These super simple one-pan roasted sweet potato and black bean burrito bowls are the easiest and most delicious thing to hit your dinner table this week! Want make-ahead meals? Wrap ’em up in a whole wheat tortilla and you’ve got freezer burritos!
One of my goals for 2015 is figuring out better work-life-blog-business balance. I want to figure out a way to achieve more by doing less. When I photograph a recipe for the blog I tend to take a bonkers amount of photos. Take these photos for example. To choose the handful or so of photos that I thought were the best to grace this page, I had to sift through nearly 200 photos, cull 98% of them, then edit (which I am baaaad at) and resize the remaining photos before posting them here. Seriously, who takes 200 photos of a burrito bowl? I do, apparently.
Part of the issue is that I don’t use a tripod, so I’m compelled to take the same photo many, many times to make sure I get one that isn’t blurry. But part of it is me just not being able to stop myself from taking far too many photos, which then creates a lot of work down the road. So, moving forwards I’m going to challenge myself to take fewer photos per recipe. Like, 50 or so, which should make the editing process much more streamlined. Maaaaybe I’ll invest in a tripod so that those 50 shots are more solid. I also need to invest some time in learning better editing skills, because since I started taking photos in RAW the editing process takes me approx 10 times as long and I think the photos end up looking crappier because I just don’t know what I’m doing.
Another thing I’m doing to keep things simple in 2015 is more make-ahead meals, and making more of those into super simple one-pot or one-pan productions. Lucky thing, these burrito bowls fit all of those criteria.
There’s a bit of chopping to do up front, but then your oven does the rest of the heavy lifting. Best of all, everything gets mixed into the same pan, even the black beans and lime juice and cilantro once the roasting is done. Then all you’ve got to do is spoon this goodness into bowls, garnish, and dinner is done.
But wait! Want to turn these into make-ahead meals? No problem. Just grab some whole wheat tortillas, spoon some burrito filling in, roll ’em up, wrap ’em in foil, and you’ve totally got freezer burritos! And you know I love me some freezer burritos!
Have you got any tips for keeping things simple in 2015? Let’s share in the comments here!
Orange fleshed sweet potatoes are incredibly rich in beta-carotene, a pre-curser to vitamin A. In fact, some studies have shown that sweet potatoes contain even more bioavailable beta-carotene than leafy green vegetables. Sweet potatoes also contain storage proteins called sporamins which have unique antioxidant properties. Also valuable for their anti-inflammatory benefits and blood sugar regulation, sweet potatoes are loaded with fiber, which helps steady the pace of digestion and regulate glucose uptake. They’re also a great source of vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B6, potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus complex carbohydrates.
one-pan roasted sweet potato burrito bowls
Ingredients
- 2 medium Sweet Potatoes peeled and cubed
- 2 jalapeño peppers de-seeded and diced
- 1 large red pepper diced
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cans 400g each black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- Juice of one lime
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°C / 400°F.
- In a roasting pan, combine sweet potatoes, jalapeños, red pepper, zucchini, and red onion. Add olive oil, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and a touch of salt and pepper. Give this a good mix so that everything is well seasoned.
- Place in the oven and roast for about 20 - 30 minutes, stirring once about half way through. The sweet potato should be just tender when the vegetables have finished roasting.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the black beans, cilantro, and lime juice directly to the pan. Stir to combine.
- Spoon the mixture into bowls and serve warm. Top with diced avocado, cashew cream, grated cheese, or other desired toppings.
Recipe Notes
This also makes great burritos, wraps, or pita filling.
When made as burritos, this freezes well for make ahead meals.
Of course I love this, Katie. All of those deep phytochemical-rich colours, lush tastes and the ease. I am soon to blog a sweet potato recipe but for once we aren’t telepathic. It is Korean. And excuse me if I correct you. Your photos are AWESOME, very clear, And don’t faff with getting a tripod. I find mine a bloody pest in the small space of my kitchen so it lives under a bed somewhere. You’d be better off getting a good soft daylight box to reduce any blur you feel you have with low light (although In don’t see it in your pix). Unless you are blessed with space I would just stick with the great pix you already create without a tripod. Streamline your clicks, yes (200 is a bit bonkers) but don’t change a thing.
