How to: Recipe Makeover – Twice Baked Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Coming up with new, exciting ideas for the blog can be challenging.  My fave is to use the seasons as my guide, because fresh seasonal food is always inspirational.

But y’know…March in Canada is just real bitch for seasonal produce.

Hurry uuuup rhubarb!

After a good powwow with the gals in my office, I’ve got a slew of new ideas for upcoming posts. Thanks ladies!  This one is both a recipe makeover – a healthier version of restaurant style twice baked potatoes – and a rip on one of our older recipes (Butternut squash enchiladas).

Sweet potatoes are so good and so good for you.  Also, eat them skins y’all.  They not only contain great healthy stuff (vitamins, mineral, fibre – you know the deal) – they add great texture.

I realize this is a twice ‘baked’ potato recipe and I’ve cheated by microwaving the potatoes for step 1.  It’s just so much faster.  30 minutes instead of 90. How can one argue?

Now let’s talk chipotle peppers in adobo for just one minute.  They are HOT. The can contains about 8-10 of them, but please trust me when I say you only need one, with perhaps a teaspoon or so of the sauce, max.  Do not get rid of the leftovers!  Place them all on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet, leaving a space between each pepper.  Freeze em’ right on the baking sheet.  Once frozen place the individual frozen peppers in a freezer bag for later use.  I probably go through a can a year and have never had a freezer burn problem.

They add a super awesome spicy and smokey flavour.  If you can’t find them, you can substitute with a teaspoon of mild chili powder and finely minced jalapeño.

You can add all of the black beans in to the potato mixture if you like.  I left some aside to act as a garnish.  If you’re serving it to people for dinner, it will give them a sense of what’s inside.

The green onions and lime wedge really add a pop of fresh flavour so don’t leave them out! If you’re a cilantro lover, I’m sure it would be a good replacement.

Stuffed stuff is awesome.

Erin

Twice Baked Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Print recipe

Serves

4

Ingredients

• 4 Medium sweet potatoes (washed and scrubbed well)
• ½ cup sour cream (more for garnish if desired)
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cup canned black beans
• 50g creamy feta cheese (goat cheese, mozzarella or Monterey jack would be great, too.)
• 3 green onions (sliced)
• lime wedges

Note

These would also be delicious topped with a few slices of avocado.

Directions

1.	Using a small sharp knife or a fork, poke each sweet potato 3-4 times on either side toward the middle of the potato.
2.	Microwave potatoes on high power. About 5 minutes for 1 potato, adding 2-3 minutes for each additional potato. For 4 potatoes, microwave for 12 - 15 minutes turning over halfway through. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
3.	Preheat oven to 400F. Cut a ¼" slice of the 'top' of each potato (on one of the sides you have poked). Scoop out the flesh of the potatoes. You will only use the flesh of 3 of the 4 potatoes to re-stuff them. Keep the remaining flesh for a different use or to snack on while you prep.
4.	Combine potato flesh, sour cream, chipotle pepper and salt in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender. You can also mash everything together with a fork; just be sure to mash the chipotle pepper into a paste before mixing it all together. Add 1 cup black beans.
5.	Re-stuff potato skins. Top with feta cheese. Bake for 12 minutes, with an additional 1-2 minutes under the broiler until cheese begins to brown.
6.	Garnish with green onion, remaining black bean and lime wedges.