These healthy quinoa stuffed sweet potatoes are a delicious alternative for the vegan diet. This tasty sweet potatoes can be enjoyed on their own for a lunch, as a side or cut into appetizers.
I stuffed these sweet potatoes with a vegan sun-dried tomato and basil cheese alternative, then topped with guinoa, green onion, fresh parsley and dill which turned out to be exceptional. Feel free to add a few chili peppers for some heat.
Ways to enjoy these delicious stuffed sweet potatoes:
- Light Meal: They certainly can be enjoyed as a meal; these stuffed potatoes are filling and very satisfying, since they are loaded with protein, carbs, and veggies to make a complete meal.
- Appetizer: slice them into bite size pieces and enjoy them as an appetizer
- Side Dish: when you need that extra side for a meal, these would be perfect, with another veggie, fish, seafood or a meat dish to complete a meal.
Ingredients and Helpful Tips:
Sweet potatoes: have a natural sweetness to them, and are such a versatile potato. They are high in fibre, along with other vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B and C, iron, calcium, selenium and other vitamins and minerals.
Vegan sun-dried tomato and basil spread: this delicious cashew culture spread adds flavour and creaminess to these stuffed sweet potatoes, and if you live in Ontario or Canada, this company ships and their website is: https://www.zengarry.com/
Green onion: adds a mild onion flavour so it’s not overpowering
Parsley: adds a balance and brightens the flavour
Dill: the dill adds a delicious citrus flavour to these stuffed potato, and compliments the vegan cheese
Quinoa Stuffed Sweet Potato with Garlic and Herbs
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potato
- 4 tbsp vegan cashew sun-dried tomato and basil spread
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili peppers (optional)
- 1/2 cup organic quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth/water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Pierce each sweet potato several times, then wrap in foil. Place them directly on the middle rack of the oven. Another option is cut the potato in half and lay on a baking sheet, and drizzle with oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Bake (whole potato) about 45-50 minutes, depending on the size of the potato, until when pierced with a knife goes through easily. Remove from oven, unwrap and allow to cool.
- While the potatoes are baking, cook quinoa using the instructions on the package. By using vegetable broth will add more flavour, but water will do. Once cooked, add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Remove about half of the potato flesh, and add it to the medium bowl, then add the garlic and sun-dried tomato and basil cheese spread, chili peppers if using and mix together.
- When assembling, add spoonful's of the cheese mixture to each potato half, and place in the oven at 200°F for about 5-10 minutes until the spread softens. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes, then add quinoa, green onion, fresh parsley and parsley.
- Serve immediately as a light meal or as a side.
Nutrition
How to make this recipe:
Bake the potatoes until they become soft when pierce with a knife. Remove and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove about 2/3’s of the flesh from the potato and mix together with the sun-dried tomato and basil spread in a medium bowl, and add red chili peppers if using. Fill and distribute evenly the potato skins with the mixture, then place in a 200°F oven, for 5-10 minutes, long enough to soften the cheese spread.
Once you remove the potato skins from the oven, allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes, then add spoonful’s of quinoa to each potato half, distributed evenly the chopped green onion, parsley, and dill. Serve each half as a side dish with grilled chicken, fish or beef. Another option is to enjoy these tasty healthy sweet potatoes for a lunch or side.
