In a decade of sharing recipes, these Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls remain my all-time favorite vegetarian meal! They feature a bed of fluffy rice topped with seasoned and roasted sweet potatoes and bell peppers, plus savory black beans, and smooth avocado, all topped with the best creamy sauce ever.
Explore more of our popular vegetarian bowl recipes such as the Buddha Bowl, Grain Bowl, and Nourish Bowl.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls
This dish is a hit at home – quick, nutritious, and satisfying without meat. It combines fluffy rice, roasted veggies, and black beans with an irresistible sauce.
Top your black bean burrito bowl with avocado, lime, cilantro, and jalapeño (if you love heat) and you’re in for a treat!
Reasons To Love This Recipe:
- Dinner Favorite: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls are a huge hit with everyone!
- Easy Prep: Simple to make, perfect for busy evenings.
- Nutritious: Wholesome, filling, and meat-free.
- Meal Prep Friendly: Great for leftovers or meal prepping lunches.
- Customizable Spice: Add jalapeño for heat or keep it mild.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls Ingredients
- Grains: Not just rice – try quinoa, couscous, bulgur, or farro.
- Sweet Potatoes: Choose firm, smooth ones. Wash, peel, and chop for even cooking; peeling is optional.
- Red Bell Peppers: Pick bright, glossy ones and slice uniformly for even roasting.
- Olive Oil: Use high-quality extra virgin for better flavor.
- Spices: Ensure seasonings are all fresh for best flavor.
- Black Beans: Rinse canned beans to lower sodium, or make our best-ever Black Beans!
Toppings
- Cilantro, Lime, Avocado, Jalapeños: Choose bright green cilantro, heavy limes, slightly soft avocados, and firm jalapeños.
- Mayonnaise: Opt for full-fat, preferably Best Food’s/Hellman’s®, for a creamy sauce.
- Lime Juice and Zest: Use fresh for maximum flavor.
- Dressing Spices: Spices, along with Sriracha adjusted to heat preference.
How To Make Black Bean Burrito Bowls (Tips)
- Spice Adjustment: Vary chili powder and jalapeños for desired heat.
- Meal Prep: Make large batches of veggies, grain, and sauce for easy meals throughout the week.
- Extra Sauce: Consider doubling the dressing recipe to use in other dishes.
- Uniform Cutting: Evenly cut sweet potatoes ensure consistent cooking.
- Avoid Overcrowding: Use a larger or multiple pans to prevent steaming during roasting.
- High Heat: Roast at a high temperature for caramelized sweet potatoes with tender insides.
What To Serve Alongside Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls
- Tortilla chips with salsa or pico de gallo
- Our favorite Guacamole recipe with chips
- Mexican street corn (Elote)
- Easy everyday side salad recipe
- A quick fruit salad recipe
- Churros or churro ice cream sandwiches for dessert
Storage
Storing and Meal Prepping:
- Store the components separately in airtight containers to maintain freshness. They’ll keep in the fridge for about 5 days. Add avocados and cilantro fresh.
- Cook base ingredients in bulk for easy assembly during the week. Prep toppings like lime and jalapeños in advance, but chop avocado just before serving to prevent browning.
More Vegetarian Favorites
- Vegetarian Tacos with roasted sweet potatoes
- Couscous Salad with Greek salad dressing
- Roasted Butternut Squash Couscous Bowls
- Creamy Vegetable Soup
- Quinoa Salad with lemon vinaigrette
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls
These Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito Bowls are my all-time favorite vegetarian meal! Fluffy rice, roasted sweet potatoes and peppers, savory black beans, creamy avocado, and the best sauce come together for a perfect burrito bowl.
Equipment
- Sheet pan 15 x 21-inch
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice plus ingredients called for, see note 1
- 4 cups peeled and cubed 1-inch sweet potatoes 2 large potatoes, 1-1/2 pounds
- 2 red bell peppers thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil divided
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
- Salt and pepper
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
- Toppings as desired see note 2
Dressing
- 2 limes
- 1/2 cup mayo Best Foods/Hellman’s
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Peel sweet potatoes and chop into 1-inch pieces. Slice bell peppers and set aside. Drain and rinse black beans; set aside to dry.
- Cook the grain of choice (see note 1) according to package directions. Allow to slightly cool before assembling the final bowls.
- On an extra-large rimmed sheet pan, add potatoes with 3 tablespoons olive oil, paprika, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste (I add 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper). Space out for even roasting. Roast 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and toss. To other side of sheet pan, add sliced peppers and remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Toss, then spread out. Return to oven and cook another 15–20 minutes or until peppers are crisp tender and potatoes are tender.
- Remove and toss on the tray with the rinsed and dried black beans.
- While everything is cooking, zest and juice limes to get 1/2 teaspoon zest and 3 tablespoons juice. Combine lime zest and juice with all sauce ingredients. Season to taste (I add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper). Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until using.
