Vegan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Welcome back to Recession Recipes! These vegan stuffed sweet potatoes are both delicious and affordable, coming in at less than $2.50 a serving.
In every generation, homemakers had to flex their creative muscles to make the most delicious and nutritious meals with limited resources. In fact, many national dishes feature the country’s most accessible ingredients.
Baked potato is a great example of that. Potato was once one of the most accessible crops that didn’t require additional processing and could be stored for extended periods of time. The fillings varied depending on what was available in that region or at that time of the year.
These vegan stuffed sweet potatoes are a slightly elevated version of the classic baked potato. Sweet potato brings a lot of flavour to the table, while chickpeas are a cheap source of fat and protein.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The main “selling point” of this recipe is the price tag! See what I did there? The sum of ingredients, including spices and condiments, makes fours servings for under $10, less than $2.50 per serving!
- It’s really quite easy to make. Most of the prep can be condensed to 15 minutes or less, the rest of the cooking time is entirely hands-off.
- As well as feeding a family of four, this recipe is great for couples or individuals meal prepping for the week!
- In addition to being extremely budget-friendly, this recipe is calorie-dense. Between sweet potato, chickpeas, and sunflower seeds, this meal will have you feeling satiated and content.
How to Make This Recipe
Let’s start by preheating the oven to 400F and lining two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Add your sweet potatoes to one of the sheets. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the skin. Season your sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven for 1 hour. You’ll know they’re ready when the outside is crispy but the potatoes are soft and squishy inside.
Next, prepare your chickpeas. Drain the liquid, reserving it for other recipes.
Add them to the second baking sheet, along with a tablespoon of olive oil (optional), paprika, garlic powder and half of the salt (3/4 tsp). Toss everything together or rub the spices in using your hands.
When the sweet potatoes are halfway done, add the chickpeas into the oven for the remaining 30 minutes.
It’s time to make the sauce! Add sunflower seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, water and a bit of salt to a blender. Blend until a smooth and adjust the seasonings if needed.
Once the sweet potatoes are ready, remove them from the oven, and slice it lengthways, creating a little potato “boat”. Mash the inside of the potato slightly, then add some kale, roasted chickpeas and drizzle the sunflower cream sauce on top. Enjoy immediately.
Hack It!
- I used sweet potatoes because they typically bring more flavor than the regular potatoes. However, feel free to bake regular potatoes instead!
- Short on time? Try microwaving the sweet potatoes for a couple of minutes beforehand. This could reduce the cooking time dramatically, allowing you to roast potatoes and chickpeas at the same time.
- Realistically, toppings can be swapped around depending on what you already have in your fridge and pantry. For instance, you could use white beans instead of chickpeas, spinach instead of kale, or vegan nacho cheese instead of homemade sunflower cream.
- You could also add extra toppings to taste! Try this dish with spicy pickled red onions, toasted pumpkin seeds, or fresh herbs.
- Enjoy this dish by itself, with your favorite side salad or appetizer.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
- Stuffed Onions
- Creamy Ramen Soup
- Hidden Veggie Soup
- Buffalo Cauliflower Wraps
- Vegetable Soup with Rice and Beans
One of my biggest passions is to encourage people to eat more plants, even if you have a very tight budget! If that’s your goal, check out the PlantYou Cookbook. It’s a comprehensive vegan cookbook that features over 140 recipes for every occasion. This book is for everyone from beginner cooks to kitchen professionals, with a beautiful infographic accompanying each recipe!
And if you want to be more organized with choosing your recipes and prepping your meals, you’ll love the PlantYou Planner! It’s the perfect plant-based meal planner you can carry in your pocket! Our planner allows you to FULLY CUSTOMIZE your weekly menu, as well as toggle the number of servings and enjoy the individual shopping list generated by the app. Best of all, it’s much more affordable than a tailored meal plan.
The Recipe: Vegan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes, medium, whole
- 1 400ml can chickpeas, drained
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- 2 cups kale, massaged with olive oil, if desired
- 1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight or boiled for 10 minutes
- ¾ cup water, or more as needed
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, Tamari if gluten-free
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Equipment
- 2 Baking sheets
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On one baking sheet, add the sweet potatoes. Poke holes in them with a fork, and season with olive oil, salt and pepper as desired.
- Place them in the oven and roast for 1 hour, until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
- While the sweet potatoes roast, prepare the chickpeas. Add them to the second baking sheet, along with a tablespoon of olive oil if desired, paprika, garlic powder and ¾ teaspoon of salt. Massage with hands until evenly coated.
- When the sweet potatoes are half cooked, add the chickpeas into the oven as well for the remaining 30 minutes.
- While the chickpeas are now roasting, add the sunflower seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, water and a bit of salt to a blender. Combine until a smooth sauce is formed.
- When the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the oven, and make a slice in the middle of each. Mash the inner potato a bit, then top with some kale, the seasoned chickpeas and finally the sunflower cream sauce. Enjoy immediately.