Welcome to today’s installment of “let’s make a vegetarian version of a trending recipe.”

For anyone who missed it, there was recently a very popular recipe doing the rounds on social media involving taco spiced ground beef, sweet potato, avocado, cottage cheese and hot honey. I was intrigued and decided to try a vegetarian version which was a huge success. My version replaces the ground beef with lentils, a simple swap that always works well for taco “meat”.

Bowl meals can be a lot of work, but this is one the easiest I’ve ever come across, while still being varied, flavorful and an all-round fantastic dinner with wholesome ingredients.

I personally use whipped feta instead of cottage cheese, because although cottage cheese is the hot ingredient recently, I just… don’t like it. 🤷‍♀️ You can use either!

Ingredient Swaps & Recipe Tips

  • Canned lentils are my choice for the “meat” in this recipe and it just doesn’t get any easier than that – but another great option would be the smashed chickpeas from these Chickpea Taco Lettuce Wraps.
  • Cottage cheese is the original choice for the dairy in this bowl, but I’ve never been able to get on board with cottage cheese so I tried a few different swaps and found whipped feta to be ideal. I think the lime yogurt from this Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Yogurt recipe would also be great.
  • If you don’t have any hot honey, you could use plain honey + sprinkle some chili or red pepper flakes over the top of the bowls to give you a similar sweet/spicy result.
  • I like to add some chopped chives to the top, but cilantro (coriander) or parsley should work well too.
  • You can use your air fryer to cook the sweet potatoes a little more quickly if you like. 10-15 minutes at 200C / 400F (shaking once or twice during the cooking process) should do the job.

More Vegetarian Bowl Recipes

Vegetarian Refried Bean Burrito Bowls

Halloumi Burger Bowls

Burrata Bowls

Falafel Bowls with Roasted Veggies & Couscous

Serving Sizes & Scaling the Recipe

  • As written, this recipe makes two good dinner portions with a little leftover for a lunch the next day.
  • The recipe can easily be doubled, but if you want to just stretch it a little further without fully doubling it, I would suggest just adding an extra sweet potato and more cottage cheese / whipped feta. If you do this, you can stretch the lentils and avocado across 3-4 bowls.

Vegetarian Hot Honey Bowls

My version of the viral Tik Tok sweet potato, beef and hot honey bowls – made vegetarian with lentils taking the place of the meat! This is an easy and super satisfying dinner recipe that only takes around 30 minutes to get on the table.
2 bowls
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review

Ingredients

  • olive oil, for cooking
  • 2 small – medium sweet potatoes, cubed
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 14 oz (g) can of green or brown lentils, or 1.5 cups pre-cooked
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp taco or fajita seasoning
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • ½ cup (120 ml) cottage cheese or whipped feta, see notes for a whipped feta recipe
  • 1 tbsp hot honey
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400F / 200C / 180C Fan.
  • First, get the sweet potato roasting. Toss the cubes in a large bowl with just enough olive oil to coat them. Sprinkle in the cinnamon, add salt and pepper to taste, and toss again. Scatter over a baking sheet and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
    2 small – medium sweet potatoes, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, olive oil
    • If you're making your own whipped feta, you can do this now while the sweet potato roasts (see the Recipes Notes for instructions).
  • Once the sweet potatoes only have 5 minutes left on the clock, prepare the lentils. If you're using canned lentils, drain and pat dry. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, then add the lentils and tomato paste and saute until the tomato paste is well mixed through. Add the taco seasoning and fry for another couple of minutes until the spices are well toasted and fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside.
    14 oz can of green or brown lentils, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 2 tbsp taco or fajita seasoning, olive oil
  • Check in on the sweet potatoes. They should be soft through and a little browned at the edges. If they aren't quite there yet, place them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
  • Time to serve! Grab two bowls and spoon in sweet potatoes and lentils. Place half of a sliced avocado in each bowl, and then a spoonful of cottage cheese or whipped feta. Drizzle a little hot honey and a sprinkle of chives over the entire bowl and serve immediately.
    1 avocado, 1/2 cup cottage cheese or whipped feta, 1 tbsp hot honey, 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

Notes

Whipped Feta: If you’d like to make some whipped feta for this recipe, blend a 200g (8oz) block of feta cheese with 1/2 a cup (120ml) of yogurt, a small cloves of garlic and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. You’ll get more than you need for this recipe but you can save the rest in the fridge for another meal (it is fabulous with roasted veggies or as the topping for a bowl meal). 
Cuisine: Fusion
Course: Dinner
Calories: 718kcal, Carbohydrates: 103g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 566mg, Potassium: 2046mg, Fiber: 28g, Sugar: 25g, Vitamin A: 32654IU, Vitamin C: 21mg, Calcium: 163mg, Iron: 8mg