Sweet Potato Chili

Sweet potato chili is an easy and delicious one-pot recipe. It consists of a rich, spiced, and hearty tomato sauce, tender sweet potatoes, and beans.

It’s an excellent meal prep recipe, and you can serve it as a healthy lunch or a tasty family dinner.

Sweet potato chili is perfect on rice with toppings such as tortilla chips, avocado, sour cream, corn, lime and fresh cilantro.

This creamy sweet potato chili is a Mexican-inspired stew with tender sweet potato chunks simmered with onion, garlic, bell pepper, cumin, beans, and spices into a flavorful tomato sauce.

With our other popular stews, such as lentil chili, vegetarian chili, chickpea stew, vegetable stew, and African peanut stew, sweet potato chili is a healthy, nourishing, and satisfying meal.

Make it a dinner by serving it on rice, quinoa, pasta, or polenta.

You can also add your favorite toppings, such as sliced avocado or guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, corn, lime, cilantro, jalapeños, nachos, saltine crackers, and corn chips.

Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.

Olive oil

Use olive oil or extra virgin olive oil to sauté onion, celery, and carrots and make a tasty flavor base.

Substitute avocado oil, coconut oil, or any other vegetable oil for olive oil.

Onion, celery, carrot, garlic

Sautéed onion, celery, carrot, and garlic unleash sweet and acidic aromas that infuse the sweet potato chili with deep and rich flavors.

They are called sofrito in Spanish cuisine and are a common first step to adding flavor to soups and stews recipes.

Cumin

Cumin is an essential spice in chilis and Mexican cuisine, more broadly. We recommend ground cumin.

Substitute dried oregano for cumin.

Sweet potatoes

We use peeled orange sweet potatoes.

However, sweet potato peal is safe to eat; if you want to, add the sweet potatoes with the peel on.

If so, scrub the sweet potato well before adding it to the chili.

Green pepper

Green bell pepper adds a mildly acidic flavor that we love in chili.

Substitute red or yellow bell peppers for green ones.

Tomatoes

We use canned diced tomatoes.

Substitute fire-roasted tomatoes or crushed tomatoes for diced ones.

Beans

We recommend red kidney beans for this sweet potato chili. We go for canned ones to make this recipe in less than one hour.

However, if you prefer, you can use dried beans that you previously soaked for 12 hours in water and then boiled until tender—about 2 hours.

Substitute black beans or pinto beans for red kidney beans. You can also use two or more bean varieties in the same chili.

Vegetable broth

Vegetable broth is our liquid of choice for this recipe.

We prefer it to chicken stock to keep the recipe meat-free and suitable for vegetarians and vegans alike.

Chili powder

It wouldn’t be chili without some heat.

We use chili powder for that. Add more or less based on your preferences.

Chipotle powder or smoked paprika

To add a mild, smoky flavor to this sweet potato chili, you can stir in chipotle powder or smoked paprika.

Remember that chipotle powder also adds heat, so go easy and start with a small amount.

You can substitute chipotle powder with one or two chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

Salt and black pepper

We recommend sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves well with

Sweet potato chili serves well with white rice, whole grain rice, pasta, quinoa, corn bread, polenta, and corn or flour tortillas.

We recommend adding one or more toppings, such as corn, sliced avocado or guacamole, pico de gallo, fresh cilantro, lime, sour cream or plain yogurt, jalapeños or quick-pickled red onions, hot sauce, tortilla chips, shredded cheddar, or crumbled feta.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.

Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, and sauté on medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until the vegetables sweat. Stir often.

Add grated garlic, diced green bell pepper, ground cumin, and sauté for two more minutes or until fragrant.

Tip: We recommend cutting the vegetables with a knife, but if you are short on time, you can chop them in a food processor and pulse them a few times.

In the meantime, peel and chop the sweet potato into bite-size chunks of about 1 inch (2.5cm).

To the same pot, stir in diced sweet potatoes, canned tomatoes, drained and rinsed beans, vegetable broth, chili powder, chipotle powder or smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper.

Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender and the tomato sauce thickens.

Stir occasionally to prevent the chili from sticking to the pot.

Taste and adjust for salt and spices, then let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. It is even more delicious the day after it’s made.

Serving Suggestions

Sweet potato chili is the perfect one-bowl meal.

We usually serve it on rice, but it’s also great with pasta, quinoa, polenta, or cornbread.

We recommend topping it with crunchy sweet corn, zesty lime, and fresh cilantro.

Other excellent toppings are guacamole or sliced avocado, sour cream or a dollop of thick plain yogurt, pico de gallo, queso, or tomato salsa, tortilla chips, hot sauce or sriracha, Jalapeños, green onions, or quick pickled red onions.

Make ahead: This is the perfect recipe as the chili gets more flavorful and creamy on the second and third days. We recommend making a big batch for meal prep.

Refrigerator: Let the sweet potato chili cool down at room temperature, then transfer it into an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Freezer: Let it cool down completely, then transfer it into a freezer-friendly container and freeze it for up to 3 months.

Thaw: Defrost in the fridge for several hours, or use your microwave’s thawing function.

Reheat: Warm the leftovers in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or in a pot on the stovetop for about 5 minutes. Only reheat the portions you are going to eat.

Similar recipes

SWEET POTATOES: sweet potato gnocchi, sweet potato lentil salad, sweet potato soup, and sweet potato curry.

MEXICAN INSPIRED: pico de gallo, tostadas, guacamole, vegan breakfast burrito, sweet potato hash, lentil chili, black bean salad.

STEWS & HEARTY SOUPS: black bean soup, lentil vegetable soup, cauliflower soup, Moroccan lentils soup, chickpea soup, and curry lentil soup.

For even more soup and stew ideas, check out our compilation of our best healthy soup recipes.

Soups

Curry Lentil Soup

Soups

Black Bean Soup

Soups

Lentil Vegetable Soup

Mains

Tostadas