This sweet potato taco bowl is great because it's not only affordable, but filled with healthy ingredients, and really really delicious!
This yummy taco bowl is full of color - roasted sweet potato, corn, tomatoes, black beans, and parsley - all on a bed of brown rice.
A recipe that's great to serve for lunch or dinner!
Easy, Affordable, Healthy Meal
One big goal for my family is to incorporate a lot more meatless meals into our weekly routine. Let's be honest, good quality meat is expensive!
So to be able to eat less of it is nice for the budget. Plus, I love the idea of creating affordable dishes full of grains and colorful vegetables.
- It's a budget-friendly recipe that's full of beautiful colors.
- Although it might feel complicated, it's actually super simple to make. Use canned corn and beans, a rice cooker, and roast the sweet potato.
- Ingredients can easily be swapped for others that you already have in the fridge.
- The avocado dressing is creamy and so simple. It's made the same way you would make a smoothie.
If you're planning on making this sweet potato taco bowl for dinner, it's important to do a little prep in advance with your sweet potato, and possibly the rice. This eases the workload come dinner time.
Recipe Ingredients
SWEET POTATO: Grab a large sweet potato from the grocery store. Feel free to make extra for this recipe as the sweet potato will naturally shrink while baking.
RICE: A bed of rice is the base of this recipe. Brown rice, white rice or instant rice will work. The rice can be cooked on the stove, or in a rice cooker.
ADDITIONS: This bowl uses a combination of color ingredients including black beans, tomatoes, corn, and parsley (or cilantro).
DRESSING: This taco bowl needs a creamy dressing made from ripe avocado, water and taco seasonings.
How To Make A Sweet Potato Taco Bowl
This colorful bowl requires a few different steps to prepare. It's the perfect healthy dinner!
- Soak chopped sweet potato in water to release starch. Pat dry thoroughly, toss with spices then bake.
- Cook the rice on the stove or in a rice cooker. Mix rice with fresh lime juice and parsley.
- Blend avocado dressing according to the full recipe instructions below.
- Assemble rice, sweet potato, corn, black beans and tomatoes in a bowl. Drizzle avocado dressing overtop, serve and enjoy!
The avocado dressing is really simple to make! It's a little different from the version I created for my 6 simple salad dressing recipes post - but just as tasty!
In this version, you'll be using the leftovers from the spice mix you prepared for the sweet potatoes, a ripe avocado, and a little bit of water all mixed in a blender. And voila! A delicious, healthy dressing.
Recipe Tips
- You'll need to soak the sweet potato first before you start baking them. This will help to release the starch which is the key to getting those crispy potatoes that we all love. They'll need to soak for at least an hour, so it might be easy to do this step earlier in the day when you've got a bit of extra time.
- Once the sweet potato has had time to soak, dry them thoroughly with a clean tea towel. The more moisture you remove, the better. This will help with the crispiness.
- It's easy to batch prep and make extra sweet potatoes for leftover lunches.
- These bowls can be assembled as mason jar salads for an easy meal prep idea.
- The taco seasoning mix and salad dressing can be substituted with store-bought versions to save time.
More Recipes
- Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet is our most popular dinner recipe!
- Sheet Pan Sweet Potato Omelette is the perfect way to cook eggs to feed a crowd.
- Sweet Potato Kale Salad also uses an avocado dressing.
- Ground Beef Sweet Potato Skillet is an easy, all-in-one dinner, perfect for busy weeknights.
Did you love this sweet potato recipe? Be sure to leave a rating below!
Ingredients
- 3 cups sweet potatoes - peeled and chopped
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 1 ½ cups black beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 cup canned corn - or frozen
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes - sliced in half
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley - or cilantro
Dressing:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 cup water
Spice Mix:
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
Sweet Potato Prep:
- Wash, peel and chop the 3 cups of sweet potatoes into small cubes.
- Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for 1 hour to release starch. Drain and dry thoroughly with a towel.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the taco spice mix: ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon dried parsley, ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Toss together.
- Add 3 cups chopped sweet potatoes to a bowl along with 1 ½ tsp of the taco spice mix (save the rest for the dressing). Toss everything together.
- Spread the seasoned sweet potatoes on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through. Bake until the sides are golden brown and become crispy.
Cook The Rice:
- While the sweet potato is baking in the oven, cook the rice according to package instructions on stove or in a rice cooker.
- Add 3 cups of cooked rice to a bowl, toss with ¼ cup lime juice and ¼ cup chopped parsley.
Prep The Salad Bowls:
- Add 1 or 1½ cups cooked rice to serving bowls. Arrange with ½ cup sweet potatoes, ¼ cup black beans, ¼ cup tomatoes, ¼ cup corn on top of rice. Sprinkle more fresh parsley and lime wedges if desired.
Make The Dressing:
- Add 1 ripe avocado, 1 cup water and the rest of the taco spice mix to a blender. Blend for a few seconds until smooth and creamy.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the avocado dressing over top of the salad bowls. Squeeze with extra lime juice (optional) and season with salt and pepper (also optional). Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
- Soaking sweet potatoes in cold water helps them to release the starch. This is key to getting crispy potatoes. These need to soak for at least an hour.
- Once the sweet potato has had time to soak, dry them thoroughly with a clean tea towel. The more moisture you remove, the better. This will help with the crispiness.
Nutrition Info
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving.
