These Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Quesadillas are packed full of veggies and vegan feta cheese for a sweet, salty and spicy flavour bomb! Get the recipe below.
Mexican flavours
I love Mexican food and I am often trying to find new way to play with the chilli heat, tang of the lime and sweetness of corn that you often find in a Mexican inspired dish. So, a couple of weeks ago when I was throwing together some rather simple tacos with a friend, I took her advice and mashed up a roasted sweet potato with some vegan feta. We used the mix much in the same way as re-fried beans and served it alongside a tacos and salsa. It was delicious!
Ever since then, I've been trying to come up with ways in which I could jazz up the simple combination of sweet potato and salty vegan feta - and here it is, Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Quesadillas.
The key Mexican flavours here are the Sweet Potato (which originates from Central/South America), sweet red peppers (native to Mexico), chilli, lime and coriander.
Mexican cheese
Vegan feta may seem a bit of an odd addition to the mix but Queso Fresco and Queso Blanco (two cheeses commonly used in Mexican cooking) aren't all that dissimilar.
Queso Fresco and Queso Blanco are fresh, soft, white cheese with a crumbly, firm and smooth texture. Often made from cows milk (though sometimes with goats milk) they hold their shape when heated rather than becoming a liquid, gooey mess. Although saltier, this makes feta a good substitute for Quesco Fresco and Queso Blanco.
The term Quesadilla comes from the words tortilla and queso (the Spanish word for cheese) so whilst I'm an advocate of making healthy choices, you really can't skip the cheese in this tasty Quesadilla!
Moving on from thoughts of cheese...the main reason I love this dish is because how vibrant and warming it is. The orange of the sweet potato and bright red of the sweet peppers and chilli's just fill your heart with warmth making this comfort food territory. It's also a fabulous fall recipe for when the nights start drawing in, but you're not quite ready to be tucking into hearty stews just yet.
You’ll see from the picture we also served this with a sauce – it’s a simple mayonnaise mix flavoured with extra chilli and lime that can be stirred up in seconds. Although not essential, it does give an extra hit of flavour.
The recipe
Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 2 flour tortillas
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 red sweet pepper
- 75 grams vegan feta
- 0.5 red onion thinly sliced
- 0.5 lime
- 1 red chilli pepper
- 0.5 bunch coriander
Instructions
- Turn your oven up to a high heat (at least gas mark 6) and place the red pepper and sweet potato into the oven.
- Leave these to roast for 30mins until the sweet potato is soft and the pepper has begun to blacken.
- Once the pepper and potato have roasted remove from the oven to cool slightly.
- Scoop the potato flesh from the skin and add to a bowl with the sliced pepper and sliced onions before stirring in chilli, juice of the lime, coriander and crumbled feta.
- Stir the mixture well so the flavours are evenly distributed.
- Place the first flour tortilla into a griddle pan on a medium heat.
- Spread the potato mix oven the tortilla evenly and top with the second tortilla.
- Heat the quesadilla for five minutes on both sides before serving.
Notes
Take a shortcut!
For a quick dinner, cut the pepper in half and blacken in a hot griddle pan. The sweet potato can also be softened in a microwave on high heat for 10 minutes.Nutrition
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Please note some of these recipes are vegetarian.
Is Mexican food a particular love of yours? Do you whip up quesadillas for a quick dinner or do you prefer tacos and burritos?
Check out some of my other favourite Mexican inspired recipes.
Joanne Mallon (@joannemallon) says
Wow that looks so nice. My kids are pretty unadventurous when it comes to spicy food but they make an exception for Mexican. Definitely going to try this out, thanks for posting.
efwalt says
Hi Joanne I was the same when I was younger. But mexican really brought food to life for me 🙂 I hope they enjoy it!!
Choclette says
I love Mexican food too and these sound right up my street, especially being vegetarian. Weirdly though, I'v never made quesadillas. If I do, I think it might be your recipe I'll be trying.
efwalt says
You should definitely give them a go!! Quesadillas are my guilty pleasure. They are so quick and easy to put together 🙂 I have them as a snack sometimes when they should be a meal x
Sonia says
Oh these look amazing! We love Mexican so these would go down very well in our house. Great photos too x
efwalt says
Thanks Sonia! I've been trying really hard to make my food look mouthwateringly tasty! Good to hear it might be working 😉 let me know how you get on! X