Sweet potato and black bean quesadillas
Creamy mashed sweet potato, smoky black beans and melty cheese crisped in a tortilla, one of the cheapest, coziest dinners you can make.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.46 a serving
- 740 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 sweet potatoes, medium, scrubbed
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 8 flour tortillas
- 2 cups Mexican blend cheese
- ½ cup salsa
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 740 calories, 32 g protein, 88 g carbs and 30 g fat, and costs about $2.46 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No black beans? Pinto beans or kidney beans work.
- No flour tortillas? Whole wheat tortillas work.
- No Mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Poke the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork and microwave them until completely soft, 8 to 10 minutes, turning them over halfway.
Timer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Squeeze with an oven mitt. They should feel soft all the way through.them, scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash it with the cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and salt. Stir in the beans, mashing a few.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Spread the sweet potato over half of each tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and fold the tortillas over.
Heat a large over medium heat and brush it lightly with oil. Cook 2 quesadillas at a time until and and the cheese , 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Press down with a spatula after flipping. It helps the cheese glue everything together.Cut each into wedges and serve with salsa and Greek yogurt for dipping. The yogurt tastes just like sour cream here.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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30-minute dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with black beans and Mexican blend cheese ›