At first I wasn’t sure if I should share this recipe because it doesn’t involve much cooking and is something I often just throw together–but then I realized that’s a good reason to share it–it’s easy, packed with nutrients, and even people who don’t like to cook can make it!
Basically this dish consists of topping a baked sweet potato with beans, salsa, and whatever condiments you want (like nutritional yeast, hot sauce, etc.). I like to serve it over a bed of baby spinach with some steamed broccoli for extra greens and cruciferous veggies as well. If you don’t like sweet potatoes, this is just as delicious with white potatoes, and it’s good with any type of beans, black beans are actually my favorite, but I was out when I made it this time.
To make this meal even easier and quicker, bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time so you can just heat it all up and add it over greens.
You can also make this meal low fat by not including the avocado–I made this a bunch when I was on a low fat diet that my doctor recommended to help with acne.
What are some of your favorite easy vegan meals? Let me know in the comments!

Sweet Potato Surprise
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 large sweet potato baked
- 1 cup canned beans of choice rinsed
- 1/2 cup broccoli steamed
- 1/2 large avocado or 1 small avocado
- Optional toppings: salsa nutritional yeast, hot sauce
Instructions
- Use a knife to make a couple of slits in the sweet potato and bake at 400 degrees F (204 degrees C) for 40-60 minutes until sweet potato is soft. I like mine extra sweet and oozy, so I cooked mine for 60 minutes. During the last few minutes, steam broccoli in a rice cooker or by microwaving for 3 minutes with a little bit of water in a container with a loose fitting lid. Warm beans in the microwave as well.
- Cut sweet potato in half and place over the baby spinach. Top with beans, salsa, and condiments of choice. Add sliced avocado and steamed broccoli.
For the second go-around, I made it with sweet potatoes only because that had a better ring than butternut squash surprise.