I'm not a meal planner but I do try and work meals together. I've had to get creative with leftovers thanks to a husband that doesn't always like them. Thus, an entire month of sharing recipes that can easily be made with dinner ingredients but are not direct leftovers. This taco salad is made from making extra of the sweet potatoes and cilantro gremolata from this quesadilla recipe but also easily be made from extra sweet potatoes in these tacos.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Taco Salad

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Author: Erin Alderson
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Yield: 2 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

Gremolata

1 cup cilantro leaves
1 clove garlic
Zest from one lime

Sweet Potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced red onion
1 ½ cups ¼" cubed sweet potatoes (1 medium sweet potato)
1 chipotle
2 tablespoon adobo sauce
1 tablespoon honey
Juice from one lime
4 to 5 handfuls Lettuce
¾ cup black beans, drained/rinsed if using canned
¼ cup pepitas
1 ounce cotija cheese
2 corn tortillas
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing.
2 tablespoons lime juice

Instructions

Mince the cilantro leaves and place in a bowl. Using a microplane, grate the garlic on to the cilantro, followed by the lime zest. Toss together and set side.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in skillet. Add onions and let cook until onions begin to soften, 3-4 minutes. Next, stir in sweet potatoes and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes.
In a mortar and pestle, combine the chipotle, adobo sauce, honey, and lime juice. Break apart the chipotle into small pieces (alternatively, you can cut up the chipotle.) Pour into the pan with the sweet potatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low.Cook until sweet potatoes have softened, 10-15 minutes. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 350˚. Brush the corn tortillas with olive oil and cut into strips. Spread in a single layer on a sheet tray. Bake until brown and golden, roughly 10 minutes.
Assemble the salad with lettuce, gremolata, black beans, pepitas, cheese, sweet potatoes, and crispy tortillas. Whisk together the olive oil and lime juice, pour over the salad, and toss until well combined.

Sweet Potato Taco Salad

variations

It's rare that I take anything out of this salad but there are a few things I play around with. The flavor is strong (and spicy!) in this salad which depending on who eats it, gets adapted to suit each of our needs.

Extras: I left out a few items I would normally serve on this salad: avocado, brown rice, salsa, sour cream- all work well on top of the ingredients listed above. It's easy to play around with what you have on hand. Also, avocado and sour cream help to balance the spice from the chipotle if needed.

Chipotle: The chipotle in the sweet potatoes can get fairly hot, if you're not a fan of spicy, cut back on the chipotles. If you're not looking for spicy at all, ditch the chipotle and add ½ teaspoon smoked paprika.

Vegan: This salad is super easy to make vegan: swap out the honey for your favorite vegan sweetener and leave out of the cheese.

Explore Sweet Potatoes

Chipotles and sweet potatoes go hand in hand for me. The spice is perfect for the sweet potatoes and chipotle sweet potatoes work well in a quite a few dishes. I usually add avocado but a few of my other favorite sweet potato dishes include:

Chipotle Sweet Potato Egg Skillet
Chipotle Sweet Potato Tamales
Chipotle Sweet Potato Nachos

Chipotle Sweet Potato Taco Salad