These viral sweet potato, ground beef, and cottage cheese protein bowls are the perfect quick, easy, genuinely filling meal for any day of the week. Think gorgeously spiced taco beef, charred sweet potatoes, smashed limey avocado, creamy cottage cheese, with a sweet, spicy hot honey drizzle, in less than 30 minutes.
Table of Contents
- Viral Beef, Sweet Potato, and Cottage Cheese Bowls, at a Glance
- The Viral Bowl, but Better
- Why this Weird Combination Actually Works
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make the Protein Bowls
- Air Fry or Oven Bake?
- Beef Sweet Potato Bowls FAQs
- Watch How to Make the Bowls
- Like this recipe? Try these super easy ideas next
- Viral Beef, Sweet Potato and Cottage Cheese Protein Bowls Recipe
Viral Beef, Sweet Potato, and Cottage Cheese Bowls, at a Glance
⏰ Time: 30 minutes
🍽️ Makes: 4 servings
💪 Protein: 41.3g per serving
🛒 Key Ingredients: Ground beef (or chicken, turkey, pork, tofu), cottage cheese, avocado, sweet potatoes, taco seasoning
🤔 Why it Works: It’s basically a high-protein burrito bowl, with complementary flavors, and keeps brilliantly.
💃 Perfect For: Quick weeknight dinners, meal prep, easy high-protein lunches.
The Viral Bowl, but Better
My boyfriend, like many, is currently on a big protein kick. That means I’m tasked with coming up with tasty ways to get more protein into our meals, so when I saw these beef and sweet potato bowls doing the rounds on social media, I knew they would go down well.
However, I had to put my twist on the viral recipe to make it taste more complete. I tested it, and found these small tweaks and additions will really take the bowls to another level:
- I recommend adding a little seasoning to your cottage cheese, especially if you’re wary of eating a big dollop. Here I’m mixing through cilantro and ranch seasoning. It makes a big difference and adds extra flavor to the bowls. You can also quickly blitz and whip your cottage cheese first if you’re not a fan of the chunky texture.
- Adding black beans to the taco beef adds extra fiber and protein and is a great way to bulk it out.
- A couple of handfuls of spinach also adds easy greens to the bowls, as they wilt quickly into the beef in the pan.
- I’m personally not a fan of avocado when it’s sliced or diced without seasoning. So, I’m adding a very quick, guacamole-esque limey smashed avocado, which I MUCH prefer, but you can of course keep things simple with just the diced avocado.
In saying that, this is one of those fab blank canvas recipes that’s easy to make your own:
- Swap the beef for ground chicken, turkey, or a plant-based alternative.
- Use whipped creamy feta, Greek yogurt, homemade labneh, or sour cream if you really don’t want to use cottage cheese (or try this spicy whipped cottage cheese dip, which you might actually like!)
- Or add a quick fresh salad on the side (tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber work well).
If you’re as much of a fan of flavor-packed bowls as I am, try these high-protein chicken power bowls, miso chicken poke bowls, or Mediterranean chicken rice bowls next. And for more ideas for using cottage cheese, I LOVE these no-blend high-protein cottage cheese bagels (you can make them in the air fryer!) or four-ingredient cottage cheese gnocchi.
Why this Weird Combination Actually Works
At first glance, it seems weird, right? But this combination of ingredients and flavors really does work. It’s easiest to get if you think of it as a high-protein burrito bowl:
- The sweet potatoes balance the super savory ground beef. When roasted until soft in the middle and charred around the edges,
- Cottage cheese kind of acts like a high-protein sour cream. This is especially the case if you use whipped cottage cheese, but either way, it works.
- Hot honey pulls everything together. It gives the bowls a lovely sweet-spicy finish, which works brilliantly.
- And adding black beans and spinach makes it a more complete meal. They bulk out the beef, add fiber, extra protein, and sneak in greens without it feeling too ‘healthy’.
“Really tasty. Reminds me of a burrito bowl. Highly recommend.”
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground beef. I’m using lean ground beef here (5%), but you could use a higher percentage if you like. They’d also work well with ground turkey, chicken, or a plant-based alternative.
- Cottage cheese. Using full-fat, small curd cottage cheese will make a HUGE difference here, flavor-wise. As someone who is still coming to terms with cottage cheese, you really can taste the difference when you use good-quality cottage cheese.
