Sweet Potato Quesadillas: Recipe and Cooking Tips
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: May 24, 2022 • 3 min read
Elevate your Mexican cuisine game with this roasted sweet potato quesadilla recipe, which will be a hit among meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.
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What Are Sweet Potato Quesadillas?
A sweet potato quesadilla is an appetizer or main course consisting of melty cheese and a savory sweet potato folded between two flour tortillas. This meatless take on a quesadilla also features spicy black beans, but mildly flavored bean varieties are also common additions to the dish. Home chefs can customize the recipe with various roasted veggies, cheese blends, and salsas.
In Mexican cuisine, quesadillas are part of the vast family of foods known as antojitos (“little cravings”), which are small, savory bites commonly served as appetizers (other examples include tacos dorados and tostadas) or late-night drinking snacks. In Mexico City, the word
“quesadilla” is a catchall used to describe almost anything involving a tortilla.
5 Tips for Making Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Follow these tips for making the best sweet potato quesadillas possible:
- 1. Make vegan quesadillas. Adapt this satisfying vegetarian dish to omit animal products entirely. For a completely vegan dish, swap the dairy cheese for vegan cheese and use vegan sour cream for dipping.
- 2. Adjust the fillings. Fill versatile sweet potato quesadillas with your favorite veggies, beans, cheeses, and spices. Add additional roasted vegetables like peppers, onions, summer squash, and tomatoes. Incorporate refried beans or pinto beans for extra protein. Change up the cheese with shredded pepper jack, Monterey Jack, cheddar, or queso Oaxaca.
- 3. Experiment with toppings. Jazz up this meat-free main dish with various toppings like shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, pickled jalapeño peppers, sour cream, guacamole, and cotija cheese.
- 4. Change up the tortillas. Swap the whole-wheat tortillas for gluten-free corn tortillas or standard flour tortillas. Note that using corn tortillas will produce smaller quesadillas.
- 5. Store in an airtight container. Leftover quesadillas will keep well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. For the best results, store your leftover quesadilla filling separately from the cheese and tortillas, and assemble the dish when you’re ready to eat it. For long-term storage, your leftover filling will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Homemade Sweet Potato Quesadilla Recipe
makes
prep time
15 mintotal time
1 hr 15 mincook time
1 hrIngredients
For the filling:
For assembly:
Make the filling:
- 1
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- 2
Slice your sweet potatoes into ¼-inch pieces and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.
- 3
Drizzle 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over the sweet potatoes and stir to coat. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper to taste.
- 4
Transfer the baking sheet to the preheated oven and roast the potatoes until they are fork-tender, about 30–40 minutes.
- 5
When the sweet potatoes are almost done roasting, warm the remaining tablespoon of avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- 6
Add the diced onion, green bell pepper, and jalapeño pepper to the pan and cook until the onion is soft and semi-translucent, about 4–5 minutes.
- 7
Add the minced garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- 8
Add the chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, and black beans to the pan and stir to coat. Remove the pan from the heat.
- 9
Add the roasted sweet potatoes to the black bean mixture and stir to incorporate.
Assemble the quesadillas:
- 1
Place one tortilla in a large frying pan over medium heat and top it with a ¼ of the sweet potato filling and a ¼ of the shredded cheese.
- 2
Place another tortilla on top of the filling. Using a spatula, lightly press down on the top tortilla and cook for 3 minutes. Carefully flip the quesadilla over, and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Transfer the cooked quesadilla to a cutting board or plate, and repeat this process with the remaining ingredients.
- 3
Slice each quesadilla into 4–6 slices and serve immediately with pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole.
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