Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde
Sweet potato burritos with black beans, smothered in a simple but flavorful avocado salsa verde sauce. These vegetarian burritos are easily made vegan.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 22, 2024
Where do you call home? Home used to be such a simple concept, but I’ve struggled to define it lately. For the first few years of life, home was where I lived with my parents in a small town near the Oklahoma panhandle. Home had brown tile floors that I tottered across at the heels of my red-haired cousin. My family, friends and belongings were all there. Things got more complicated when we moved to an Oklahoma City suburb and I left for college, but now that I’ve moved out of my home state, I really don’t know what or where home is.
I visited Oklahoma the week before last for the first time since moving to Kansas City. There I was laughing with my dearest friends around a table at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but my old apartment wasn’t mine any more. The town that I had lived in for the past eight years felt like home, once removed. I spent a few nights at my parents’ place, too. They moved to a bigger house after I left for college; I still don’t know where all the light switches are. I suppose it will always be home since my parents are there but it feels a little empty now that my brothers have left the nest, too.
Here I am in Kansas City, which is feeling more like home. Everything has its place now, including Cookie, who is curled up by my feet on our new couch. We can call it home for now, I guess?
I’m not exactly sure what to call this burrito, either. I do love how Mexican food has a different word for every traditional incarnation of tortillas, cheese and fillings/toppings. Burritos, tacos, tostadas, huevos rancheros, quesadillas, nachos: each tasty in its own right.
What we have here is a lightly baked burrito of modest size—a borderline enchilada, really. It’s stuffed with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted red peppers and black beans, smothered in a zesty avocado sauce. I wanted to incorporate as much sauce as I possibly could in this burrito, so I just drowned the burrito in the stuff from above. At that rate, eating the burrito required a fork, so why bother rolling in the sides of the tortilla? Might as well sprinkle the insides with cheese and bake it for a few minutes so it all sticks together instead.
I had originally planned to make an avocado crema with sour cream, but after blending avocados in the food processor, it was evident that puréed avocados are plenty rich and creamy on their own. I thought about making a homemade salsa verde, but all the tomatillos I could find were subpar this late in the season. I skipped on over to the salsa aisle with an excuse to take a shortcut (who doesn’t like a good shortcut?).
At home, I blended the avocados with flavorful salsa verde, fresh lime juice, cilantro and garlic. The end result is an avocado salsa verde reminiscent of the sauce covering my favorite burrito at the aforementioned Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s. Add a dollop of sour cream and it’s sublime.
Maybe we don’t need a word for this super fresh burrito-enchilada hybrid after all. It’s good; let’s leave it at that.
Recipe Notes
- Roast the sweet potatoes ahead of time and warm them up a bit before assembling the burritos for a quick weeknight meal. You could also bake a batch of them and wrap them up for later, reserving the avocado sauce and toppings for the last minute.
- The taste of the avocado sauce is dependent on the type of salsa you use. I recommend a mild salsa verde made with tomatillos.
- The avocado sauce will keep well in a jar in the fridge for a few days. If you find that the surface is browning over time, cover the surface of it with with plastic wrap to minimize contact with air.
- If you have leftover sauce, it doubles as a stellar salad dressing on romaine lettuce.
- You don’t necessarily have to bake these burritos (warm tortilla, black beans and sweet potatoes should melt the cheese) but I preferred the faintly crunchy exterior of the baked burrito.
- This burrito could easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese and sour cream. Still delicious, I promise!
Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde
Sweet potato burritos with black beans, smothered in a simple but flavorful avocado salsa verde sauce. Recipe yields 4 to 6 burritos, depending on the size of your tortillas and how full you stuff them.
Ingredients
Burritos
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon smoked hot paprika or chipotle powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (omit if sensitive to spice)
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 4 to 6 whole wheat tortillas
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 to 2 cups shredded Jack cheese or cheddar cheese
Avocado Salsa Verde
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 cup mild salsa verde, homemade or jarred
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 lime, juiced
- ¼ cup packed cilantro leaves
- Up to 2 tablespoons water, to thin as necessary
- Salt, to taste
Toppings
- 1 ½ cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- Sour cream, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Scrub and peel the sweet potatoes (or leave the skin on to save time). Slice them into large, bite-sized chunks, about 1 to 1 ½-inches wide/long and ½-inch deep. Cut the bell pepper into 1” wide strips. On the prepared baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes and bell pepper with the olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper (if using), and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Arrange the veggies evenly across the pan. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring halfway, until they are golden and caramelized around the edges.
- Make the avocado sauce: Scoop the avocado into a food processor or blender. Add the salsa verde, garlic, and lime juice. Blend. Add the cilantro and blend again. Add water to thin out the sauce if desired; the sauce should glop easily off a spoon. Taste and blend in some salt or add another squeeze of lime if necessary. This sauce should taste like a real kick in the mouth; you’ll know you’re done when you can’t stop going in for another spoonful.
