Bart's "Vegetarian" Sautéed Sweet Potato Soft Tacos (or Mini-Burritos)
WITH SAUTÉED BELL PEPPERS, BLACK BEANS, MEXICAN RICE & JALAPEÑO SAUCE
A Recipe From Bart's Cookbook 🕮 Who's Hungry? © 2024 by Bart Smith
RECIPE INTRODUCTION
If this doesn’t turn your home into a healthy Mexican restaurant, I don’t know what will! Just add chips and salsa, margaritas (optional) and this meal! SERIOUSLY! Whether you love soft or hard-shelled tacos or mini-burritos, THIS RECIPE is the BOMB!
What I discovered was the ULTIMATE INGREDIENT inside my tacos/burritos: SAUTÉED SWEET POTATOES! I’m not kidding. Wait ‘til you try this. Every time I make this dish for others they only have this to say to express how they taste ... "WOW, THESE ARE ULTRA DELISH & HEALTHY TOO!"
What's even more amazing about these soft tacos / mini-burritos is that they're vegetarian too! No meat and they taste heavenly! Wanna try one?
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
❑ LARGE DEEP FRYING PAN — This will be the main (large) frying pan you'll use to sauté your peppers/onions, warm up your rice and black beans in.
❑ MEDIUM - OR - LARGE FRYING PAN — Since you don't need that much sweet potato to fill your tacos/mini-burritos, I'll use a medium to large frying pan to sauté my sweet potatoes.
❑ CUTTING BOARD — I'll use this to slice up my sweet potato and other veggies.
❑ LARGE CUTTING KNIFE — I use this type of knife to slice up my sweet potatoes because I can use the palm of my hand on top to add weight to slicing what I need to slice. YEAH! Anything similar or one you're used to using, hey, go for it!
❑ SPATULA(S) — You could probably get away with using one, but if you wanted two you could use one each to turn the sweet potatoes around in the pan and another to work the salmon in the other pan. Up to you.
❑ COOKIE SHEET — I'll use a cookie sheet to warm up four (4) tortillas and melt the shredded cheese on top of those tortillas in the oven. Use two cookie sheets if you'd like to prepare more than four (4) at a time. It's okay to have two trays in the oven warming up eight (8) tortillas, for example.
INGREDIENTS
❑ Sweet Potato — Typically, one large whole sweet potato can serve 2-3 people. If it's a large sweet potato, you may only need half of it. Use half, save the other half for another day. Where I get my sweet potatoes, they're HUGE! Like football size, almost! So, experiment.
❑ Pecans — Crush, by hand, about 2/3 cup of crushed pecans to the sweet potato dish. I'll tell you when to add them below in the DIRECTIONS section.
❑ Bell Peppers — I like to use a variety of colors. Up to you. What's on hand?
❑ Mexican Shredded Cheese — Gotta have some shredded cheese on these tacos / burritos. Mmmm yum!!!
❑ Black Beans — Love black beans and all the vitamins, nutrients and minerals they supply us with.
❑ Spanish Rice — Optional, but I like to have Spanish rice inside my sweet potato burrito. You can make it or buy it at your grocery store if available.
❑ Grapeseed Oil — Love this oil. Helps sauté my salmon to perfection.
❑ Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Blend — May favorite, one-and-only, go-to seasoning for seasoning my salmon and black beans.
❑ Fresh Cravings® Restaurant Style Medium Salsa — As I eat my sweet potato burritos, I love to drop a teaspoon of salsa on top of the burrito opening where I'll take my next bite.
DIRECTIONS
Step by step directions for making my world famous sautéed sweet potato soft tacos -or- mini-burritos!
STEP #1
SLICE UP YOUR
SWEET POTATO
So, here's how I prepare my sweet potato so I can include it in with my soft taco -or- mini-burrito. As you can see, I only use HALF of a sweet potato.
So, to cut your sweet potato like I do, take a large knife, and with the palm of your hand on top of the knife, carefully slice the sweet potato in half and then keep slicing it in half and then slices like you see below.
★ 1.1 → Half a sweet potato is plenty for 2-3 people. So, cut it in half.
