If you're looking to level up taco night and sneak in some extra veggies, these Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos are a total win. I’ve been sharing family-friendly recipes for nearly two decades, and this one never fails me—it even won a contest a while back!
The natural sweetness of roasted sweet potatoes plays so well with bold taco flavors, and the foil packets? They’re not just clever—they’re customizable, kid-friendly, and practically mess-free. Whether you're baking them in the oven or tossing them on a campfire, they show up for you.
Bonus: this is the kind of meal that invites everyone to get involved—building their own little packets feels like an activity and a dinner solution. After feeding four kids over the course of 18 years, I’ve learned that assembly type dinners equals more happy comments at the dinner table.
How to make Foil Packs - Sweet Potato Tacos
- Start with a (roughly) 12-inch piece of aluminum foil. If you're concerned about cooking on foil, stick a piece of parchment on top to line it. If you're baking these in the oven, you can just use parchment and skip the foil.
- Pile some sweet potato cubes in the middle. I like to put a little dab of butter and a pinch of salt to add more flavor to them.
- Add chopped spinach/kale and a few spoonfuls of cooked taco meat. And some grated cheese, if you're into it.
- Fold the sides into the center, crease, then bring the top and bottom ends together and fold them down, creasing the sides to seal.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are soft. You could also toss these on a grill over medium-low heat or over some campfire coals.
Can I make these Foil Packet Tacos ahead of time?
Foil Packet Sweet Potato Variations
There are so many ways you could adapt these! Here are a few ideas:
Make them meatless! Swap out the ground beef for a can of black beans mixed with some taco seasoning or salsa.
Use white potatoes if you don't care for sweet potatoes. You may have to cook them longer, though.
Change up the vegetables. If you don't want to use greens, add diced bell peppers, zucchini, corn kernels, or any other small, quick-cooking vegetable.
Seasoning Suggestions
This recipe calls for taco seasoning. Have you tried my Homemade Taco Seasoning? It's pretty fantastic.
However, you can use any Mexican or Southwest-inspired seasoning blend you like. A few of my favorites for this recipe are Smoky Chipotle Taco Seasoning, Chipotle Chorizo Seasoning, and Sweet Potato Fry Seasoning.
You could even take these in a Smoky BBQ direction by using some Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning and a little BBQ sauce to the packets!
My favorite toppings for these foil packet tacos are some avocado slices, a dollop of sour cream, and some hot sauce. You can top them with whatever you like!
If you like this recipe, try another one of my tex-mex family favorites! This Stacked Enchiladas recipe has been a fan favorite for over a decade.
If you make one of my recipes, I'd love to see! Post it on social media and tag me at @perrysplate or #perrysplate so I can send you some love!
Sweet Potato Foil Packet Tacos
My little ones loved assembling these foil packet tacos and sweet potatoes make a great base for a taco! You can even take these camping!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 2-3 Tablespoons Homemade Taco Seasoning
- ½ cup tomato sauce (4 ounces)
- 2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 6 cups total)
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped fresh spinach
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
- sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole for garnish
- 6 12-inch long pieces of aluminum foil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Brown ground meat in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Set aside.
- To assemble packets, spray the foil with non-stick spray. Place 1 cup sweet potato cubes in the center of each piece. Top with a small piece of butter (about 1 tsp) and a pinch or two of salt. Sprinkle some chopped spinach over the sweet potatoes, followed by about ⅓ cup of taco meat and sprinkle of cheese.
- Fold the sides in, then bring the top and bottom ends of the foil together in the center and fold, sealing the packet. Repeat with remaining ingredients, placing the packets on a rimmed cookie sheet.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender. Serve with your favorite taco toppings: sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole.
Notes
Nat's Note: Feel free to swap out part or all of the ground meat with beans, using 1 can of drained beans for every 8 oz of meat.
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Megan says
Oh wow I love this idea!! I have a thing for sweet potatoes and am always looking for ways to get my kids to eat them. I think this could work.
Jolene - EverydayFoodie says
Great idea! I need more tacos in my life - Mexican flavours are my fave!!!
danasfoodforthought says
Love this idea! It's making my tummy growl. or maybe it's just time for lunch. Either way, I'm going to try this!
Jordan says
What a great idea! I love sweet potatoes and tacos - now the two can go together in a healthy way!
Maria says
Love this idea!
Christina says
Wow! Great idea!
And I'm with you on the no camping bandwagon! I work hard to pay my bills and sleep indoors, thankyouverymuch!
Happy Friday!
Lots o' love,
Christina
Jessica says
I love how healthy and fun these sound. We will be sure to try these!
Michaela says
This sounds great. I bet you could assemble these on the weekends and refrigerate them until you're ready to cook/eat them... or freeze them and reheat them after you've cooked them. (As if they weren't already easy enough.)
Holly says
Wow this sounds very cool-I'm going to print and give it a try;)
Joanne says
when you followed me the other day (on twitter), I was super surprised because I thought we were already twitter friends! This explains it :P
I love the sound of these packets. Tacos are fun and all but sweet potatoes are better. Just saying.