- Make sure the oven is still on at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your tortillas on another baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In the middle of each tortilla, put down a few strips of roasted red pepper, then pour ⅓ cup black beans down the center and top it all with ⅓ cup roasted sweet potato chunks. Sprinkle ¼ cup or more of cheese on top. Pull one edge of the tortilla over to the center of the burrito, then pull the opposite edge over to overlap a bit. Gently roll the burrito over. Repeat with remaining burritos. Bake your burritos for about 5 to 7 minutes on the middle rack, until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are lightly crisp.
- Carefully transfer each burrito to a plate. Smother it in avocado sauce, sprinkle with ample romaine lettuce, some chopped red onion, and a dollop of sour cream if you’d like. Enjoy. Leftover burritos keep well with sauce stored separately in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.
Notes
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese and optional sour cream, or substitute vegan sour cream.
Make it gluten free: Substitute gluten-free tortillas, like Siete brand. They will be more delicate, but I believe you will have good results.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi Kate,
I live in India and absolutely love your blog. This recipe is absolutely fabulous and all of us at home loved it.
We have an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables in my part of the country and you are an inspiration to try different things!
Hi Kavita, thank you so much for your comment. I’m delighted to hear that you are enjoying my blog and my recipes! I hope to publish some more recipes with Indian flavors this winter. I’d love to visit India someday!
Our whole family loved these SO much! Marvelous and can’t wait to try again!
I am really happy to hear that, Lexi! Thanks for letting me know!
Maybe I should know this but how can or what should I wrap the potatoes to save for later? My family is against avacadoes so I don’t get them often. I also don’t know how to get good avacadoes. Anyway, I have prepared the potatoes and will go get the rest of the ingredients later. This looks absolutely delicious!! I’m not sure what brought me here (your site) but I’m glad I found it. Checking out the rest of your recipes now.
Kristen in NC
Sorry for the delayed response, Kristen. I kept the potatoes in a bowl covered with saran wrap and cooked the burritos the next day. I look for avocados that have a little bit of give to them and let them ripen on the counter at home.
Oh hi there again! Bookmarking this one as well! Is it dinner time yet?!? These mexican dishes all sound amazing!
Made this for dinner tonight. Very good. Thank you.
Thank you, Allison. I’m glad you enjoyed the burrito.
these were so good! LOVE LOVE LOVE
Love the combination of sweet potatoes and black beans! It also makes a good “burrito bowl” without the tortilla for a lighter meal. Happy New Year!
These burritos were AMAZING! My husband is a burrito fanatic and he said these were the best he’s ever had; he is in love with the sauce. We will definitely be making these again! I featured this recipe in my most recent weekly meal plan on my blog, thank you!
Thank you, Emily! So glad you enjoyed this recipe as well. That sauce is good on, like, everything. Seriously.
I made these tonight, and they are definitely going into regular rotation. They were absolutely delicious, especially the avocado salsa. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks, Kristine! So glad you enjoyed the burritos. That avocado salsa is delicious on everything—I love it as a salad dressing, too!
Oh wow! This dish was incredible! Making it again…. And again.
Thank you for commenting, Myrtle! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I didn’t have all of the ingredients on-hand, so I improvised and it turned out delicious. Thank you for the inspiration!!!
And your pictures are lovely!
Made these tonight. They were really good. My hubby even liked them. Great meatless Monday dinner. Thank you.
Thanks, Tracy! Glad you both enjoyed the burritos.
Hi, I made these burritos tonight for dinner and my family loved them!
Thanks for all the great recipes. I love your site and read it daily.
Thank you, Marisa! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and happy to hear that you visit my site often. Thank you!
Made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was so delish! Definitely marked as a keeper and I can’t wait to make it for guests!
Thank you, Emily. I’m glad to hear it!
We have made this recipe at least 3 times in the past 2 weeks… we did find we needed to use a lower temp and shorter cooking time to avoid burning the sweet potatoes (350 x 40min) but they are SO DELICIOUS! we have also found that we can make them ahead of time (like at night after the kid is in bed) and use them COLD with the cold beans and the sauce as a gourmet picnic taco delight! yum!
Thanks, Jen! I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe. Picnic tacos sound like a great idea!
Love it! It looks amazing! I featured it on my latest post New Ways to Eat Avocado | 10 Savory and Healthy Avocado Recipes. My readers loved it too!
The verde recipe is out of sight. I love it and make it often. You’re right, once made you can’t stop eating. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, A J! So glad you enjoy the burrito recipe.
I am a health coach and I am loving what I see here! You have a new fan!
