Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are a hearty, wholesome vegetarian meal packed with bold Mediterranean flavors. To make them, I fill roasted sweet potatoes with garlicky chickpeas, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and lime, then top them with creamy avocado crema. Perfect for a cozy lunch or dinner, this dish is as satisfying as it is easy!

A close up of a stuffed sweet potato with a dollop of avocado crema on a plate with 2 lime wedges. — Photo Credits: Ali Redmond

A stuffed sweet potato might not be able to solve all your problems, but it’s a solid answer to the problem of what to make when I need something hearty, healthy, and packed with flavor. Loaded with a warm chickpea filling and silky greens, these stuffed sweet potatoes are comforting, yet wholesome.

Roasting sweet potatoes whole until their natural sugars caramelize and their skins go papery and pleasantly charred is my favorite weekly meal prep task. I eat them on their own or topped with fried eggs and feta at breakfast. Come lunch or dinner time, they’re the perfect vessel for this warm chickpea filling with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and a squeeze of lime. Finished with a dollop of Avocado Crema, this recipe is a celebration of flavors—earthy, tangy, and naturally sweet.

What I love most about this recipe is how simple it is to pull together. It’s a low-effort recipe with a big payoff, making it ideal for nights when you want something hearty but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. If you’re planning ahead, you can roast the sweet potatoes in advance and reheat them when you’re ready to assemble, which makes this dish even easier.

Table of Contents

Ingredients for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
How to Make Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
How to Get Ahead
How to Make Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Your Own
What to Serve with Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Some Favorite Sweet Potato Recipes
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

With a few fresh exceptions, everything in this stuffed sweet potato recipe is a kitchen staple, at least in my Mediterranean Diet pantry, which makes it easy to whip up any night of the week. Here’s everything you’ll need:

Sweet Potatoes become tender and caramelized when roasted whole, creating the perfect base. Look for medium-sized potatoes so they cook evenly and are easy to stuff. You’ll need four for this amount of filling, but I like to cook extra for meal prep!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Good extra virgin olive oil is a must for sautéing the chickpea filling. I use our Private Reserve Olive Oil for its rich, fruity flavor.
Shallots are mild, slightly sweet onions that add depth to the chickpeas without overpowering them.
Garlic: A Mediterranean staple that infuses the filling with warm, savory notes.
Chickpeas: Protein-packed and hearty, chickpeas make the filling satisfying and nutritious. I use canned chickpeas for convenience, but you can also use chickpeas cooked from dry.
Sun Dried Tomatoes: The concentrated sweet tanginess of dried tomatoes brings a pop of flavor to the filling. I prefer dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, but you can also use jarred ones packed in olive oil.
Baby Spinach adds freshness and a boost of nutrients to the filling. Because it wilts quickly, it’s a fast and easy way to get some greens in.
Lime: The juice brightens the chickpea mixture, balancing the sweetness of the potatoes, and the zest adds a citrusy finish.
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper: Essential for seasoning every layer of the dish.
Fresh Cilantro or Parsley: A garnish that adds a fresh, herbaceous finish.
Avocado Crema, one of my favorite condiments, is a fluffy whipped mixture of creamy avocados, Greek yogurt, lemon or lime juice, and a little chili.

An overhead photo of 4 stuffed sweet potatoes with avocado crema on a platter next to a bowl of avocado crema with a spoon.

How to Make Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

While some stuffed sweet potato recipes call for baking the potatoes twice — once on their own and again once filled — I like to keep it simple and just bake, fill, and eat. Here’s the breakdown step by step.

