Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Easy Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato takes advantage of leftovers for a delicious meal that costs next to nothing. With only 5 ingredients, it's satisfying, helps prevent food waste, and requires little effort.

About Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato

Creatively using your leftovers is one of the best methods for cutting food costs, but leftovers don't have to be boring. Hooray!

Leftovers can be delicious while saving you money, time, and effort. Take this Easy Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato recipe for example.

Their name may be long but their ingredients list is not. They require only 5 ingredients - 4 if you skip the cheese - and take serious advantage of leftovers (like baked sweet potatoes and cooked chicken, turkey, or ground beef).

To save time and effort, I like to cook extra chicken, turkey, or ground beef to freeze for another time. It means I can buy the protein in bulk (which is usually more budget-friendly), plus I am already putting in the effort to cook. So why not save my future self the trouble later?

Cooking extra whenever I'm in the kitchen is one of my favorite ways to save time, energy, and money.

Cooking chicken? Make extra and freeze it.

Baking potatoes? Throw in a few extra to make these Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes or twice-baked potatoes.

The other ingredients are pantry/fridge staples for me: salsa, beans, and cheese. And those don't require much work to use.

All in all, I love how easy this is to throw together. And I love that it's served in its own cute little potato package.

But you know what's even more adorable than the way these look? Their price per serving is $1.61. That's two potato halves, basically a complete meal, for under $2!

Thank you Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potato for not only being delicious & nutritious but for also being kind to my wallet!

Ingredients

Sweet potatoes: I prefer to buy a bag of sweet potatoes instead of individual sweet potatoes because the potatoes are usually small-medium instead of very large. However, buying individual potatoes works well too. Additionally, you can use regular potatoes.

Chicken: These Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are great for using up cooked protein. I typically use chicken, but you can also use cooked turkey, ground beef, tofu crumbles, chopped veggie burger, or omit. They'd be great with leftover taco meat.

Black beans: Beans add more substance, protein, and fiber to your stuffed sweet potatoes. You can also use red beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), or white beans. If you aren't a fan of beans, you can skip them. For someone cautious of sodium intake, use no-salt-added beans or cook your own from dried without adding salt.

Salsa: Salsa is what ties the ingredients all together. Because salsa has so much flavor, there's no need for many seasonings. I usually use store-bought salsa, but homemade low sodium salsa also works well, especially if you want this recipe to have less sodium.

Cheese: Cheddar, mozzarella, feta, and Cotija cheese are all great options. Any kind of cheese you like will be delicious! I prefer to shred the cheese, but pre-shredded cheese works just fine. Technically, the cheese is optional.

How to Make Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Recipe Tips

After the sweet potatoes are cooked, you'll scoop a little bit of sweet potato out to make room for the stuffing. I prefer only scooping about 1 tablespoon of sweet potato per potato, and then I simply eat the excess sweet potato.

You can also stir the sweet potato into the salsa mixture if desired.

Variations

Ingredient Options

Potatoes: use regular potatoes if you want.

Chicken: cooked turkey (shredded or ground), ground beef, chopped veggie burger, or extra beans. You can also omit it entirely.

Beans: red, kidney, garbanzo (chickpeas), or white beans will all work instead of black beans.

Flavor Substitutions

Salsa: The flavor can be easily changed by using a different type of salsa. Salsa verde (green salsa) would be a great alternative with a slightly sweeter, tangier flavor.

Alternative Prep & Cooking

You can do this entirely in the microwave, and here's how:

1. Microwave each potato for 3-4 minutes on High to cook.
2. Stir together chicken, beans, and salsa. Microwave on High for 30 seconds.
3. Stuff the potatoes, and microwave for 1 minute on High.
4. Sprinkle with cheese and microwave on High for 30-60 seconds or until cheese is melted.

I find that this is best to do for serving one. Simply divide the measurements by 4 in the recipe card below for how much to use when only making one Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato.

How to Make Allergy-Friendly

The Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are already gluten-free, egg-free, and soy-free. To make dairy-free, simply use dairy-free cheese or omit the cheese. To make vegetarian, use a vegetarian meat substitute instead of chicken or extra beans.

How to Fix a Mistake

Too much filling: If you feel like you've made too much filling for the potatoes, you can scoop out additional sweet potatoes to make room. Or you can just really overstuff these potatoes. Honestly, the filling never quite stays inside the potato while you're eating it so it doesn't matter.

Make-Ahead Ideas

You can bake the potatoes in advance and keep them in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also shred the cheese in advance. Then stir together the mixture and bake when you are ready to eat.

Storage Suggestions

Keep these southwest stuffed sweet potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 weeks.

If freezing, tightly wrap each in parchment or foil then put in a ziptop bag. It's best if you wait to add the cheese until just before baking (instead of before freezing).

To reheat from the fridge:

• In the microwave: Place on a microwave-safe plate, and heat for 45 seconds at 100% power. Cut in half, rotate the potato, and microwave for another 30-45 seconds until warm.
• In the oven: Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 350F oven until warmed through about 8-15 minutes.

To reheat from the freezer:

• In the oven: Place on a baking sheet and bake in a 350F oven until warmed through about 20-35 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Benefits

One serving of a Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato provides 25 grams of protein, 11 grams of fiber, 490% RDA of Vitamin A, 33% RDA of Potassium, 31% RDA of calcium, 22% RDA of iron, and 11% RDA of Vitamin C.

These nutritious stuffed sweet potatoes are super filling and delicious; plus, they're full of vitamins and nutrients.

Thanks to the beans and sweet potatoes, you get almost half of the recommended amount of fiber in a day.

What to Serve with Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato

These are filling simply by themselves and are already pretty balanced. However, feel free to serve it with extra salsa, a side salad, sauteed green beans, or buffalo brussels sprouts. You can also top it with some chopped cilantro, parsley, or green onion.

These are a nutritious main dish or serve them as a side. You can omit the cooked chicken, and serve them with chicken thighs or steak.

Final thoughts:

This is one of my go-to "I'm too hungry to cook but I need something substantial and delicious. And I don't want to order takeout" recipes.

These Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are easy, nutritious, inexpensive, and oh-so-tasty. I love them!

MORE LEFTOVER RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE:

• Turkey Quinoa Soup
• Pork Fried Rice
• Leftover Thanksgiving Frittata
• Taco Salad
• BBQ Pork and Beans

This post was originally published on December 2, 2014. Text, recipe, and photos have been updated.

Meme

Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts

(using no salt added black beans and homemade low sodium salsa recipe)

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