These Sweet Potato Quesadillas are packed with healthy flavor from black beans, caramelized onions, and kale. These make a deliciously simple vegetarian dinner that the whole family will love!
There are two things you should know about this Kale and Sweet Potato Quesadillas 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 that 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, you totally should. Their sausage is made with real vegetables, grains, and spices and it's minimally processed. (Not sponsored - I just like it!)
Now let's get cooking!
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato, pierced with fork
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 1 ½ cups kale, chopped
- 1 vegetarian chorizo sausage, crumbled (optional)
- salt & pepper, to taste
- ½ cup black beans, cooked or canned (rinse well if using canned)
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- olive oil cooking spray or mister
- 4 whole wheat tortillas
- salsa for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- 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 ½ 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 tortilla begins to brown.
- Cut into wedges and serve with salsa.
The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says
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 Type A Housewife says
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?)
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
They look very appetizing, I must say!
The Type A Housewife says
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.
Audrey says
I smiled reading your post. I can turn most any leftovers into either a burrito or a quesadilla. I so love mexican food.
The Type A Housewife says
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.
Smedette says
Yum, yum, yum!!!
The Type A Housewife says
I agree! I like these better than ones made with cheese.
Brenda Williams says
Easy fix for the name "sweet potato kalesadillas" Sorry, I couldn't resist that one. They just really do sound good.
The Type A Housewife says
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.
Lisa Marie says
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! 🙂
The Type A Housewife says
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!
Ambika says
Love these "dillas"! Awesome!
The Type A Housewife says
Thank you!
ElfRenee says
Ooh, I would definitely like these!
The Type A Housewife says
They are good! 😀
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
This looks really good. I have just discovered Kale recently and am loving it.
The Type A Housewife says
I discovered kale a few years ago and it's my favorite green now. I'm growing three different varieties this spring! 🙂
Emily Nell says
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 😛
The Type A Housewife says
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! 🙂
gillian says
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
Kiersten says
Well, there are definitely worse things you could be addicted to, right? 🙂 I'm glad you enjoy them so much!
Shannon says
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. 🙂
Kiersten says
Yay, I'm glad I could help! 🙂 And mashed butternut squash works the same way too...
Alannah says
Hi Kiersten,
I just made these tonight and they were so delicious! Next time I make them I am definitely going to double the batch!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe,
Alannah
Kiersten says
Thank you for your comment--I'm glad you liked them! 🙂
Emma says
Yum! I made these today and they were so tasty! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to do a round-up on my blog soon of recipes that I've recently tried and loved and this one's definitely featuring!
Kiersten says
I'm glad you enjoyed them--thanks for including them in your round-up too! 🙂
Candy W says
I was skeptical about this combination of flavors but I made these tonight and they are awesome. I skipped the chorizo. Thanks.
Kiersten says
I'm glad you enjoyed them!
Alicia Champagne says
This quesadilla was so good! I did not have black beans on hand so I substituted kidney beans and it was still very delicious. I also substituted some seasoned ground turkey for the chorizo sausage and it was delicious as well. I wish I had the information for the calories, carbs and fiber so I could keep up with my caloric intake for the day.
Megan says
what a delicious recipe! I served it to three skeptical meat lovers and they just raved about all the flavor. roasting the sweet potatoes the night before made this pretty easy, too. thanks so much!
Blair says
Just made these and they were so good! Especially with some sliced avocado on top 🙂
Nicole says
I'm about to make these, but I'm just curious if that is a typo in step 3..i dont have to cook the onions for 45-60 minutes do I?
Thanks,
Nicole
Kiersten Frase says
Caramelizing onions takes time. If you have a gas range, it can take less time, but I had an electric range when I developed this recipe and it usually took me about an hour. If you don't want to wait that long, you can sauté them over medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes instead, until they're tender.
LizM says
I used this recipe with Chorizo and it was delicious! This was my second vegetarian recipe and if the first two are this good I can see me eating a lot more vegetarian meals.
I think the transition to vegetarian is difficult because the vegetarian meals look nothing like what we traditionally eat. Traditionally there would be a main meat dish with sides of veggies and a starch like corn or potatoes. I am seeing vegetarian main courses being presented as a quesadilla or pizza or soup or some grain with veggies on top. None of these are traditionally views as main courses. I look at pizza as junk food and quesadillas as snacks or bar food.
Margaret says
They are really delicious. I wish there was a calorie count included tot eh recipe.
mimi says
I took many short cuts with this and it still came out great. I microwaved my sweet potatoes and when soft, peeled and sprinkled w/chili powder. I used red onions and only sautéed, as I didn't have the time. I used veggie breakfast sausage and added Bragg's Aminos, some nooch, and liquid smoke. Cooked them in a waffle iron and topped w/guac. So good. Thanks for the inspiration.