so.
While the potatoes bake, prepare the spicy black beans by sautéeing olive oil, garlic, canned black beans (and their juices), ground cumin, and chili powder. Dice the avocado, chop the cilantro, and crumble the feta. (If you’re using additional toppings like tomatoes or onions, be sure to prep these, too.)
After baking the sweet potatoes, unwrap, slice lengthwise, and pile high with toppings. I’ve used tomatillo salsa, avocado, feta cheese, and yogurt, but you can customize the toppings to suit your taste. I’ve included some suggestions below.
You can also double, triple, or quadruple this vegetarian sweet potato recipe. Just bake one sweet potato per person, and adjust the topping quantities appropriately. A potato “taco bar” would be a fun idea for serving a crowd!
Baking the Potatoes
While there are multiple approaches to making baked potatoes, the method below is my go-to. (I use it for sweet potatoes as well as regular white potatoes.) The insides turn out perfectly soft and tender, with a salty, delicious skin.
To prepare the sweet potatoes, start by using your hands to rub each potato skin in olive oil. (You can also use coconut oil, vegetable oil, or any other oil you’d like.) Sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt, then wrap in foil and place on a small tray. Bake for an hour or so (or until the potatoes are fork-tender), then peel away the foil, garnish, and serve.

One quick piece of advice, though. Do not skip the tray! While I’ll sometimes bake foil-wrapped white potatoes directly on the oven rack, for sweet potatoes this is not a good idea. Because of their higher sugar content, sweet potatoes often leak sweet, sugary juices as they bake. The tray is there to catch any drips—if you go trayless, you might find yourself with a sticky mess to clean up…and scrubbing the oven is no fun at all.
Topping Ideas for Vegetarian Sweet Potato Tacos:
I’ve suggested some of my favorite toppings, but feel free to put your own spin on things, substituting or adding ingredients to fit your taste preferences, or simply to use ingredients you already have on hand. Some ideas include:
- Fresh or pickled jalapeño peppers
- Diced tomatoes
- Hot sauce or Sriracha
- Shredded or pickled cabbage
- Guacamole
- Pickled radishes or red onions
- Other types of cheese (Cotija, Queso Fresco)
- Yellow corn

Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
Aside from baking the sweet potatoes (which will take an hour or so, depending on the size of the potatoes you’ve chosen) this recipe comes together in a few minutes. However, you can prepare the black beans up to 24 hours in advance and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to assemble your potato tacos.
If using additional toppings (diced tomatoes, chopped peppers or onions, etc.) you can also prepare these ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to use.
Other vegetarian recipes you might enjoy:
Vegetarian Chicken Noodle Soup
Buffalo Cauliflower Pizza
Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
Lattice Pastry with Cheese and Caramelized Onions
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!

Taco Sweet Potato Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 taco sweet potatoes 1x
Description
Made with baked sweet potatoes, black beans, tomatillo salsa, avocado, Greek yogurt, and feta cheese, this taco sweet potato recipe makes an easy weeknight meal!
Ingredients
Sweet potatoes:
2 sweet potatoes, washed and dried
2 teaspoons olive oil
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Black beans:
2 teaspoons olive oil
250 grams canned black beans, not drained (1 cup)
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely minced
1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Assembly:
45 grams feta cheese, crumbled (1/3 cup)
1/2 avocado, diced
60 grams sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (1/4 cup)
90 grams tomatillo salsa (1/3 cup)
Chopped coriander/cilantro, to garnish
Chili flakes, for sprinkling (optional)
Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425° F / 220° C.
With your fingertips, rub the sweet potatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Wrap in foil.
Place foil-wrapped potatoes on a quarter sheet baking tray. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or or until fork-tender.
When sweet potatoes are almost done, prepare the black beans.
Black beans:
Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the minced garlic for 1-2 minutes.
Stir in the black beans and their liquid, along with the spices. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until thickened.
Transfer to a bowl.
Assembly:
Unwrap the sweet potatoes. (Be careful, they’re hot!)
Transfer to a separate serving plate or bowl. With a sharp knife, slice each potato lengthwise.
Top with the black beans, salsa, feta cheese, avocado, and sour cream, dividing the toppings evenly between the two potatoes. Garnish with coriander and chili flakes. Serve with lime wedges on the side.
.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Assembly Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Savory
- Method: Oven + Stovetop
[…] These taco sweet potatoes offer a fun twist on traditional tacos. The sweet potatoes create a filling base for your favorite toppings. […]