Get ready. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 400°F. While the oven is heating, wash 4 small to medium sweet potatoes, scrubbing them to remove any dirt. Dry them off. Using a fork, poke holes all over the sweet potatoes. Line a sheet pan with foil and arrange them on top.
Roast the sweet potatoes. Bake on the middle rack of the heated oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Make the chickpea filling. Meanwhile, heat two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add 3 chopped shallots and cook for about 3 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and cook for about 30 seconds, then add 2 (15-ounce) drained and rinsed cans of chickpeas and 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes until the chickpeas are tender and warmed through. Add 3 cups baby spinach and a big pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper. Toss just until the spinach is just wilted. Zest and juice 1 lime, and add the lime juice to the pan, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat.
Stuff the sweet potatoes. When the sweet potatoes are ready, remove them from the oven and slice them partway through the center so that they remain intact on the bottom. Open the sweet potatoes up a bit to make room for the filling. Heap spoonfuls of the chickpea mixture to fill the cavity of each sweet potato.
Finish and serve. Top each potato with a dollop of Avocado Crema. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley and lime zest on top.

How to Get Ahead

Prep the components ahead of time and you can enjoy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes as an easy lunch with just a little assembly.

Roast the sweet potatoes. You can roast your sweet potatoes a few days in advance and warm them up in an oven or toaster oven. I find that warming them at 350°F for about 15 minutes does the trick.
Make the chickpea filling. You can pre-cook the chickpea filling, too, and then, once cooled, store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat it before adding it to the warmed-up sweet potatoes. If I’m going to use it this way, I’ll often wait to add the baby spinach until the step of reheating it so the tender leaves don’t get too soggy.
Prep the Avocado Crema. The reason Avocado Crema will always win out in my book over traditional guacamole is that it doesn’t go brown nearly as fast, so you can make it a couple of days ahead of time and then use it when you want it. The acidity of the citrus and the yogurt help stabilize it, so it lasts well in the fridge for a few days.

A close up of 4 stuffed sweet potatoes with avocado crema on a platter next to a bowl of avocado crema.

How to Make Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Your Own

The method in this recipe is wonderfully versatile, making it easy to adapt based on what you have on hand. Here are some simple variations to try.

Add more spice: Add a pinch of cayenne or a spoonful of harissa to the chickpeas for an extra kick.
Try a different filling: Use cooked lentils instead of chickpeas or swap the filling for Black Bean and Corn Salad for a Southwestern-inspired twist that pairs perfectly with the Avocado Crema.
Add protein: Stir in shredded rotisserie chicken, Shawarma Chicken, or crumbled feta to give the chickpea filling additional protein and flavor.
Switch the topping: Replace the Avocado Crema with Tzatziki Sauce or Tahini Sauce.
Go smoky: Add smoked paprika to the chickpeas to give them a beautiful red color and aroma.
Use different herbs: Swap the cilantro or parsley garnish for fresh dill or mint.
Make it a bite-size: Cut the sweet potatoes crosswise into rounds and roast them according to this method. Serve them topped with the chickpea mixture and a dollop of crema.

A close up of a stuffed sweet potato with a dollop of avocado crema on a plate with 2 lime wedges. Next to this is a platter with the rest of the stuffed sweet potatoes and a bowl of avocado crema.

What to Serve with Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

The beauty of this stuffed sweet potatoes recipe is that it’s the full package: nutritious, high-fiber carbs from the potatoes, protein and more fiber from the chickpeas, tender greens, tangy and sweet dried tomatoes, and then pops of freshness from the citrus, crema, and herbs.

If you want to add something, I think a salad would be a welcome addition. In summer I would add a refreshing Watermelon Salad with Feta, Cucumber, and Mint.

The rest of the year my picks would be something with crunch to contrast the softness of the potatoes. I love this crunchy Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad or a Cucumber Radish Salad. When I’m having Stuffed Sweet Potatoes for lunch I like to add a glass of beautiful, refreshing Hibiscus Tea, or karkade as it’s called in Egypt, over ice.

This stuffed sweet potato recipe works beautifully as a satisfying vegetarian main dish, but they’re also versatile enough to serve as a side for a larger meal with friends or family. They would be wonderful as a healthful accompaniment to a Grilled Skirt Steak or Orange Harissa Lamb Chops.