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Tacos! It’s been too long.
Well, not really. I make tacos at least once a week, but I have not posted tacos since these Caribbean Jerk Salmon Tostadas with Grilled Pineapple Peach Coconut Salsa. That was back in August and those are technically not even tacos.
So yeah, it has just been too long.
And yeah, I am aware that there is this giant food holiday on Thursday. I am also aware that I should probably be showing you last-minute Thanksgiving food, and maybe I will tomorrow, but we still gotta eat for the next three days, right? So, I mean why not make it good food?
Good pretty, festive and healthy food.
Yes!
I am pretty sure that most everyone is loaded up with sweet potatoes and cranberries in their cupboards right now, and if you’re not you should be. They are November’s super foods and they are kind of delicious.
And speaking of November and food and Thanksgiving, do you guys have your menus set?
Personally, I have never been so unprepared.
I have honestly not given our Thanksgiving meal a thought until now. Ok well, I have thought about Thanksgiving meals, but only in regards to what to make to show you guys. As for my family’s Thanksgiving I have not a thing planned… and there is a lot of us. Too many if you ask me, but that’s just my family. It’s big.
Fortunately (in this case anyway), most of them all have super boring taste buds, so our Thanksgiving does not require much thought.
Although, I know there has to be a lot of pie, so I better at least start prepping some dough or something.
Ok, but back to the tacos.
These tacos, that personally I could honestly eat for Thanksgiving dinner and be SO happy with, do have two Thanksgiving “all-stars”. Hello sweet potatoes and cranberries.
This recipe is one of my favorites.
First the quinoa and sweet potato filling. In my opinion it is better than any meat filling out there. It is full of flavor and texture. It’s spicy with the slightest hint of sweet from the sweet potatoes. The combo of chipotle and sweet potatoes is one of the best. Plus, it’s really quick and easy to throw together. I never even peel my sweet potatoes, that alone helps cut down the already quick prep time!
My favorite part?
My favorite part is without a doubt the salsa. The salsa is what makes these tacos. It is incredible, and my all time favorite salsa that I have made yet. And I made A LOT of salsa over the summer. It is sort of like cranberry sauce, but so much better. It has more flavor, better taste and paired with the quinoa it is just SO good. Actually, I would totally dig into the salsa with a spoon, spread it on toast, sandwiches, pretty much whatever.
And the leftovers are equally as good.
The next night I made a giant taco salad with a little lettuce, a lot of quinoa, cheese, avocado, crushed tortilla chips and a ton of salsa. Total health food. It’s kind of awesome and perfect since I have a feeling Thursday through Friday will be um well… not so healthy.
Oh, and the quinoa can also be eaten as a side, or even a lunch. It is very versatile.
I just cannot say enough good things about these tacos. They are my favorite, maybe one of my favorite recipes on this site. Yes, I have a lot of recipes on Half Baked Harvest and as of right now these tacos are in the top five favorites.
They are so good. They’re a little spicy, a little sweet, very healthy and the prettiest food I have ever eaten. You guy will love them. Really you will!
Chipotle Quinoa Sweet Potato Tacos with Roasted Cranberry Pomegranate Salsa
Servings: 8 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 628 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 a small sweet onion
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 1 large sweet potato chopped (peel if desired)
- salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa I used red quinoa
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 canned chipotle chilies minced
- 1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo from the chipotle chili can
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cayenne or to your taste
- 1 cup cooked black beans if using canned drain and rinse them
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 small bunch cilantro
- 6-8 four tortillas corn tortillas (warmed) or hard shell tacos (personally my family prefers hards shell, but all of them are good!), warmed
- 1 avocado sliced or diced, for topping
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese for topping
- cotija cheese crumbled, for topping
Roasted Cranberry Pomegranate Salsa
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 canned chipotle chili chopped
- 1 lime zested + juiced
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 1 jalapeno chopped and seed removed if desired
- the arils from 1 pomegranate learn how to deseed a pomegranate [here | https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/deseed-pomegranate-pictures/]
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make the salsa. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Place the cranberries, brown sugar, chipotle chili, lime zest + juice, garlic, jalapeño and a pinch of salt and pepper. Use your hands to toss everything together until the cranberries are evenly coated. Place in the oven and roast until the cranberries burst and release their juices, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and and let cool 10 minutes. Then add the pomegranate arils and toss well. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired. Set aside and keep at room temperature.
- Well the cranberries are roasting start the tacos. Heat the olive oil over a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the onions and sweet potatoes and toss to coat. Cover the skillet and let cook until the sweet potatoes are fork tender, but not mushy, stirring once or twice for about 15 minutes. Once the sweet potatoes are fork tender, add the garlic and saute 30 seconds. Then crank up the heat to medium-high (adding more oil if needed) and add the quinoa. Let the quinoa get crispy and cook for about 5 minutes. Add 3/4 cup water, tomatoes (if using), the chili powder, chipotle chilies, adobo sauce, smoked paprika, cumin, brown sugar and cayenne, stir to thoroughly combine and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the water has completely evaporated. Remove from the heat and stir in the black beans, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and the lime juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
- To assemble the tacos place some of the quinoa in a tortilla or shell. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, avocado, a large dollop the the roasted cranberry salsa, crumbled catija cheese and fresh chopped cilantro. Take in their beauty and then EAT!
Get at em.
hi Tieghan! for Lent this year i gave up a bread, which includes tortillas, so i have been looking for creative ideas for Mexican recipes. i used your sweet potato taco filling to fill kale “enchiladas”! it was fabulous!! thanks so much for the great, and versatile, recipe 🙂
Oh what a great idea!! So happy you loved the filling!! 🙂
The heat in these taco’s is a monument to man’s arrogance.
They are amazingly delicious but “a little spicy” is a bit of an understatement (or at least for weak willed Canadians).
That said I do make these on a semi-regular basis. Thank you for the recipe!
Happy you love them! Thanks!
Hello, when you mention “2 canned chipotle chilies, minced” for the tacos, do you mean 2 cans of chipotle chilies or do you mean 2 chilies out of one can? Thank you! Hope you can respond soon as I would love to make them tonight! Thanks again
Hi! It is 2 canned chipotle chiles that you mince. So two chilies out of one can. DO NOT use 2 whole cans, that would be crazy spicy!! YIKES!
Sorry for the late response. You comment got missed some how. SO SORRY!
Hi, I figured as much! They were soooooo delicious thank you!! Please more vegetarian recipes like this! Very creative. Loved the sweet potato, avocado and adobo all together (put extra adobo sauce on top) and I used tri color quinoa.
So happy you loved these!!! 🙂
Thanks!
I made these last night and they were amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Gina!
Can I just say, this blog is what got me through the day today.
Every time I read it, I just get more and more excited about whats next.
Very refreshing blog and very refreshing ideas.
Im glad that I came across this when I did.
I love what youve got to say and the way you say it.
Wow! Thank you so much! So happy you are enjoying my blog!
Hey there… I can’t find blackbeans where I live in Spain, so is there an alternative that you would use. Cant wait to make this… it looks so delicious. Thank you.
Hey Sally! Just leave the black beans out, not big deal!
Hope you love these! They are one of my favorites! 🙂
I read over 3 times….saw nothing that incorporated the black beans the ingredients called for
Hey Nettie, I am so sorry about that. The black beans are stired in at the end of cooking. I fixed the directions.
Hope you love these!
My cranberries burned. 🙁 How often should we stir? I stirred it a couple of times, even pulled them out early, but their juices were burnt and I had salsa-less tacos. I whipped up some quacamole and added the pomegranate seeds to that, which was pretty awesome.
Also, the sweet potato / quinoa mix was REALLY hot, and I only used half the pepper and half the cayenne.
I think when I try again, I’ll do the cranberries in the microwave instead of the oven. And maybe only 1/2 of one chipotle pepper.
Oh man, sorry you cranberries burnt!! But glad you added the pomegranates to some guac! Yum!
Hope the next time goes a lot better! Thanks for making these and reporting back!
Just made the filling recipe. Opted out of the salsa this time. A question for you: do you know if the filling freezes well? It made so much and there’s just one of me! I don’t want it to go bad before I can eat it all 🙂
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hey Paula!!
I have never frozen this, but I do know that quinoa and sweet potatoes freeze really well. I would give it a try, I think it will work great!
Thanks so much for making these! 🙂
Made these on Tuesday for a weekly Taco Tuesday with friends. They were a huge hit! Love having leftovers for work 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
YAY!! SO happy you loved these! Thanks for reporting back, Kaitlin!
This was so very cool and fun to read. I have enjoyed this great and fun information. This was really and fun to read. I have enjoyed and I want to thank you۔
WOW! These were seriously delicious! I made them for Thanksgiving and they were perfect! Love the smoky, spicy, amazing flavor! The salsa and cotija cheese really set it off. Will definitely share and make again! One question…in the ingredient list it calls for black beans, but I didn’t see where to add them in the instructions. I left them out and didn’t miss them. But i was curious. ;). Thanks for the delicious recipe!!
YES!! These are my favorite!! So happy you loved them!
I did add black beans to mine, but only to half the mixture. Most of my family despises beans, but i personally love them! Totally you choice on the beans!
Ironic – I just posted a recipe to my blog yesterday that’s similar, using ounces fresh cranberries. I agree, this is something I could eat every day in the fall!
Thanks Anna!! I will have to check out your recipe!
That salsa. Wow. Just wow.
The salsa is my favorite! I loved it!
Do you just use one chili out of the can for the salsa? Or the whole can?
Just ONE chili! Not the whole can. That would be SPICY! LOL!
Hope you love these! 🙂