★ 1.2 → Then, cut the ends off and then cut that half piece in half to dine on.
★ 1.3 → Then, cut each half into slices that look like this above.
★ 1.4 → Then, slice all those pieces, together, and you'll have smaller pieces.
★ 1.5 → When you're done, here's what it all looks like. Good job!
STEP #2
SAUTÉ YOUR
SWEET POTATOES
★ 2.1 → Add 1/4 cup of grapeseed (or other) oil to a large frying pan.
★ 2.2 → Sprinkle some Dash Southwest Chipotle seasonings in the pan on the oil.
★ 2.3 → Turn the burner on MEDIUM to cook sweet potatoes slowly. We don't want to rush/burn them with the heat on high. Watch them too. Keep turning them over and around or they will burn.
★ 2.4 → Cover the pan with its lid to allow to steam and soften the sweet potatoes. You might add 3-4 tablespoons of water to generate a little steam if needed.
Add Dash seasonings and either grapeseed or even sesame oil to the pan you'll sauté your sweet potatoes.
Here's what it looks like when you add oil and Dash to the pan before adding the sweet potatoes.
Now, add sweet potato slices and mix it in with all the oil and Dash. Add more Dash if you like too.
Add your sweet potato slices to the pan with oil and Dash seasonings.
Again, mix them up together so the oil and seasonings are spread around.
Now, cover the pan so as the sweet potatoes cook, the steam softens the sweet potato too.
Every 2-3 minutes, check in your potatoes. Toss them around. Add oil or seasonings if needed.
After cooking for 7-10 minutes, it's time to add the pecans to the pan.
STEP #3
SLICE & SAUTÉ
BELL PEPPERS
★ 3.1 → Slice your bell peppers. All you need is about 5 slices per color. So, 4 colors x 5 slices = 20 total slices of bell peppers. IF you only have 1, 2 or 3 colors, do the math. You need about 5 slices of peppers per taco/burrito.
★ 3.2 → Once sliced, place on the large frying pan to one side with 3-4 tablespoons of grapeseed oil to sauté your peppers on MEDIUM HEAT for 5-8 minutes.
★ 3.3 → Stir peppers often so they don't burn.
Slice Your Peppers Into
4-5 Thin Slices Each Color
Place Pepper Slices On
1/3 Side In Frying Pan & Add
3-4 Tablespoons Of Oil
STEP #4
ADD CRUSHED PECANS
★ 4.1 → By hand, and 10 minutes after you started sautéing your sweet potatoes, add your crushed pecans, mix into the sweet potatoes and then cover the pan with lid.
★ 4.2 → Pecans don't need to be cooked. So, we add them in later, AFTER, the sweet potatoes have had time to cook and soften some.
STEP #5
WARM UP SPANISH RICE
★ 5.1 → If you have to prepare your rice before everything else, do so so you can warm it up alongside everything you're doing in the large frying pan.
★ 5.2 → If your rice is ready, place 2 cups or so in the frying pan on the other side to warm up while your peppers sauté.
★ 5.3 → Add 3-5 tablespoons of water to the rice so it steams in the frying pan to get warm nicely.
★ 5.4 → This is on medium heat for 5-8 minutes alongside your peppers. Stir rice often so one side doesn't get burned.
The Spanish Rice I Use
(From Cardenas)
Pour 2 Cups Into 1/3
Side Of Your Frying Pan
Place Remaining Rice In
Zip-Lock Bag For Later Use
STEP #6
WARM UP BLACK BEANS
★ 6.1 → Open up a can of black beans, and (#1) place 1/2 in a Tupperware container for later use and (#2) the other 1/2 rinse and toss into the frying pan in the center to warm up alongside your rice and peppers.
★ 6.2 → Beans don't take long to warm up so they go in last compared to your peppers and rice that do need time to cook/warm up.
★ 6.3 → After about 5 minutes in the frying pan, mix your peppers/rice/beans and prepare to serve.
