Have you ever tried a Taco Sweet Potato? If not, then you are truly missing out on a fantastic dinner option! It’s absolutely delicious and full of flavor. I love the mild sweetness of the potato paired with the bold, flavorful meat. Top it with juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, fragrant salsa, and creamy avocado and you have a meal that is sure to become a favorite!
It’s naturally gluten-free and allergy-friendly so it’s perfect for just about everyone. If you prefer to make this meal meatless then you can sub in beans for the meat. Black beans or pinto beans – whichever you prefer.
Why You Should Make This Taco Sweet Potato
Easy Weeknight Meal
I don’t know about you but I need easy weeknight dinners! Cooking during the week can be so challenging between school pickup, soccer practice, and baseball games. And now my oldest son also wants to start piano lessons! I never have a whole hour on a weeknight to cook dinner. Those longer, more time-consuming recipes are banished to the weekends! And truthfully, I’m so tired on the weekends anyway that I often stick to easy meals then too.
One of the things I love about this taco sweet potato, other than being super tasty, is that it’s so easy and it’s pretty quick! It’s almost as easy as my Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken Tacos. It only takes 15 minutes to make the taco meat, and since most of that time the meat is just simmering, I can get all the toppings washed, cut, and ready.
The longest part of this recipe is the sweet potato. You can either cook the sweet potatoes in the oven, which takes about an hour, or you can cook them in the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot saves time but still requires about 40 minutes when you account for the time it takes the Instant Pot to pressurize.
I don’t always have the time to cook the sweet potatoes at dinner time. If this is the case then I just cook them earlier in the day! Cooking sweet potatoes isn’t hard and doesn’t require hardly any hands-on time. So, I can usually find a few minutes in the morning to put them in the Instant Pot or oven and let them do their thing while I clean up from breakfast, change laundry, or work. Then I just heat them up at dinner!
Dinner in 20 minutes. I love it.
Gluten-Free and Allergy-Friendly
As I mentioned above, this taco sweet potato recipe is gluten-free and allergy-friendly! This makes it perfect for those with food allergies, intolerances, and dietary restrictions.
This taco recipe uses sweet potatoes as the base, rather than flour tortillas that contain gluten. You could also put the filling in a corn tortilla rather than on top of a sweet potato if you rather and it would still be gluten-free! All of the other ingredients are also naturally gluten-free.
No dairy is found in this recipe either. However, if you can eat dairy you can top this sweet potato with cheese for a delicious addition! Dairy-free cheese shreds can also be used.
What You Need To Make This Taco Sweet Potato
Equipment Needed
You don’t need much to make this recipe! That’s another thing I love 🙂 Simple and easy AND only handful of kitchen tools. The fewer the tools, the fewer the dishes. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Large pan
- Metal spatula
- Measuring spoons
As far as recipes go, that’s virtually nothing. You won’t spend all night cleaning up the kitchen. My gift to you. You’re welcome.
Ingredients Needed
You’ll need a few more ingredients for this recipe than you will kitchen tools but you still won’t need much! And there’s nothing crazy in this taco sweet potato recipe so you most likely already have most of what you need. No need to hunt down any hard-to-find ingredients.
You’ll need:
- Cooked Sweet Potatoes
- Ground Meat: beef or turkey
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Minced Garlic
- Salsa
- Lime
- Spices: chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, and black pepper
You’ll also need your favorite taco toppings, but that’s all you need! I typically have all these on hand anyway. I love tacos so I keep my fridge and pantry stocked with all taco essentials!
While this recipe calls for lime you can use a lemon instead if that’s what you have. Or even bottled lemon juice or lime juice. However, I highly recommend fresh lime. There’s nothing quite fresh lime juice!
How To Make This Taco Sweet Potato Recipe
If you don’t have any cooked sweet potatoes already on hand then the first thing you’ll want to do is tart those sweet potatoes! This recipe is so quick once the sweet potatoes are cooked!
You’ll begin by sauteing the chopping onion and minced garlic in the oil over medium low heat. Let them cook for a minute or two until fragrant and then add in your ground meat. Use your metal spatula to break the meat up into small pieces. Let the meat cook, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked all the way through.
After the meat has finished cooking, drain the fat. Return the pan to the stove top and add in the lime juice, water, salsa, and spices. Stir it all together and simmer for about 5 minutes.
When your taco meat is done, spoon it over the sweet potato. Top with your favorite taco toppings.
Serving Options
Topping Choices
Any taco toppings are delicious on this taco sweet potato! Whatever you typically like to top you taco with will be a tasty addition to this potato. Here are some ideas:
- Shredded lettuce
- Tomato
- Dairy-free cheese shreds
- Vegan sour cream
- Avocado
- Onion
- Salsa
- Hot Sauce
- Corn
- Black beans or pinto beans
- Pico de gallo
Do you have a favorite taco topping that I am missing? If you do, I want to try it! Let me know what it is in the comments below.
Side Options
I like to serve this taco sweet potato with an easy, simple side. After all, this is supposed to be an easy dinner. Some great side dish options for this recipe are:
- Cucumber Avocado Salad
- Steamed green beans
- Steamed broccoli
- Green salad with vinaigrette
- Simple berry fruit salad
- Black or Pinto Beans
- Roasted Corn
You can follow the directions for roasting corn in my Roasted Sweet Potato and Corn Tacos recipe. It’s super simple but takes around 40 to 45 minutes. Or you can grill it which is also always delicious. I grew up in Iowa so, naturally, corn is one of my favorite foods -no matter how it’s cooked!
I typically serve this meal with steamed green beans – my go-to side. They’re super easy and healthy plus my kids love them!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Enoy!
Taco Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 5 cooked potatoes
- 1 lb ground meat , beef or turkey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsps chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¾ cup salsa
- 1 lime , juiced
- 2 tbsp water
Toppings, Optional
- Shredded lettuce
- Chopped tomatoes
- Onion
- Dairy-free cheese shreds
- Avocado
- Salsa
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add ground beef. Using a metal spatula, break the meat into small pieces. Cook over medium heat until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Drain any excess grease.
- Reduce heat to low. Add spices, salsa, lime juice, and water to the meat. Stir until combined. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from stove. Serve over sweet potatoes with your favorite taco toppings.
Did you make this recipe? If you did then I would love to see it! Share a picture on Instagram and tag me, Allergy a la Mode, and hashtag it #allergyalamode.
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