Sweet Potato Poblano Black Bean Grain Bowls with Yogurt Lime Sauce

Anything in a bowl seems fun and more festive.  It lends a sense of coziness when you're eating it as if you want to curl up on a couch with your bowl and dive in.  Whether it's an acai bowl, which I adore and eat frequently in the summer, or a loaded oatmeal bowl (recipes coming soon), a meal out of a bowl is simply joyful.

Grain bowls have been around for awhile and have a certain almost cult following and no wonder they're popular.  They're often gorgeous to look at in their decomposed glory or perhaps they're more casually random in how they're assembled.  Either way they're always a circumference of delicious combinations.

This grain bowl has a bed of brown rice, but you can use any rice of choice or other whole grain you're fond of.  I cook my brown rice in my Ninja Foodi, which is available on our SHOP page,  The great thing is that cooking it on the pressure cook setting takes the brown rice cook time from 45 minutes to 15 minutes.  Perfect,  Then I can keep it in the fridge and use throughout the week.  I also add a teaspoon of turmeric to my cup of rice as it cooks which gives it a lovely flavor and pretty golden color.

I LOVE GREAT DAIRY FREE YOGURT OPTIONS LIKE THIS ALMOND MILK VERSION FROM KITE HILL

This is a vegan dish, which I love to boast about,  We try to eat as many plant based meals during the week as possible.  Sometimes it's just one, but sometimes it's all of them.  I have a sense of accomplishment when I reach day 4 and we've eaten plant based the entire time.  


When you can take grains, legumes and vegetables and make a lovely dinner that you'd be happy to serve to guests, I consider it a success,  Good for your body, good for your wallet and good for the planet.  

I LOVE THE COLORS IN THIS SKILLET. COLOR = HEALTHY VEG

​Combining the rice with the black beans and also combining the sweet potato with the black beans creates a complete protein.  I guess being that I have rice, beans and sweet potato in the same recipe I can call is a double complete protein.  Just kidding on that one, but at least we can confidently say this dish is an overachiever.

Sweet Potato Black Bean & Poblano Grain Bowl with Lime Yogurt




2 cups precooked brown rice (or your preference of rice or whole grain). Pre-packaged ready to serve rice is great here.  You just heat in the microwave.  *See cook's note
1 large sweet potato, peeled & cur into 1/2 inch dice
1 poblano pepper, seeds and membrane removed and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/2 red onion, diced
1 red Fresno or jalapeño chili, seeds and membrane removed, diced (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
8 ounces green chili enchilada sauce (salsa verde) such as Frontera
1 tablespoon olive oil




Lime Yogurt
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I used Kite Hill dairy free almond milk yogurt
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime (use the entire lime if it doesn't yield much juice
Small pinch of course sea salt
Mix yogurt and lime juice and zest together.  You can add some of the cilantro if you like.


1 handful chopped cilantro (optional)
1 cup red/purple cabbage, cut into thin slaw like strips




In a skillet over medium heat (I love to use my cast iron skillet for this, which is available on my SHOP page), add the olive oil, sweet potato, salt and cumin.  Stir to combine then cook about 8 minutes,  Add poblano, onion and chili if using.  Stir a cook about 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender and slightly charred in places.  


Add garlic, black beans and enchilada sauce, stirring gently so the beans don't become mashed.  
If the mixture seems too dry, add about 1/2 cup water.  You want it to be a little saucy.  Let it cook for 2 more minutes then serve over the rice.


Warm the rice or leave it cold or at room temperature. It's good either way.  If you're using a pre-packaged rice, prepare according to the package directions which typically tell you to microwave for a minute or so.


Separate the rice into 4 large bowls.  Scatter the cabbage over the rice or save it to scatter over the top.  It's your bowl.  Spoon over the sweet potato mixture over the rice and cabbage then drizzle over the lime yogurt sauce and sprinkling of cilantro.


*Cook's Note - For my turmeric brown rice I place 1 cup brown rice, 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 1/4 cup water in the bowl of my Ninja Foodi (available on our SHOP page).  I set it on the high pressure cook setting for 15 minutes and once that's done, I let it sit for another 10-15 minutes before releasing any steam that's left.