Open Can & Pour Half Into Tupperware Container
Drain The Bean Juice By
Washing Them In A Colander
Place Beans In Middle
Of Your Frying Pan
STEP #7
PREPARE YOUR TORTILLAS
★ 7.1 → Place as many tortillas (up to 4) on a cookie sheet that you (and your dinner guests) plan to eat. Typically, women eat 1-2 and men might have 2-5. Experiment with this to see how many you can/want to eat.
★ 7.2 → Sprinkle Mexican cheese on top of each tortilla.
★ 7.3 → Sprinkle Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning on top of each tortilla.
Place 1-4 Tortillas On A
Cookie Sheet & Add Cheese
Sprinkle Some Dash
Seasonings On Each
Keep The Mexican Cheese &
Tortillas Handy For Seconds
STEP #8
WARM UP TORTILLAS
★ 8.1 → Place the cookie sheet in the oven and turn on the oven to 350°. Warmup time is approximately 5-7 minutes.
★ 8.2 → Typically, in the time it takes to warm up the oven to 350°, your tortillas will warm up nicely and your cheese will melt some.
★ 8.3 → KEEP AN EYE ON THEM THOUGH! Check on them around 280° and 300°. Too long in the oven (over 350°) and your tortillas will crisp up some making them hard to fold.
★ 8.4 → While your tortillas warm up, your sweet potato mix should be done sautéing. You can turn that burner on LOW or off.
★ 8.5 → When the oven hits 350°, your tortillas can be removed from the oven and placed on a surface where you can add the other ingredients. If your countertop cannot withstand hot pans/pots/cookie sheets, you could place a towel (or other hot pad) under your cookie sheet.
★ 8.6 → HOT!!!!! DO NOTE: Your tortillas will be HOT (temperature wise) when they come out of the oven. Handle with care.
STEP #9
MIX EVERYTHING
★ 9.1 → Yes, for 5 more minutes on MEDIUM/LOW HEAT, mix everything and allow everything to mix into one amazing creation.
★ 9.2 → I simply dump my sautéed sweet potatoes into the larger frying pan with the peppers, black beans and rice and mix everything up at this point.
SERVING
Here's how to SERVE my world famous sweet potato soft tacos -or- mini-burritos like I do!
SERVING STEP #1
Mix Rice, Peppers & Beans Mix
& Add To Your Taco / Burrito
SERVING STEP #2
Pull Your Warmed Up
Tortillas Out Of The Oven
SERVING STEP #3
Add The Sweet Potato Mix
To 1/2 Side Of Each Tortilla
SERVING STEP #4
Fold Into A Soft Taco
If You Want Like This
SERVING STEP #5
Fold Into A Mini-Burrito
If You Want Like This
SERVING STEP #6
Place On Plates &
Prepare To Serve
SERVING TIP
★ I like to leave the tortillas and Mexican cheese out just in case I want to make another taco/burrito after I serve 4 off the cookie sheet. When I make a 5th one, I'll top the tortilla with cheese and Dash like I did the others.
★ Then, I'll place the cookie sheet in the oven with the OVEN TURNED OFF. The oven is still warm enough to warm up the tortilla without turning it on and having to monitor it.
★ When you're ready for another taco/burrito, the tortilla is ready to top with ingredients again.
EXTRA SERVING TIP
ADD SALSA PER BITE
★ Now comes something very interesting that I discovered. Because these soft tacos -or- mini-burritos can be very hot, I found placing a teaspoon of cold salsa right out of the fridge helps to create an amazing contrast when you bite into your creation every time.
★ Literally, for every bite of my burrito, I'll place a teaspoon of salsa on top and take a bite. YUMMMM!!!!!
★ For me, MILD salsa is all I need. Be careful if you don't want HOTTTT salsa, read the label. I know that sounds simple, but in a hurry, I grabbed the wrong temp-flavor once. Just sayin' ...
★ What I do is pour 1/2 a cup of salsa into small individual serving bowls for anyone who wants to do this. That way, everyone can "double dip" their own spoon into their own bowl if you know what I mean.
BART SMITH'S
"World Famous"
Sautéed Sweet Potato
Soft Tacos / Mini-Burritos
What an amazing, light, healthy (vegetarian/no meat) and ultra delish meal like you've never had before.
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