Thank you, Stephanie! Glad you appreciate my recipes! I am not a nutritionist but I love creating well-balanced meals.
I’ve been thinking about making this for months now, and I finally did! I loved it Kate, sooo delicious. The sauce is amazing and it was so incredibly yummy, thank you!!
These look amazing, Kate! I want to try your sweet potato + black been enchiladas this week when I have vegetarian guests over, but I was wondering if you think this avocado salsa verde would be a good sub for a traditional salsa verde or would it be too much?
Also, have any salad or side recommendations that might pair well with the enchiladas?
Can’t wait to give them a try!
Hey Rosie! I hope your guests love the enchiladas. The avocado salsa verde would make the dish more rich (and delicious), but don’t bake the enchiladas with avocados on top—I’m convinced that avocados taste overripe and gross after they’ve been heated. You could always just top the enchiladas with avocado slices if you want to take an easier route. Enchilada sides… you could be traditional and serve it with beans and rice. Sounds like I need more Mexican salads on the blog. Here’s my default salad. This lime-marinated kale is really good, and you could dress it up with some avocado or crispy tortilla strips or sliced cherry tomatoes (totally out of season, I know). Whew, hope that helped.
I just had one of these while waiting cooking Curried Cauliflower Soup. Very, very delicious. I substituted plain non-fat Greek Yogurt for the sour cream to get the yummy sour taste and mouth feel. I’m going to use the Avocado Salsa Verde for veggie dips and other recipes, too.
Thanks, Sandy! So glad you enjoyed the burrito. That avocado salsa would be good on just about anything. :)
oh. my. god. I want to thank you for introducing me to the magical combination that is sweet potatoes, black beans, and avocado. who knew?! plus I was able to whip this up almost entirely from stuff I already had, which was awesome :)
That is one of my favorite flavor combinations of all time! It’s great in any form. Glad you enjoyed the burritos!
I tried this recipe yesterday and was so excited to eat it! The burritos turned out fantastic, but I must have done something very wrong with the sauce because it turned out really, really bitter. I tried adding sugar to tone down the bitterness but it didn’t work. And I hate to waste all the sauce. I think it was either the limes or the cilantro in the recipe. I peeled and added a whole lime (before I realized it should just be the juice). And I only used the cilantro leaves but some stems could’ve made it in there. I look forward to making it again but I don’t want to ruin another batch. Any ideas on where I went wrong?
Hey Sarah, I’m sorry your sauce didn’t turn out great! I think the lime pith is what made the sauce taste bitter. The cilantro stems shouldn’t make any difference. You shouldn’t have trouble with just lime juice next time! Salt cuts the taste of bitterness, if you want to try adding more to your original sauce, but it sounds like a lost cause. :(
We just had these for our house meal, and it was a huge hit. We doubled the recipe and had enough to feed 8 hungry college students for 15 bucks!
Awesome!!! You guys are eating better than I did in college, that’s for sure!
I’m sorry if someone else already asked this, but I’m thinking of subbing quinoa in for millet. Do you think it would work?
Also- love your blog.
I’m also a vegetarian crazy dog-mom. :) <3
Hi Stephanie! I’m sorry, I’m confused, because there isn’t any millet in this burrito recipe. If you’re thinking about the sweet potato veggie burgers, then yes! Quinoa works.
So I just finished a New Years resolution to try to cook 50 recipes over 2014 that I have never cooked before (to break my bad habit of living off scrambled eggs and veggie burgers), and out of all of them this was the winner. Thank you so much for sharing it! (for the record a bunch of your other dishes are pretty high up on the list as well)
Sean! I meant to respond sooner. I’m pretty psyched that these burritos were tops in your challenge! What a great resolution. Thanks for letting me know!
Oh My Gosh! This looks incredible. I love avocado. I love sweet potato so I’m definitely pinning this
Fantastic recipe! I made an extra batch of the sweet potatoes and used them as a side dish for the next day’s dinner.
So like I used avocados not from mexico thinking that “sure, avocados are pretty much the same anywhere” but boy was I wrong.
Came out disgusting….
Subtracted one star for my personal experiences.
THIS WAS AMAZING. CAPS COMPLETELY NECESSARY!!!!!! I’M HAVING THIS SAUCE ON EVERYTHING OMG OMG OMG.
I could literally eat it out of the bowl, you are completely right.
Haha, hooray! Thanks, Miranda!
These burritos are in our weekly rotation. Can’t get enough!
Hooray, thanks Claire!
Absolutely love this recipe! It’s on the regular rotation in out house, right next to the sweet potato black bean veggie burgers. Yummmmmah!
Our house that is!
Thank you, Tina!
