Black Bean and Sweet Potato Flautas

Creamy refried Black Beans and chili spiced Sweet Potatoes make a delicious and filling meatless Flauta.

These sweet potato flautas are easy to make and a healthier alternative to fried flautas. The combination of creamy black beans and sweet potato is great if you don’t eat meat, or like me and and enjoy a balance of meat and plant-based meals.

Try these Sweet Potato Empanadas for a baked treat afterwards!

Difference between Flauta and Taquito?

Flautas are traditionally made with flour tortillas and taquitos are made with corn tortillas, but recipes use these terms interchangeably.

Both Flautas and Taquitos are typically deep fried, but I prefer to bake them since it’s healthier and makes less of a mess. If you have an air fryer, these would work great in one.

Ingredients

The ingredients are minimal, here’s what you’ll need:

• Flour Tortillas
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Refried Black Beans
• Oil

Flour Tortillas– I prefer to use a thin fajita size flour tortillas for baked flautas since they crisp up well in the oven. Before you start assembling the flautas, warm your tortillas in the microwave to get them soft and pliable.

Sweet Potato– Wash, peel, and dice 1 large sweet potato, or 2-3 small ones. Then add some oil, salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix well to coat all the sweet potato pieces.

Then place it on a sheet pan either sprayed with oil or lined with parchment paper, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes.

The potatoes should have a nice color to them and a little crispy. Use leftover sweet potatoes for this Taco Salad.

Black Beans- I used homemade refried black beans. I made them in the Instant Pot using the same method as my Peruvian beans.

Once they were done I took out about 2 cups of beans with cooking liquid and smashed them on a skillet with a teaspoon of oil. Or try adding some Salsa Verde to the Beans.

Canned Re-fried black beans can be used instead if you need a quick meal.

How To Assemble The Flautas

Start by warming the tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until they are soft and pliable.

Then place a 1-2 spoonfuls of refried black beans on the tortilla, or enough to reach end to end. Top with the roasted sweet potatoes.

Place the filling right below the center of the tortilla in order to have more coverage to roll it tightly. If it feels too loose, try rolling it again.

How to Bake

Place rolled flautas seam side down on a baking sheet that’s been sprayed with cooking oil spray or lined with parchment paper.

Once you’ve rolled all your flautas, space them apart on the baking sheet. Spray each one with cooking spray from top to bottom. If you don’t have an oil spray, use a pastry brush and oil.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 min, remove them and flip them over. Now the seam side is facing up. 

If the seam is coming apart, spray more oil and press it back together. Then continue baking for 10 more minutes, or until brown and crispy.

If you want the flautas to be extra crispy, turn on the boiler for the last 2 minutes, just make sure they don’t burn.

How to Serve

These black bean and sweet potato flautas are perfecting for dipping in your favorite salsa, sour cream, or vegan queso.

They also go great with a side of Guacamole and Mexican rice.

My family loves having flautas for taco night, and they are the perfect size for small hands.

Can Flautas be Made Ahead of Time?

Yes! You can make these ahead of time, or reheat leftovers.

For leftovers, store flautas in the refrigerator up to 4 days. The best option is to reheat them in the oven or if you have an air fryer. I do 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

The other option is to place cooled flautas in a freezer safe bag and freeze them up to a couple months.

I also recommend reheating frozen flautas in the oven or air fryer. They’ll need about 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Want more Flauta and Taquito Recipes? Check these out:

Salsa Chicken Flautas

Ground Beef Taquitos