Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

September 1, 2025 /

I was motivated by Birchie’s visit with Nicole to try to duplicate some enchiladas tacos that they had for dinner one night. So I sent Nicole an email and asked her for her recipe, and she kindly got back to me, but by the time I got her email I had already made them. I had also sent Birchie a text, and she got back to me with some tips as well. Turns out my recipe was pretty close to Nicole’s, but she spiced her black beans and I spiced my sweet potatoes. I keep my recipes on my blog mostly for me, but also, you should know how to make this delicious meal. And can I tell you a secret? I don’t really like sweet potatoes most of the time, but these were savory and spiced well enough that I really liked it. Delicious. OK, here’s my recipe.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

Ingredients

  • 2 large sweet potatoes. This will be too much unless there are a lot of you, but I wanted extra. Will report back on why soon.
  • 1 orange, red, or yellow bell pepper. Not green. Why would you even eat a green bell pepper? Life needs joy, not sorrow.
  • Olive Oil
  • Chili Powder
  • Smoked paprika
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 can seasoned black beans (or you could season your own – Nicole suggests lime juice, cumin, coriander, chili powder, garlic powder, and dehydrated onion flakes – to taste)
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa
  • Tortillas
  • Your favorite cheese to eat with tacos, perhaps optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Dice the bell pepper. Toss the pepper and the sweet potato on a baking sheet, then season with salt, pepper, chili powder, and smoked paprika. Next time I may add some cumin and coriander, but I did not this time. Roast until they are the right consistency to eat in a taco. (How’s that for useful? I didn’t look at the clock, so I don’t know how long it was. 15 minutes? 20?)

Meanwhile, heat your beans on the stove, make your guacamole and salsa, and warm your tortillas. Put them all together however you like and enjoy!

Notes:

  1. Maya wanted cheese with hers. I had two tacos, and I tried one with cheese and one without, and I couldn’t tell the difference so clearly I didn’t use enough. Verdict out on whether that is a good addition or not.
  2. I made my own guacamole, and I’ll be posting a recipe for that too. Maybe I’ve posted it in the past, but I’ll tell you, I can’t find it because it’s buried in a blog post that does not have ‘guacamole’ in the title. I need it to be in the title so I can find it easily.
  3. I purchased my salsa, because we live in California and my store has really good salsa. I believe Nicole made her own, which I am positive is even better. You do you.

18 Comments

  • Birchie

    September 1, 2025 at 5:19 am

    This is good food! I made a batch of these based on what I saw/how I do things which was: one peeled diced sweet potato sprayed with a little oil and seasoned salt in the airfryer for 20 minutes at 390 followed by a can of black beans and a diced orange bell pepper also with the oil/seasoned salt treatment in the airfryer for maybe 10 minutes (until everything got a good roast on it). My guac is a smashed avocado with onion powder and salt. I didn’t use any cheese, but of course added a good helping of Pace hot salsa.

    Anyway, it’s a very simple, delicous, healthy, low effort, and elegant meal that makes a ton of leftovers so everyone reading this needs to make a batch ASAP.

    • J

      September 1, 2025 at 7:34 am

      We don’t have an air fryer, so I couldn’t copy you there, but maybe other readers will, and they can avoid heating up their kitchen by not turning on the oven!

  • nance

    September 1, 2025 at 6:24 am

    This sounds so delicious, and I adore sweet potatoes. I usually make them as part of a chicken sheet pan meal and season both with either garam masala or Chinese five spice.

    I have to agree with you emphatically about green peppers. They don’t agree with me, and I don’t agree with them.

    • J

      September 1, 2025 at 7:36 am

      I don’t generally keep Chinese five spice around, but we do always have garam masala. That sounds delicious.

      And yes, why are green bell peppers so yucky? Because they’re not ripe, I think.

  • Margaret

    September 1, 2025 at 8:19 am

    Yum! My daughter makes something similar and adds feta. Or goat cheese? Either way, they are delicious! She also makes Korean tacos which I love. The cooking gene skipped a generation in my family. 🙂

  • Allison McCaskill

    September 1, 2025 at 12:13 pm

    I used to think I didn’t like sweet potatoes because I was thinking them as instead of regular potatoes. I still don’t like them mashed, but I love them cubed and spices and roasted. I’ve tried making extra but then the texture icks me out, but now that I could air-fry the leftovers I should try again. I love sweet potatoes and black beans together.

    • J

      September 1, 2025 at 5:52 pm

      I like them mashed as long as they have butter and chives, which somehow makes them taste more savory. Also, there are some kinds that I like more than others, they are less sweet.

  • M

    September 2, 2025 at 11:18 am

    Thanks for posting this! It sounds delicious! I just added sweet potatoes to my list; I have all the other ingredients at home. I’m trying to eat more beans, black beans specially, and this sounds like a great way to consume more of it!

    • J

      September 2, 2025 at 4:02 pm

      Oh, I hope you like it! If you have quinoa, you can make a bowl out of it as well. That’s tomorrow’s recipe (I’m on a recipe kick this week).