I don't know about where you live, but where I live, sweet potatoes are available year round in my stores. But it only makes sense they must have a season, so I looked into it - and fall is it. Over the next few weeks, a new crop of sweet potatoes will be arriving for us to enjoy. And we're celebrating sweet potatoes today on the Food Networks's blog FNDish for #FallFest.

Sweet potatoes are so versatile - great for both sweet dishes and savory. I've always known this, but I've only recently been clued into how good they are with cheese. You need to know this too.

Along with many of you, I'm guessing, I had a slow migration from my favorite white fluffy russets to sweet potatoes. Unless they were sweetened up and smothered in toasted marshmallows, I wasn't interested. For a savory potato I wanted my russet or a Yukon gold. I'd heard the health benefits, yada, yada, yada, and finally broke down and started making fries out of them, figuring this was a good entry dish. They were really, really good. I started baking up fries all the time.

But I thrive on the new, the next new thing, and landed on this baby: baked (technically, microwaved, but you can bake yours in the oven if you have that kind of time on your hands), split open and filled with black beans, cheese, white onion, slivers of Anaheim pepper, and topped with crème fraîche. There are some spices involved along the way to jazz it up a bit, and needs nothing more than a salad to make it a meal.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: vegetarian main

Servings: 2 servings

Author: Susan Pridmore

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• ¼ cup minced white onion
• 2 tablespoon small diced Anaheim pepper or other mild chile
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon ground Pimentón Ahumado Smoked Paprika
• juice squeezed from ½ navel orange about 2 Tbsp
• ⅔ cup grated cheeses I used cheddar and Cojita
• 3 tablespoon crème fraiche
• ½ teaspoon chipotle peppers in adobo
• pinch kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon minced chives

Instructions

• Scrub the sweet potatoes and puncture them with a sharp knife across the top, using the line for splitting the potatoes open to fill them. Microwave to cook them. In my microwave oven, it takes about 7 minutes for 2 potatoes.
• Warm up the oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers, and cook until completely softened and beginning to caramelize – about 15 minutes. Add the allspice, salt, cayenne, and smoked paprika, toss to coat, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Add the beans, and orange juice. The orange juice will loosen any bits that have cooked onto the bottom of the skillet – be sure to scrape them up. They’re full of flavor!
• Split the cooked sweet potatoes open. Put a little cheese into the bottoms of the sweet potatoes, and pile the bean mixture on top. Top each stuffed potato with the rest of the grated cheese and microwave for 1 minute to melt it.
• Stir together the crème fraiche and chipotle pepper in adobo with a pinch of salt. Put a dollop on top and sprinkle a light dusting of chives over everything.

If you're looking for more ideas for sweet potatoes, check out the links below, and go visit the Food Network's Pinterest board.

Sweet Potatoes for #FallFest

Creative Culinary: Twice-Baked Jalapeno Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Streusel Topping
Homemade Delish: Jacked Sweet Potato Quesadilla
Healthy Eats: How Sweet It Is: 7 Sweet Potato Dishes for Every Palate
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Sweet Potato, Green Onion & Herb Pommes Anna
Red or Green: Sweet Potato "Nacho" Dip
Taste with the Eyes: Caramelized Upside-Down French Sweet Potato Pie {Tarte Tatin}
Dishin & Dishes: Bacon Poblano Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash
The Mom 100: Sweet Potato Pie
The Wimpy Vegetarian: Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
FN Dish: Five 5-Star Ways to Get Your Sweet Potato Fix