I made these today for cinco de mayo. Unfortunately I burnt the sweet potato a bit. Even so they were great. Everyone loved the avocado salsa. So amazing!! Even the kids who thought they didn’t like avocados. I will make this again for sure.
Thank you, Jen! Glad the tacos turned out well. I kinda like slightly burnt sweet potatoes… let’s call them caramelized. :)
We just finished these for dinner and this is another winner recipe from you with the combination of black beans, sweet potatoes and avocados. My daughter had asked me to make one of your other recipes but she was glad I made these. My husband said we have to have this again, no argument from me! If I need a vegetarian recipe, your site is the go to place for me. Thank you!
Hi R.A.! So glad you all enjoyed the burritos. Thank you for being such a loyal visitor! Means a lot.
My favorite recipe to date! Of course, I think I have said that about at least 20 of your recipes. I didn’t know a sweet potato burrito could taste so good!
Hooray!!! Thank you, B.J.
Hi Kate,
Thank you so much for maintaining such a fantastic blog! I have loved every recipe of your’s– and my (usually) meat-loving husband does too! I appreciate that the ingredients aren’t terribly pricey and are easy to find. I’m looking forward to trying out some more recipes this summer.
And I love your sous chef, Cookie!
Thank you for saying hello, Caitlin! I really appreciate your kind words. :)
Kate – hi from Washington, DC. My good friend from Norway was visiting me and introduced me to your site. Since her visit I’ve made two of your recipes, including this one. My husband and I are blown away! He immediately commented that there is no way you’re single. ;) Keep it up!
Hey Molly! Thanks for saying hello! Your husband’s comment made me smile. :)
This was delicious!
I’ve never posted on this blog before but I just had to thank you for creating and sharing these wonderful recipes! They are so savory, scrumptious, and filling. I made this one last night for my friends and it was a hit! This and the Asian Chopped Kale Salad with Edamame, Carrot and Avocado are my favorites. I’ll be trying the other sweet potato recipes and kale salads! Thanks again! Love your writing and photos!
This might be one of my favourite, go-to recipes – the flavour is amazing, and I love it is (almost) as tasty on days 2 and 3 as it is on day 1. Excellent for a single person who wants to cook once for several meals!
Love this recipe!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe today for lunch! Looks so fresh and good. I recently tried your power kale salad and fell in love with it! Since then it’s made its way into my weekly meal plan.
When you say “combine the avocado flesh,” do you mean the skin or the inside? Sorry if this might be a silly question, I’ve just always referred to the flesh of something, being the skin. Should like a fire dish. Can’t wait to try it! :)
Sounds like a fire dish. **
Good question—I mean the inside of the avocado. You’ll never use the skin or pit!
This was awesome….didn’t change a thing….
Any alternatives to salsa verde? Or how to make it yourself quickly?
I’d use this avocado sauce instead.
Really wonderful weeknight meal and the boyfriend asked me to make this again after only having a first bite :)
I have to second Chaz’s question, are there any alternatives to salsa verde? Recipe looks soo delicious, but unfortunately I can’t seem to find it at all here in England! Would normal red salsa completely ruin the taste? I did consider making it myself but it can end up a bit pricey buying all the herbs when you don’t have your own herb garden.
Thanks!
Sorry to hear you can’t find salsa verde! It’s one of my favorite condiments. I wouldn’t use red salsa; the flavor is significantly different and it will turn a gross brown color if you blend it with avocado. I’d use this avocado sauce instead.
This looks wonderful, thanks especially for the avocado salsa verde idea — much healthier than sour cream, and more fun too :)
My wife and I made this for the first time today. Actually last night, I roasted a couple red bell peppers, prepared and roasted the sweet potatoes, and made the avocado sauce. It was super easy to assemble, though, I did tuck the ends of the burrito in :-) In your recipe I think you should specify the weight of the sweet potato…I “googled” medium sweet potato and decided that a one pound sweet potato is enough for this recipe, and it was. Great, satisfying, flavorful, easy recipe. We will be making this again and again. Thank you!
Made this for my mom during my visit this week. I live in nyc & she lives in NJ. Had to remove the salsa verde from the recipe since my mom can’t tolerate tomatoes, but even the avocado sauce was fantastic. My mom said this was one of the best things she’s eaten this year!
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I’m an ovo lacto vegetarian & try to eat as much whole food as I can. Your blog really helps me create wonderful meals that all my non-vegetarian friends & family still love.
UNBELIEVABLE. If I could give this recipe 10 stars, I would. If I could only take one thing with me to a desert island, I would take this dish. If I could have this dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would (and have). If I had to choose a a recipe which perfectly describes everything joyful in the world, I would choose this one. If I were to look up the definition of delicious in the dictionary, I would find this recipe.
Jenny, this might be my favorite recipe description, ever. THANK YOU!