Natalie @ Perrys' Plate says
Joanne - Ya. I'm super late to the Twitter party. I put it off for so long because I thought Twitter was lame. :) I think my mind's changing!
Bethany Nash says
My mother always made "sweetie fries" that we dipped in honey. Mmm. :D
In Krista's Kitchen says
I was just bickering with my fiance yesterday because he wants me to prepare more "paleo-friendly" meals for us, and I just plain don't want to (if he wants them so badly then he can start cooking)! However, this is something that I'm more than willing to add onto this weeks menu!
grace says
fun and full of flavors i love--rockin' idea!
marla {Family Fresh Cooking} says
I am with you about the camping thing. So not a fan. Sweet potatoes on the other hand are one of my all time favorites. Love seeing the kids help in the kitchen!
Cara says
hehe, I'm totally with you on the camping thing - but we do have an outdoor fireplace so I could totally try them out there! (then come back inside and sleep in my own bed!)
Janssen says
I made this for dinner tonight and it was FABULOUS. Oh my heavens, we loved it - my seven month old couldn't get enough of it either!
Budget Gourmet Mom says
Yummy! My hubby is not a huge fan of sweet potatoes but I think these could make him one! Thanks for the fantastic idea.
Natalie @ Perrys' Plate says
Janssen - So glad you liked them! (Especially the little one - they're always the toughest!)
Cindy Rowland says
We had these for dinner tonight and they were really fun, tasty, and easy to prepare. The kids were excited to open up their tacos and gobbled them up. Thanks!
Natalie @ Perrys' Plate says
Cindy - Yay! Success! I love it when kids get excited at dinner :) Maybe I'll start putting everything I make for them in foil packets. Ha!
jeanmcbride says
Hi Natalie, Just wanted to say that I made these yummy packets last night. It's a real winner. Quick and healthy and really good. Thanks!
Kristi says
Hey Natalie! Thanks again for another great recipe that came just in time to salvage my questionably old sweet potatoes. Maybe from now on I can just go through my fridge/pantry and send you a list of what I have that is getting....past its prime, and then you can just come up with amazing recipes so I can use it all up. Perfect plan, right?
Thanks!
Robin says
I just made this over the weekend! It was a hit. Although before looking at how much meat you said to put in I dumped a pound and a half of meat on the stove.
...ended up having a ton extra of course, good thing it was so delicious!
Thanks for the recipe!
annascozykitchen says
Congratulations on the win. What a fun idea! Look liek teh kids enjoyed it a lot too.
nitzomer says
Looks good! I'm definitely going to try it! I love the idea and it's so simple.
CM Stephensen says
Oh man, were the delicious!! I won't be waiting long before I serve this up for dinner again :D I did add some corn to the taco meat mix... and sauteed an onion because there was no onion powder in the taco seasoning I put together (also your recipe... only because I don't have onion powder in my cupboard).
DawnK says
These are so yummy! 2 adults and 2 college kids lived them. We cooked on the grill at a little less than high (Weber - on, off, on), for 30 minutes. Added some sliced avocado & sour cream at the end. Will make again! dawnk777@gmail.com
pinksuedeshoe says
OK, seriously? I don't know how i fed myself before I found your blog. These look amazingly delicious! And, they are going on my menu for this week. Absolutely. Maybe lunch today? That might be perfect. I love all the recipes that you post, I only read two food blogs because after I found yours I found a soul sister in the food department! I swear I pin 9 out of 10 things you make! Anyway... can't wait to make these!
nora says
I just made this for supper tonight, and everyone loved it! Even the lil girls! After cooking mine, I dumped the sweet potato mixture onto a bed of lettuce, then added avocado, salsa etc, and ate it like a salad... amazing!! Hubby already said I'll have to make this again, and SOON!
Marti says
Hey "Sister Perry," (Haha! :) Just for some of us!)
Why do I keep reading this recipe and not seeing corn but I look at the pictures and I seem to see corn?
Also, flour tortillas?
I'm making this tonight. NOW, matter of fact. But there's always time to run out for last minute add-ons, if you tell me they're needed.
mj
Natalie says
Hey Sister Marti :) (I assume you're LDS, too?) There's corn in the photos because I used leftover Hidden Veggie Chipotle Taco meat when I made those. (I mentioned it in the recipe note, but it's kind of small.)
Natalie says
Oh, and you can eat these with tortillas. We didn't, though. Good luck! Hope you like them :)
Betsy says
Our family loves these tacos...and with a family of 9 that is hard to accomplish. The first time I made these I was out of ground beef, so I just omitted it. This makes for a very easy vegetarian meal. I also add fresh cilantro along with the spinach and then use more cilantro for a garnish after they are cooked. Mmmm!
Stacy says
I've made these twice in the past week and we have RAVED about them each time! We eat Paleo, so I omitted a few things, but this is one of the tastiest meals we've had! Thanks so much!
Anne says
I LOVE this idea! Can't wait to make it with my 2.5 year old! (I just linked over here from Cara's Cravings... I'll be adding you to my RSS feed now!) Thanks!