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§03 · Dinner · stuffed-sweet-potato

Revised Aug 2026 · 2 revisions

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

A soft-baked sweet potato split open over warm-spiced crispy chickpeas, warm spinach, and a garlicky lemon-tahini drizzle, finished with a scatter of pepitas. The oven does the work — barely any cleanup.

Illustration of Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Hands-on 15 min Total 50 min Serves4 Ingredients13 Cost / Serv.$1.01 Calories386 Contains Sesame
Servings
4 servings
×1

Ingredients

Everything here is already in your pantry.

Ran low on something?

What swaps in
Sweet Potato
Japanese sweet potato drier and starchier, less sweet; purple skin, pale fleshButternut squash softer, cooks fasterFrozen cubed sweet potato skips the peeling
Chickpeas
Dried, cooked ¾ cup dried ≈ one 15 oz can drained
Frozen Spinach
Fresh spinach roughly 4:1 by volume; a 1 lb bag wilts down to a 10 oz blockFrozen kale chewier, needs longer
Tahini
Sunflower seed butter sesame-free; sweeter, so pull back any syrupAlmond butter sweeter and thicker
Bottled Lemon Juice
Fresh lemons 1 lemon ≈ 3 tbsp; brighter, but keeps days rather than months
Garlic
Fresh cloves 1 tsp jarred = 1 clove
Smoked Paprika
Sweet paprika same color and body, none of the smoke
Pepitas
Sunflower seeds 1:1
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Butter 1:1 for cooking; browns at a lower temperature, and it sets solid once coldRefined olive oil higher smoke point, less flavorAvocado oil neutral, very high smoke point
Sea Salt
Kosher salt coarser, so more by volume; the ratio depends on the brandTable salt finer and denser; use about ¾ by volume

No close substitute for Cumin, Ground Coriander, and Cinnamon.

What you'll need

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Prick the 4520 g sweet potatoes and bake directly on the rack 40–45 minutes until collapsing-soft.
  2. Meanwhile, toss the 1 can (15 oz)253 g chickpeas, drained and rinsed, with the 2 tbsp27 g olive oil, 1 tsp2.1 g cumin, 1 tsp1.8 g coriander, 1 tsp2.2 g smoked paprika, and ½ tsp1.2 g cinnamon; roast on a sheet pan 20 minutes until crisp. Warm the 1 cup85 g frozen spinach through at the end.
  3. Whisk the 3 tbsp45 g tahini, 2 tbsp30 g lemon juice, 1 tsp5 g garlic, and salt, to taste, with a little water until pourable.
  4. Split each potato, pile on the chickpeas and spinach, drizzle with the sauce, and scatter the ¼ cup32 g pepitas over the top for crunch.

Kids: serve the sweet potato mashed with a little of the tahini sauce stirred in, with the chickpeas and pepitas on the side.

Dietary

  • Gluten free
  • Tree nut free
  • Peanut free
  • Soy free
  • Sesame contains

Nutrition

Per serving · makes 4
Calories386Protein12gCarbs46gFiber11gSugars8.5gFat19gSaturated Fat2.7gSodium260mg
Vitamins & minerals
Iron4.2mgCalcium162mgPotassium745mgMagnesium129mgZinc2.2mgFolate92µgVitamin C6.1mgVitamin B120.0µgOmega-3 (ALA)0.03g
Estimated from pantry data, excluding Sea Salt (to taste).
Change log · 2 revisions
  1. 5 Aug 2026

    HeardThe summary promised wilted spinach, which is a fresh-spinach description. What the method actually makes is frozen spinach warmed through.

    ChangedChanged the summary to warm spinach, so the description matches what comes out of the pan.

  2. 14 Jul 2026

    FoundThe 657-review baked sweet potato tosses its chickpeas in a four-spice blend and finishes with pumpkin seeds; ours used only two of the spices and had no crunch.

    ChangedAdded coriander and cinnamon to the chickpea toss to complete the blend and scattered pepitas on top for protein and texture, and corrected the summary's one-pan claim since the method uses a rack and a sheet.

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MVP field manual · stuffed-sweet-potato