These quinoa and chorizo stuffed sweet potatoes are a flavorful, satisfying weeknight dinner you can make in just about one hour.
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These quinoa & chorizo stuffed sweet potatoes are the perfect fall dinner. Cozy, comforting, warm, and super satisfying – all without weighing you down. Made with nutritious ingredients like sweet potato, quinoa, peppers, and onions, our stuffed sweet potatoes are fairly healthy, so you can enjoy indulging in the flavorful chorizo that’s mixed in there, too! All in all, this fun dish is a delicious way to shake up weeknight dinners, especially during sweater season.
While we’re usually pretty busy developing new recipes (and cooking our favorites from the archives), we still love to make recipes from our favorite cookbooks. Not only does this help us improve our cooking skills, but we often find inspiration in these recipes for new recipes of our own. In this case, we were inspired by Cookie and Kate’s quinoa stuffed sweet potatoes from her cookbook Love Real Food. Her recipes always knock it out of the park, so it’s no surprise we loved this dish so much!
Ingredients For Making Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Our easy stuffed sweet potatoes are filled with a satisfying and flavorful mix of quinoa, chorizo, peppers, and onions. Here’s what ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Sweet potatoes
- White quinoa
- Poblano pepper
- Red onion
- Olive oil
- Paprika
- Ground red cayenne pepper
- Salt
- Mexican-style chorizo
- Lime
- Goat cheese
When making stuffed sweet potatoes, it’s important to carefully select the right potatoes at the grocery store. Look for medium-sized sweet potatoes that are fairly round and symmetrical, rather than skinny, oblong shaped potatoes. These will be much easier to stuff.
If you can’t find poblano peppers at the grocery store, substitute with bell pepper – or try jalapenos (2 jalapenos = about 1 poblano) if you’re not afraid of a little spice!
Finally, we recommend using pre-cooked chorizo links for this recipe instead of ground chorizo. Ground chorizo gets lost in the quinoa and sweet potato; using links offers a more substantial texture that stands out from the rest of the dish. Just make sure to slice the links into bite-sized pieces before frying.
How To Make Quinoa & Chorizo Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
There are 3 major steps involved in making our stuffed sweet potatoes: roasting the potatoes; preparing the quinoa; and cooking the chorizo, peppers, and onions. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of what to do:
- First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Pierce the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork, then place them on the baking sheet and roast in the oven until soft, about 45 minutes to an hour. You’ll know they’re done if they give when you gently squeeze them.
- Next, bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Once it’s boiling, cover it, reduce the heat, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Then remove the pan from heat and let it sit, covered, for another 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add poblano pepper and red onion, and season with paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt. Cook until the veggies are slightly softened, about 3 to 5 minutes, then add the chorizo. Cook until the chorizo is warmed through and lightly crisped around the edges, another 4 to 5 minutes.
- Fluff the quinoa with a fork and transfer it to a large mixing bowl. Add the cooked veggies and chorizo, then season with lime juice and stir to combine.
- To stuff the sweet potatoes: slice the cooked sweet potatoes down the center (lengthwise), leaving about 1 inch at either end intact. Season the inside of each potato with a pinch of salt and gently mash with a fork to open up the potato for stuffing. Then, transfer each potato to a plate for serving before spooning the stuffing into them. (Note: it’s okay to let some of the stuffing spill over the sides of the potato and onto the plate!)
- Finally, top with crumbled goat cheese and serve.
If you prepare the filling while the sweet potatoes are in the oven, it should only take about an hour to make this dish from start to finish. Get the potatoes in the oven first, then chop the poblano, onion, and chorizo and get the quinoa started. By the time the filling is mixed together, the sweet potatoes should be just about done, so that everything is fresh and hot for serving.
Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipe Variations
You can easily switch up some of the ingredients in our stuffed sweet potato recipe to suit different tastes and dietary needs. Here are a few ideas:
- To make these stuffed sweet potatoes vegetarian, you can omit the chorizo from the recipe or substitute the chorizo for chickpeas
- For an extra healthy version of quinoa stuffed sweet potatoes, try Cookie & Kate’s recipe from her cookbook (buy it here on Amazon) or swap the chorizo with black beans
- Experiment with different kinds of cheese, like crumbled feta or shredded cheddar
- Top with avocado for extra creaminess
Serving Suggestions
Since this recipe makes a lot of filling per sweet potato, you don’t necessarily need a side dish. You can simply serve these stuffed sweet potatoes on their own, and it will be plenty of food to fill you up.
This recipe is great for an easy weeknight dinner when you’re craving something cozy yet healthy! It can also make a fun date night activity to cook with your partner.
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
If you have extra quinoa filling that you want to save for later, store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave for about 1 to 2 minutes per serving, stirring halfway through. Or, enjoy it cold!
Try our quinoa and chorizo stuffed sweet potatoes and let us know what you think by rating, commenting, and sharing below.
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:
- Spicy Chorizo Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Twice Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Rice Bowl
- Chorizo Sweet Potato Fry Pizza
- Black Bean & Chorizo Tacos with Sweet Potato Puree
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Quinoa & Chorizo Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes roughly the same size and symmetrical in shape
- 1 cup white quinoa
- 1¾ cups water
- 1 medium poblano pepper diced
- ½ medium red onion diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground red cayenne pepper
- 2 to 3 pinches salt
- 6.5 ounces Mexican-style chorizo link, chopped into quarter-inch thick triangles
- 1 medium lime juiced
- 3 ounces goat cheese crumbled
Instructions
- First, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Pierce the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork, then place them on the baking sheet. Roast in the oven until soft, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.To check if they're done cooking, give them a gentle squeeze – if they give slightly, they're ready.
- In the meantime, prepare the quinoa. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once boiling, cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove from heat and let sit, covered, for another 10 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the veggies and chorizo. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, then add poblano pepper and red onion. Season with paprika, cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt and cook until the veggies are slightly softened, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Next, add the chorizo to the frying pan. Cook until warmed through and lightly crisped around the edges, about 4 to 5 minutes. Then, remove from heat and set aside.
- Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the chorizo and veggie mix from the frying pan, along with the lime juice. Stir to combine well.
- Once the potatoes are ready, carefully slice them lengthwise down the center, leaving about 1 inch at either end intact. Season the insides of the potatoes with a pinch of salt and gently mash with a fork to open up the potatoes for stuffing.
- Finally, plate the sweet potatoes before spooning the filling into them, so that some of the filling can spill over the sides and onto the dish. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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