- Chop cilantro, slice or dice an avocado, slice a jalapeño, and slice a lime.
- Fill a bowl with cooked and cooled grain, top with veggies and beans, and add toppings and dressing. Enjoy promptly!
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Feel free to use any type of grain! Try our “magic” baked white rice or brown rice methods. Other fantastic bases include easy baked farro, quick stove-top couscous or quinoa, or ultra-quick bulgur.
Note 2: Try some of these toppings: cilantro, fresh lime, avocado(s), and jalapeños (optional).
Storage: If meal prepping, prepare all the components and store separately. Assemble right before eating and cut avocado right before enjoying.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 639kcal | Carbohydrates: 71.3g | Protein: 11.4g | Fat: 35.4g | Cholesterol: 11.6mg | Sodium: 704.8mg | Fiber: 14.3g | Sugar: 7.1g | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
No doubt, This recipe looks so delicious in those beautiful pictures!!! Love all those super healthy ingredients!!!
Learning this recipe has significantly improved my quality of life…absolute cash. 10/10 Thanks Chelsea!
Haha!! I’m so thrilled to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
This was delicious! I used greek yogurt instead of mayo and you can’t even tell the difference because of the sriracha. Also didn’t have lime on hand, so used lemon instead. All around a wonderful, healthy and super filling dish! Seriously folks, consider the greek yogurt- the sauce really wasn’t missing anything.
So happy you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the comment 🙂
Hi! This is an awesome recipe but wondering, what makes the fat content so high? I love the sauce but maybe am going to whip up some of my own avocado oil mayonnaise to use. Thanks!
I tried this recipe for dinner last night and it was pretty good! I loved the variety of ingredients/flavors, and that it had several healthy ingredients. I added some leftover rotisserie chicken which tasted great with it. I have to be honest, though, I didn’t really love the sauce like I thought I was going to. It just had too strong of a mayo flavor for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like mayo in general, but I felt like I tasted mayo way more than I expected. Granted, I didn’t add any sriracha, so maybe that would have helped. I personally would use sour cream next time as the base, or maybe half mayo, half sour cream. Overall a very wonderful meal, but I just wanted to share my thoughts about the mayo. Keep the recipes coming. I’ve made several things from your site last year!
The meal was delicious! I know it says no substitutions, but next time i would probably do either 1/4 cup mayo + 1/4 cup 2% greek plain yogurt for the dressing OR just do plain greek yogurt in place of the mayo. It would cut the fat, but still act as a base for the dressing, without compromising on flavor. I’ve done this for previous recipes, i don’t know why i didn’t for this one. Just a thought to help save some unnecessary fat & calories! 🙂
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this Adrianna! 🙂 Thanks so much for the tip 🙂
love sweet potato and black beans to start with, so thank you for this, beautiful photos too!
Awe thank you Sabrina! 🙂 I appreciate the compliment!
I made this last night for dinner and it was out of this world delicious! I added salt to the roasting veggies and half of an onion to the peppers. Honestly I didn’t even have any of the “extras” (avocado or jalepeno) and it was still phenomenal. I have two more servings left and I can’t wait to eat it again. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Oh that is SO great to hear! I’m thrilled it was a hit 🙂 You are so welcome Kate!
Did you adapt this recipe from a previous recipe of yours called Sweet Potato Burrito Bowls? I was planning on making that tonight, came here to print out the recipe & found Easy Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burrito Bowls posted just yesterday! Now I can’t decide which burrito bowl to make tonight…love having these kinds of “problems!”
Hey Vikki! So great to hear from you 🙂 It IS actually based off of my other sweet potato burrito bowls that so many readers have loved. 🙂 Those are right here: https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/one-skillet-sweet-potato-burrito-bowls/ There are quite a few differences — the older burrito bowls are all made in one skillet (on a range) and more of a hot cheesy rice and sweet potato dish with lots of southwestern veggies. This new burrito bowl has oven-roasted veggies and a creamy sauce that has a little bit of a kick to it. This new one has more of a spice kick to it and the veggies are eaten slightly cooled to go well with the sauce. They are more layered (rice, veggies and beans, sauce, toppings) while the older ones are all mixed together 🙂 While they are similar, they are also quite different, so hopefully my descriptions help you to decide which to make tonight (and then you’ll have to try the other one next time ;)) Enjoy!
I decided on both. Since I already had everything to make the stove top bowl, I made that last night. The hubs loved it, BTW. Tonight, we are having it again and I am adding the sauce from the oven bowl. I really like oven roasted vegetables so I am looking forward to trying the new burrito bowl soon. Thanks for the great recipes! ☺
hey girl this looks so good!
Thank you so much! 🙂
This was delicious! Thank you for the recipe. Normally I make all sorts of adjustments to recipes, but I wouldn’t change anything about this one. Sweet potatoes turned out perfectly, and the seasoning was delish. Yum!
I am seriously thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much for sharing Danielle! 🙂