Who knew the unassuming, earthy sweet potato was such a nutritional gem?

It’s chock full of vitamin A and C, manganese – good for maintaining normal blood sugar levels and thyroid function, fiber, complex carbs and antioxidants. Plus, it’s low in calories – one medium sized sweet potato is only 100 calories.

Today’s test kitchen review recipe is Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili from The Garden Grazer.

List of ingredients:

• Onion
• Bell pepper (yellow or orange)
• Sweet potato
• Garlic
• Black beans
• Pinto, kidney, black etc.
• Diced tomatoes
• Vegetable broth
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Smoked paprika
• Salt to taste
• Optional: chipotle, cayenne pepper or more chili powder

Because I love sweet potatoes, I doubled the recipe knowing that I would want to have some chili left over for lunch during the week. And, no, I did not fix the survey. It looks like other folks are just as enamored by the sweet potato.

Although the recipe was was very straight forward, I found it extremely difficult to peel the sweet potatoes. I typically leave the skin on, scrub them and cut out any of the nasty little bits. And, believe it or not, this is the very first time I’ve used smoked paprika. Wow! It added an extra dimension to the recipe in both taste and aroma. The house even seemed to be extra cozy during the cooking of this recipe and I believe it was all due to the smoked paprika.

Now on to the results. Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili by The Garden Grazer received an A.

A for availability of ingredients. I had all the ingredients in my pantry except for the smoked paprika. And that was easily available at my local grocery.

A for cost. This was a very low cost recipe to prepare even though I did not have the smoked paprika on hand. The cost of the smoked paprika was very adorable and I definitely foresee using this ingredient in more dishes.

A for directions. As stated above, the directions were very straight forward and easy to follow. A great for recipe for someone new to cooking.

A for taste. Seven folks taste tested the recipe. Here are some of their comments:

“The color was appetizing. I could see the sweet potatoes and other ingredients, which I like instead of a mashed of things.”

“Really yummy! Flavors meld well.”

“The texture is wonderful, I like the chunks of sweet potato with the beans.”

“Delicious!”

Here are some suggestions/recommendations from the taste testers:

“Add grilled tempeh chunks.”

“Add more paprika and salt.” The salt is on me. I’m not a heavy salter.

“It was very good! I would like to add yellow squash or zucchini”

Here are some more sweet potato recipes for those sweet potato lovers:

Sweet Potato Brownies and Baked Apples and Sweet Potatoes

We’ll be testing a sweet next. Stay tuned!

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Please make sure that all of your ingredients are both vegan and gluten free. Just because ingredients are listed and pictured does not insinuate that they are either vegan or gluten free. Please make sure you choose the appropriate ingredients for your audience of tasters. Kroger has a wonderful list on their website (71 pages) of all the gluten free items in their stores.