A Little Recipe… Inspired by Mexico: Simple Sweet Potato Tacos

Last updated on May 15, 2023

Fusion foods are the new “it” thing in my life. A travel purist approach would be to make recipes of my favorite dishes from actually traveling in each place this last decade+ on the road. And sometimes that’s the case, but there are other times when the fusion of flavors I love from other places need to meet my current cravings.

Gaining Recipe Inspiration by Living in Mexico

In all honesty, if you take a sifter to the various reasons I found myself completely unable to gather the will to cook true Mexican, left in your sifter is this fact: For the love of all things tasty, please no more cheese.

That’s a phrase I never thought would utter from my lips because I whine so much about the lack of cheese when I travel and live in Asia. But—and it’s a big but—the default food for a vegetarian in Mexico is a cheese quesadilla. If you’re lucky, the taco stand has a toppings bar with salsas and beans. And if the food gods have seen fit to shine their light down upon you, your quesadilla might come out with mushrooms too, as a little extra umph. But at the end of the day, it’s really just cheese and tortilla. And while my many, any quesadillas there did inspire my tasty black bean quesadilla recipe, sometimes you need a change.

There are other Mexican dishes happily made vegetarian if you’re in the right spot, especially in the big cities like Mexico City and even nearby Puerto Vallarta. In a small town however, it’s a rather limited choice of restaurants. Compounding the issue, in my last weeks living in San Pancho, Mexico the entire town seemingly evacuated, expats and Mexicans alike. High season on the coast is November through April—the weather is dry and cool and the small towns dotting the coastline near Puerto Vallarta hum with activity. All the restaurants are open and Mexican families drive to the coast for days and weeks at a time to sell their foods and handicrafts to the tourists. The lure is this: Throughout high season, the town retains its Cheers-like setting “where everybody knows your name.”

Things change abruptly come May. I waxed poetic about the slow, friendly pace of life in my little town, but by the beginning of off-season in small-town Mexico, tumbleweed drifts lethargic down the streets like an under-budget Western.

Restaurants shutter their windows for the summer, and though everyone still knew my name, this vegetarian traveler found herself facing the choice between yet another quesadilla, or instead trying out fusion dishes that would bring together flavors from the vegetable market, the ever-present cans of frijoles negros, and the Mexican staples I already had on my shelves.

And thus you have this weeks recipe inspired by Mexico, but not something you’re likely to find while traveling there (but easy enough to cook in a hostel or Airbnb kitchen).

Simple Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

After Pinteresting for ideas and looking at the Mexican staples in my kitchen, I decided to combine the sweet potato and black bean as a way to add healthy elements to the dish since the Mexican vegetarian tacos are often boring.

I also had some gorgeous blue tortillas left over, so I used those.  This dish made a quick dinner and took about 20 minutes to prepare start to finish. Plus, it all cooks in one pan. Of note is that when I made leftovers the next day, I paired it with my guacamole recipe (which became a Pinterest sensation) and it gave the leftovers a nice oomph.

Ingredients

• 1 stack of tortillas
• 2 medium sweet potatoes (scrubbed and cubed small)
• 1/2 can whole black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 red or white onion (diced)
• 1 large clove of garlic (minced)
• 1 tsp seasoning (cumin or chili)
• olive oil (butter works)
• Finish with: sour cream,  parsley, sliced lime, spicy pico de gallo, avocado (or guacamole).

Directions

1. Sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil or butter for roughly five minutes on medium heat—until the onions go opaque and fragrant.
2. Add to the pan the sweet potatoes and seasoning, as well as several tbsp of water, and cover. Cook the sweet potatoes over medium heat until they are tender when poked with a fork.
3. Add black beans to the pan, stirring until they’re warm.
4. Heat tortillas in a skillet or warm them in an oven, then assemble, and add toppings to taste.
5. Serve with a lime slice.

Additional Recipe Prep Tips

• Make the recipe vegan by skipping the butter—just use olive oil to for the onions.
• Add a garlic kick to the tortillas—use half a garlic clove and give each tortilla a good rub on one side before toasting/warming—this really works and will make them very garlicky!
• Try my favorite guacamole recipe—there are two options, both tweaked and honed over time from many, many months traveling around Mexico.
• Use the other half of your can of beans with this easy vegetarian Black Bean & Pepper Mexican Quesadilla Recipe.

***

This is a simple one that’s easy to double for bigger families, or make as a solo traveler in a guesthouse (I made it again in Costa Rica while waiting for my dad and Ana to arrive!).