Easy Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls

I have a complicated relationship with eating healthy. Infatuated with flavor and relentless in my pursuit of yum, I find it hard to incorporate whole wheat when the blank-canvas flavor of white flour is generally superior in a recipe. Why hold back on oil (or better yet, butter), when fat turns food crisp, golden brown, and satisfying? And salt is not scary to me — it’s pure magic dust. So healthy eating, for me, can’t feel like a sacrifice. It has to include texture, color, richness, and aroma. To put it simply: It has to taste good. Full of well-seasoned vegetables and covered in spicy, creamy, and crunchy toppings, this Easy Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowl — or some variation of it, it’s customizable! — is what a nutritious, wholesome meal looks like to me. The health benefit is just a bonus: Its true star, just like anything else I want to eat, lies in taste.

The only problem with “bowl” recipes is that they require a lot of different ingredients in order to make them filling, exciting, and flavorful. Here, I reused as many ingredients as possible to cut down on your cooking time… and your shopping list. There’s lime in the rice, the avocado, and the crema topping, for example, and I kept the seasonings super simple to avoid frequent trips to the spice cabinet. If the ingredients list is still too long for your liking, feel free to ditch any elements that you’re not excited about. If cilantro doesn’t get you jazzed to cook, skip it. If crunchy bell pepper sounds boring, leave it out. The only essentials here are the rice, the roasted sweet potatoes (feel free to swap them out for a different roasted veg), and at least one topping. Take that formula, and some inspiration from the recipe below, and build a dinner that’s not only healthy but also unequivocally delicious. Just as it should be.

Let’s make Easy Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls

this recipe

Heat oven to 425℉. To a large sheet pan (lined with parchment if you’d like, but it’s not necessary), add sweet potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, season with about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon chili powder. Toss to coat.

Roast, tossing sweet potatoes halfway through, until tender and lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.

Cook the rice and season it with lime zest. Pour lime juice over the avocados and season with salt. Set aside for serving.

Make the chili-lime crema: To a small bowl, add the sour cream. Stir in the remaining lime juice, remaining ½ teaspoon of chili powder, a few dashes of hot sauce, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside for serving.

Serve rice in bowls topped with a scoop of sweet potatoes, black beans, bell peppers, avocado, and a drizzle of crema, plus additional toppings as desired.

More healthy weeknight dinner recipes

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10-Minute Baked Sheet Pan Fish

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Print Recipe

Easy Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls

(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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Dinner – American; Mexican

By Samantha – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes – Cooking Time: 30 minutes – Total Time: 45 minutes

Full of vegetables and covered in toppings, these vegetarian bowls make a healthy, delicious weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

• 4 small sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs), chopped into 1-inch pieces
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 tsp chili powder, divided
• 2 cups short grain white or brown rice
• 2 limes, zest of one and juice of two, divided (about 2 tsp zest and ¼ cup juice)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
• 2 avocados, diced
• ½ cup sour cream
• Hot sauce, to taste
• 1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• Additional topping suggestions (optional): pickled jalapeño, queso fresco or feta cheese, roasted pepitas

Instructions

1

Heat oven to 425℉. To a large sheet pan (lined with parchment if you'd like, but it's not necessary), add sweet potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, season with about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon chili powder. Toss to coat. Roast, tossing sweet potatoes halfway through, until tender and lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.

2

Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package directions, adding a big pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot while the rice is cooking. Once the rice is done, stir in all of the lime zest and cilantro. Taste and add more salt if needed.

3

Pour half of the lime juice over the avocados and season with a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside for serving.

4

Make the chili-lime crema: To a small bowl, add the sour cream. Stir in the remaining lime juice, remaining ½ teaspoon of chili powder, a few dashes of hot sauce, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust seasonings. Set aside for serving.

5

Serve rice in bowls topped with a scoop of sweet potatoes, black beans, bell peppers, avocado, and a drizzle of crema, plus additional toppings as desired.