Aww, thanks Kellie. You are, as usual, too kind. I think the first thing is to streamline my clicks (I mean, 200, how does that even happen?!) and then go from there. Although a lot of the commenters here are pro-tripod, I suspect I might be like you and find it a pain. I think I’ll borrow one for a small amount of time and see whether or not I like it before doing anything too crazy. Looking forward to your Korean sweet potatoes! If instagram is any indication, a delicious recipe is in our future!
This looks delicious. I bookmarked it so I won’t forget where I found it when I want it. Cool! Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you…
Thanks Carol! I hope you like it!
I think your 200 photo shoot paid off, because before I read anything about it I scrolled past that first photo and thought it looked awesome. Seriously, all of the photos look great, and this sounds delicious – like a perfect winter warm up meal. 🙂
Thanks Alissa! This is one of my favourite quick and easy and totally delicious healthy dinners.
I love your approach for the new year. I often find myself taking way to many pictures and simply cannot manage to get a good shit without the tripod. You are so brave. I also struggle with editing. It’s a process though and I feel like with practice I’ll improve. This recipe is great. Love a one pot dish!!
I haaaate the editing! I’m actually giving myself a break from editing RAW photos as to be honest, I don’t notice a huge difference except in the time I spend editing. Bad blogger, I know!
Katie, this looks fabulous. So colorful and healthy! I would be lost without my tripod, it’s worth the investment. Every time I take my camera into my hands to shoot a photo it turns out slightly blurry. I must have super shaky hands. Having said that, I think your pictures are beautiful!
I think I might borrow a tripod and try it out. I do have a fairly small apartment kitchen, and I’m not sure whether I’d find a tripod more efficient or whether it would be a pain for me. Only one way to find out!
I love this idea and miraculously, I have all of the ingredients at home! my one question is how do you warm them up when you take them out of the freezer?
Hi Shelly! When I warm up freezer burritos I either unwrap them and defrost / warm up in the microwave (if I’m at work) or leave them in the foil and place in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350°F until they’re warmed through. Or I just let them thaw and eat them at room temperature!
Oh yeah, love this meal. Its a win win recipe…esy to dish up nd good to eat 😀
Aren’t one-pan meals the best?!
I know it’s not for everyone, but the tripod has seriously been a game-changer for me. I save SO much time by having the camera stationary and just tweaking one or two things – I totally recommend it! I used to take mega photos for all my posts too, but sometimes now I just take a few and that’s all I need! I have GOT to put burrito bowls back into my dinner rotation….not sure where they fell out, but I love this idea!
Just a few?! Can this be true?! Okay, you may have convinced me to borrow a tripod and give it a try! Definitely get back into the burrito bowl game, you won’t regret it!
I make a similar recipe I found that uses Squash roasted with a bit of maple syrup in place of the Sweet Potato. The mixture is then stuffed & wrapped into tortillas baked in the oven with a special tomato sauce and cheeses. I make it often and just made it on Saturday! So yummy to have this filling as a side dish too.
That recipe sounds great! I love the idea of squash and maple syrup, and that special cheese sauce sounds delish. Yum!
I’m gradually learning to use a tripod more and more. I don’t really like it and find it a bit of a pain but it definitely does help to get better quality shots and, like you, I don’t have to take so many in the hopes that I managed to to make one a little less blurry than the others! I love the idea of these burrito bowls – they’re definitely going to go into our dinner rotation!
Hmm. Maybe I should give it a try. I’m not convinced, but I think it would be worth it to borrow one and see how it goes before I commit to buying one.
Just finished eating these, dang so good! We added a little melted cheese and then crumbled a few blue corn chips on top plus a dollop of salsa. Amazing and absolutely loaded with real food.
Glad you like them! I also enjoy them with a bit of cheese all wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla. So good!
Just made these tonight for dinner – so yummy! We wrapped them in tortillas and baked them for 10 minutes with cheese! The best part is we have so much left over for lunches this week:) Thanks!
Yum! That cheese / tortilla bake sounds like a great dinner. I wrapped up some of the leftover mix and tossed it in the freezer as freezer burritos, makes a great lunch!
I really love your recipes and can’t wait to try some. This looks divine. I have already earmarked your creamy cauliflower pasta bake for this evening as I have been dreaming about it all week. I’ve never made a creamy sauce with cauliflower so am anxious to see how it turns out. Many thanks!
The creamy cauliflower sauce is amazing! I hope you’ll let us know how it turns out 🙂
These are on regular rotation in my lunch prep list. Delicious and so satisfying. Thanks Katie.