Sweet Potato Taco
If you have taco seasoning and toppings in your kitchen, you can turn almost anything into a “taco.” Whether you make an actual handheld taco, a taco bowl, or simply anything that just tastes like one, I think you can’t go wrong! Taco bowls are always easy and delicious, you make your taco meat and serve it over rice or lettuce then load on the toppings. I was aiming for something healthy for a Taco Tuesday dinner and ended up with something like this. I used ground turkey breast since it’s high in protein and super lean. I thought I was going to serve it all over a salad for my typical taco salad bowl, but then when I realized I have sweet potatoes to use, I figured I could use those as the bowl instead. The sweetness in the sweet potatoes was such a delicious compliment to the spicy flavors I had in my taco ingredients. I will definitely be using sweet potatoes for the bowl more often!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey breast
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 shallot, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
water
4 sweet potatoes, cleaned with skin on
Optional toppings: fresh cilantro, queso fresco or other crumbed or shredded cheese, fresh jalapeno slices, fresh lime
Instructions:
Start cooking your sweet potatoes (if not already cooked).
Option one: Pressure Cook- place 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot, then add the potatoes to the Instant Pot. Pressure cook according to times below.
small sweet potato: 15 minutes + 10 minute natural release
medium sweet potato: 30 minutes + 10 minute natural release
large sweet potato: 60 minutes + 10 minute natural release
Option two: Oven
Preheat the oven to 450. Pierce the potatoes with a fork to create some poked holes throughout it. Wrap each potato with foil. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until soft and tender. Set aside.
To prepare your turkey filling: heat a medium pan over medium, add olive oil, shallot and jalapeno. Stir and saute until soft, about 1 minute or 2. Then add the ground turkey breast, garlic and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning, then use a wooden spoon to break up the meat as it cooks.
Once the meat is no longer pink, add the beans and tomatoes, season with 1 more tablespoon of the taco seasoning. Stir to combine, then fill the can the tomatoes were in halfway with water. Pour over the meat mixture, stir to combine. Raise heat a little if needed, you want to get it to a light bubble or soft boil. Once it reaches the soft boil, lower the heat and let simmer for about 15-20 stirring occasionally as the mixture thickens. Once it reaches desired thickness, remove from the heat and keep warm until you are ready to fill the sweet potatoes.
To assemble: cut a sweet potato in half lengthwise, then open up as if you would any baked potato. Mash or cut up a little of the inside to loosen it up then top with a couple spoonfuls of the turkey taco mixture. Then top with your toppings. I love using plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. Queso fresco is a great crumbling Mexican cheese. Fresh lime, cilantro and jalapeno add terrific crunch, texture and flavors.
We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade