These crispy jerk sweet potato tacos are hearty, spicy, flavourful and filled with veggies. They make a great vegan lunch or dinner.
Over the weekend we were hit with unseasonably warm weather here in Canada. I’m talking 15+ C or 59+ F, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Obviously, I opted to spend the majority of my long weekend outdoors celebrating the uncommonly good weather. But the few hours I did spend at home were used to make some summer inspired eats and drinks.
And by that I mean tacos and margaritas.
The margs were gone the second I made them so I don’t have any photos – or a recipe really – to share. However, I did manage to take pics of these crispy jerk sweet potato tacos before I devoured them.
The idea for these jerk sweet potato tacos has actually been kicking around in my mind for a few months now. So I’m really glad the weather and this month’s Recipe Redux theme aligned perfectly to encourage me make them a reality.
The recipe is fairly simple and only takes about 40 – 50 minutes. I made my jerk marinade from scratch this time but I’ve used the store bought stuff in the past and it was just as good.
After making the marinade you have a couple options. First, you can precook and marinate the sweet potato for a couple hours, before breading and baking. The jerk flavour shines through a bit more but it does add a couple hours to the prep time.
Alternatively, you can dredge and bread the uncooked sweet potato and bake right way. The sweet potato isn’t as intensely jerk flavoured but this method is much quicker and yields slightly crispier pieces.
Either way, these crispy jerk sweet potato tacos are hearty, spicy, flavourful and filled with lots of plant-based goodness. I topped mine with kale, avocado, this mango pineapple salsa and an easy cilantro yogurt drizzle.
Next time I plan to go for coleslaw and this cilantro-line avo dressing, which I think will go amazing together. But since I know tacos are intensely personal things, feel free to switch up your toppings as you see fit.
If you make these crispy sweet potato tacos, I’d love to hear what you think. Leave a comment and rate the recipe or take a pic and tag it @ExSloth on Instagram!
More Caribbean-inspired recipes:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- ⅓ cup flour*
- ¾ cup almond milk*
- ¼ - ⅓ cup jerk marinade, more or less to taste
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp allspice
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 green onions
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme*
- 2 tbsp cilantro
- 2 shallots or ½ an onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- ½ tbsp coconut or brown sugar
- 1½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 scotch bonnet peppers, more or less to taste
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- juice of ½ an orange
- ¼ cup unsweetened vegan yogurt
- ¼ cup cilantro
- 1 tbsp milk
- juice of ½ a lime
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- optional: scotch bonnet pepper or pepper sauce to taste
- flour or corn tortillas
- veggies of choice - I used kale, tomatoes, cilantro, mango, pineapple and avocado
- Add all ingredients to a blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. You will have extra.
- Add all ingredients to a blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Refrigerate until ready to use
- Cook sweet potato until tender by boiling, steaming, baking or microwaving
- Add sweet potato and jerk marinade to a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside to marinate for 1 - 2 hours
- Once ready to cook, preheat oven to 425F and mix together breadcrumbs and spices in a bowl
- Working in batches, coat 3 - 4 marinated sweet potato pieces in breadcrumbs and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Continue until all sweet potato is coated
- Bake until crispy, 15 - 20 minutes, turning or tossing once halfway through to so they brown evenly
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Add flour to one bowl, almond milk and jerk marinade to another and breadcrumbs and spices to a third
- Working in batches, coat 3 - 4 sweet potato cubes in flour, submerge in milk/marinade mixture then coat in breadcrumbs
- Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and continue until all sweet potato is coated
- Bake until sweet potato is tender, 20 - 25 minutes, turning once halfway through then increase temp to 425F and bake for 5 - 10 more minutes or until sweet potato is browned and crispy
- Warm tortillas in oven or in a dry skillet
- Top with veggies, sweet potato and cilantro yogurt drizzle and serve immediately
- Sweet potato is best when served immediately but will last in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. Reheat in oven or toaster oven
*can sub fresh thyme for ½ tbsp dried thyme
*can use store bought jerk marinade if you prefer but you may need to thin it out a bit or use less depending on how spicy it is
Want more tacos? Try these for breakfast:
These are genius Giselle; seriously it’s amazing how you combined so many flavors; you would have a lovely exotic restaurant if you had one! :o)
I love jerk combinations and these tacos look great!What a creative way to fix those sweet potatoes!
This looks so good!
I love sweet potato! 🙂 x
Izzy |https://pinchofdelight.wordpress.com
These look amazing!! I have some sweet potatoes I was trying to decide what to do with. I’ll be giving this a go really soon. That marinade I’m sure just puts this over the top 🙂
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ recently posted…Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad
I love anything jerk.. and this look so delicious. So colorful too!
So in love with the sweet potato “meat” in these tacos! Such a tasty plant-based meal perfect for taco tuesday 🙂
rachel @ athleticavocado.com recently posted…Crispy Barbecue Spiced Brussels Sprouts {Vegan,Paleo + Whole30}
I just read the recipe ingredients and was wowed by the yummy flavors from the marinade you used for these sweet potatoes. What a delicious meat-free alternative to the usual tacos!
I am in love with sweet potatoes really enjoy cooking with them and this idea of yours is so creative and perfect. Must try it soon at home.
What a great “meatless” taco recipe. Jerk seasoning is so delicious. Sweet potatoes are so nutritious and are perfect to round out a meal.
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy recently posted…Freezer Friendly Egg Muffin Baked Omelette
I like the ingredients of your marinade. Also how nicely and beautifully you crisped the sweet potatoes. I will try your way of crisping sweet potatoes because yours look perfect.
The flavors in these tacos sound amazing! Like, my mouth is seriously watering just thinking about them.
That jerk marinade sounds amazing! I’ve always wanted to try and make it myself, might have to get on that this weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Corrine recently posted…Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Toasted Coconut
How cool is this!?! What an awesome idea that I would love to try!!
CAn I just say that I LOVE that you breaded the sweet potatoes to make them crunchy? I love a little texture to my food so this is perfect! I’m totally digging these and that pineapple slaw, YUM!
Megan Marlowe recently posted…Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Your jerk sweet potato tacos looks delicious, I need to give it a try. I know sweet potato goes with any seasoning. while ago I tried barbecue spiced sweet potato tacos. .
Love that these are vegan! Also love jerk tacos, so will definitely need to try this recipe!
The flavor combination sounds amazing! I have a lot of sweet potatoes in my pantry and now I know exactly what to do with them!
I;m so hungry looking at them !! I love the combination of jerk chicken tacos and with the mango pineapple salsa & cilantro yogurt sauce, this would be just super yum.
This looks so SOOO delicious! I LOVE crispy baked sweet potato. Such a brilliant and delicious idea. I could eat a whole plate of these tacos, no doubt that. Pictures are so beautiful too. Sharing this!
Natalie | Natalie’s Food & Health recently posted…Easy Carrot Ginger Soup
These sound so good!! I love sweet potato tacos, and that seasoning sounds incredible. I bet the tacos would be great with portobello mushrooms, too.
Julie | Bunsen Burner Bakery recently posted…Sheet Pan Asian Salmon
Sweet potatoes are awesome for adding to tacos! The jerk flavoring would complement it perfectly. What a lovely dinner idea.
Kylee from Kylee Cooks recently posted…Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Muffins
This is so unusual, but I totally love the flavors in this. I’ve never tried making a vegan taco, but this sounds delicious!
Amanda recently posted…Maple Sesame Glazed Chicken and The Migraine Relief Plan- A Book Review
I have only tried the flour tortillas, although I guess that the corn ones are as tasty. I would definitely make this dish, it looks amazingly colourful and tasty, the kind of healthy food you can’t have enough of. Sweet potatoes are always a big hit in my family.
Daniela Anderson recently posted…One-pan pesto quorn meat free pieces with veggies
We are vegetarians and this is a great way to use sweet potato meat in the taco. Thanks for the jerk marinate recipe, I think marinating makes the dish much more flavorful and I would not mind spending that extra time.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan recently posted…French Green Lentil Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
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