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Black Bean & Sweet Potato Taquitos

These black bean & sweet potato taquitos are sweet, salty, and spicy all rolled into one. It's a fun vegetarian take on this classic Mexican indulgence.

Course Main Course, Not So Normal

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes

Total Time 37 minutes

Servings 10 taquitos

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 10-15 corn or flour tortillas (if your tortillas are thin, you may want to double them)
• 1 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 can refried black beans (sub regular refried beans)
• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Toppings:

• 1 cup greek or coconut yogurt
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons honey
• pumpkin seeds
• salsa verde
• cilantro

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in your peeled and chopped potatoes. Continue to boil for 25 minutes.
2. While your sweet potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add in your thinly sliced onion and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until nice and soft. Take off heat and set aside.
3. After 25 minutes, drain water and transfer sweet potatoes to a blender or food processor. Add coconut milk, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, cayenne and pepper to the blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
4. Open your can of refried black beans and begin assembling your taquitos by spreading a THIN layer of black beans, sweet potato puree and a sprinkle of cooked onions in the middle. Roll into a thin cylinder shape and hold closed with a tooth pick. Do this for all 10-15 of your taquitos.
5. Heat a large pan over medium heat with 1 1/2 cups grapeseed oil (or other frying oil). Once hot add in each taquito, cooking on each side for 30-60 seconds or until golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel to drain excess oil.
6. Remove tooth pick and top with salsa verde, pumpkin seeds, and cilantro.
7. Gently blend together your greek yogurt, lime juice, cilantro and salt. (DO NOT OVER BLEND.)
8. Pour over the top, and EAT UP.

I mean, we all know that Mexican food is the best, right? Here’s how you know it’s the best….you know the phrase, “imitation is the greatest form of flattery?” Yeah well think about it. How many Tex-Mex or American style taquerias or Mexican fusion restaurants are there near your house? Yeah. Imma guess there’s at least one. And at most like 700. People are obsessed with it. Heck, I’m obsessed with it!

One of my favorite adaptation of classic Mexican food is from a restaurant in LA and San Fransisco called Gracias Madre. The menu has this amazing sweet potato flauta. It’s SO SO MONEY. It’s got sweet potato puree and caramelized onions all inside a crispy tortilla with guac, pico de gallo and cashew cream on top. I dream about it on the regular. So I set out to make it at home.

I didn’t want to just “copy” the recipe exactly (not that I really could). But I wanted to spice it up with some things that I love (ie. vegetarian refried beans and salsa verde). The result is a sweet, spicy, salty, and savory meal that explodes in your mouth. And although frying things isn’t the healthiest way to eat a food, sometimes it’s worth it. And having that crunchy, warm tortilla is TOTALLY worth it. So I hope you enjoy! MEXICAN FTW.