There are two things you should know about this recipe:
1. The name is a lie. There’s no queso in these quesadillas. But calling them “dillas” makes them sound like something cutesy off of a children’s menu, doesn’t it?
2. Yes, if it sounds familiar, it’s because I made these with leftovers from my Sweet Potato & Kale Wraps. I decided to save the recipe for a rainy day and its day has finally come!
So yeah, about #2. We had tortillas and fillings leftover after making those wraps. But, as you saw, I am no burrito wrapper, so the second night around, I made these Kale & Sweet Potato Quesadillas for dinner. Instead of binding everything together with cheese like in a traditional quesadillas, I used mashed sweet potatoes. Is this weird? Okay, fine, maybe it sounds weird, but sweet potatoes and kale go really well together (this is one of my most popular posts, after all!) and so do sweet potatoes and black beans.
Oh, and one note about the chorizo: if you can purchase Field Roast locally, use their Mexican Chipotle sausage. Their sausage is made with real vegetables, grains, and spices and it’s minimally processed. (Yes, I’m talking up Field Roast again.)
Vegan quesadillas with kale, caramelized onions, smoky black beans, and sweet potatoes.
Ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato, pierced with fork
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 1 1/2 c. kale, chopped
- 1 vegetarian chorizo sausage, crumbled (optional)
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 c. black beans, cooked or canned (rinse well if using canned)
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- olive oil cooking spray or mister
- 4 whole wheat tortillas
- salsa for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place sweet potato on a small baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until tender. Cool slightly, then remove skin, transfer to a small bowl, and mash with a fork or potato masher until smooth.
- While potato is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet on low heat. Add onion and cook until just starting to caramelize, about 45-60 minutes. Add chorizo (if using) and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in kale and continue to cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
- Combine black beans and paprika in a small bowl.
- Divide sweet potatoes, caramelized onion mixture, and beans evenly onto one half of each tortilla, leaving about 1/2 inch of space along the edges. Fold empty half onto the half with filling.
- At this point, you can cook your quesadillas however you prefer. I like to cook mine on a grill sprayed with olive oil and heated at medium. You can also use a quesadilla maker if you have one or cook them in a skillet on medium-high heat, flipping over after after tortilla begins to brown.
- Cut into wedges and serve with salsa.
Notes
Prep time includes time spent baking the sweet potato and caramelizing the onion. Yes, it takes a long time for both, but it's worth it! For a quicker dinner, caramelize the onions and roast the sweet potato the night before.
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I had no idea they made vegan chorizo sausage! You can bet I’m gonna look for it! It might be easier on my stomach than the real thing.
The sell it at Trader Joe’s! A lot of people are huge fans of the soy kind, but I have to tell you, I’m not–I like the Field Roast kind instead. The one time I had the soy kind, I could barely choke it down and then I threw it up an hour later. (TMI?)
They look very appetizing, I must say!
I don’t like how cheese quesadillas get so greasy, so I really like these more. I think I’m going to try other queso-less quesadillas in the future.
I smiled reading your post. I can turn most any leftovers into either a burrito or a quesadilla. I so love mexican food.
Turning burrito leftovers into quesadilla leftovers isn’t much of a challenge, but now you’ve given me the idea to make leftovers from other types of meals into burritos or quesadillas.
I imagine that the successes will be very tasty, but the disasters will be pretty epic.
Yum, yum, yum!!!
I agree! I like these better than ones made with cheese.
Easy fix for the name “sweet potato kalesadillas” Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. They just really do sound good.
Ha, I love it! I really just gave up on coming up with a good name and thought, “Eh, Kale & Sweet Potato–that’s good enough.” It’s embarrassing how much time I spend on naming things sometimes.
Not weird at all Sweet potato and kale really do go well together. Sometimes I whip up sweet potato and kale taquitos. Your quesadillas look great. But that pizza you linked to has me drooling over here. It’s like a work of art!
Thank you! It’s so funny, when I first published that pizza recipe, it was like crickets. And then in January (almost a year later!), people discovered it. With the mashed sweet potatoes, it’s very easy to just omit the cheese–everything still holds together well!
I love the sweet potato and kale taquito idea!
Love these “dillas”! Awesome!
Thank you!
Ooh, I would definitely like these!
They are good!
This looks really good. I have just discovered Kale recently and am loving it.
I discovered kale a few years ago and it’s my favorite green now. I’m growing three different varieties this spring!
I love sweet potatoes! I’ll try anything (vegan) with them in it. Can’t wait to make these! I’m sure they won’t look as nice as yours though
Well, this one was the pretty one–the one I didn’t photograph oozed out all over the place. But even if they’re not pretty, they still taste good!
i’ve made these time and time again since i first found your site – and i’m making them again today. seriously. i think i’m kinda secretly addicted to ‘em
i just love the way you cook. high five. xxxx
Well, there are definitely worse things you could be addicted to, right?
I’m glad you enjoy them so much!
You just solved my quesadila problem. I was looking for a way to make a vegan black bean quesadila, but I couldn’t think of something good to replace the cheese. And I’m not about to use fake vegan cheese (don’t like them and want to avoid the processed foods). The sweet potato makes a perfect binder to hold it together, and tastes even better than cheese. Thank you for this recipe.
Yay, I’m glad I could help!
And mashed butternut squash works the same way too…