- Hot honey. Contrary to what I used to think, this is spicy honey, not honey that is hot, temperature-wise! You can buy it at the store, but it’s incredibly simple to make at home. I have a recipe for hot honey sauce, which shares more details if you’re interested.
- Spices. Use a store-bought taco seasoning blend if you like – I didn’t have any, so I used ground cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, dried oregano, and salt.
- Black beans. Optional, but I recommend them for an extra hit of fiber and protein. They also help to bulk out the beef and make the bowls go further. You could use Kidney beans, borlotti beans, or white beans instead if you prefer.
- Spinach. This is something I always have on hand because throwing in a couple of handfuls to a meal is an easy way to add extra greens.
How to Make the Protein Bowls
This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the bowls – the full instructions with ingredient quantities are at the bottom of the page for you.
- Dice your sweet potatoes, then lay them out on a baking dish or lined sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, smoked paprika, and salt, then mix to combine.
- Transfer the sweet potatoes into the oven (or air fryer) to get charred and lovely.
Air Fry or Oven Bake?
The air fryer makes this recipe even quicker to make – throw the seasoned sweet potatoes into your air fryer basket, then air fry at 400F (200C) for 12 to 15 minutes.
- While they cook, make the smashed limey avocado and mix the cottage cheese with the cilantro and ranch seasoning.
- Cook your garlic and spices in a pan, then add the ground beef. Cook until brown, then add your tomato paste and stir.
- Add the black beans and a good couple of handfuls of spinach. Stir so that the spinach wilts into the beef. Now you’re ready to assemble your bowls.
- Layer your sweet potatoes, ground beef, smashed avocado, and seasoned cottage cheese in a bowl, then drizzle with the hot honey sauce. Extra cilantro, a few pickled jalapenos, and a squeeze of lime finish things off beautifully.
Beef Sweet Potato Bowls FAQs
Yes, you can! These are fabulous for meal prep and make a wonderful, filling lunch.
I recommend storing the ground beef and roasted sweet potatoes together (so you can easily reheat them), and the cottage cheese mix, and whipped avocado separately.
The avocado will dull in color a bit the longer it’s stored (the lime juice helps it keep its color, but it will fade), but it’s still fine to eat. You can enjoy them hot or cold, too.
Yes! The sweet potatoes will cook faster in the air fryer – just 12 minutes at 400°F/200°C.
If you’re not a cottage cheese fan, use thick Greek yogurt, whipped feta, sour cream, or even homemade labneh instead.
If, like me, you find the texture of cottage cheese off-putting, try blending it until super smooth (like ricotta) before mixing it with the seasoning. You might find you enjoy it that way.
Watch How to Make the Bowls
Like this recipe? Try these super easy ideas next
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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Viral Beef, Sweet Potato and Cottage Cheese Protein Bowls
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These viral sweet potato, ground beef, and cottage cheese protein bowls are the perfect quick, easy, genuinely filling meal for any day of the week. Think gorgeously spiced taco beef, charred sweet potatoes, smashed limey avocado, creamy cottage cheese, with a sweet, spicy hot honey drizzle, in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For the sweet potatoes –
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the whipped avocado –
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 1 lime, juiced
- A handful of cilantro, chopped
- Salt
- Black pepper
For the cottage cheese –
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- A handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ranch seasoning
For the taco beef –
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 lb (500g) ground beef
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 can black beans (400g/15 oz can), drained
- A handful of spinach leaves
To garnish –
- Hot honey sauce
- Pickled jalapenos
- A handful of cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Season the sweet potatoes. If you’re using your oven, heat it to 425°F (220°C fan). Cut your sweet potatoes into bite-sized cubes, then arrange them on a lined sheet pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then scatter with 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and salt. Toss to mix the seasoning through the potatoes.
- Cook the sweet potatoes. Oven instructions: Transfer the sweet potatoes to the oven and cook for 20 minutes, until lightly charred on the outside and cooked through (you should easily be able to pierce them with a knife). Air fryer instructions: Arrange the seasoned sweet potatoes into your air fryer basket and air fry at 400°F (200°C) for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Make the smashed avocado. Add the ripe avocado flesh to a small mixing bowl, then add the lime juice, a big pinch of salt, a good grind of black pepper, and the chopped cilantro. Use a fork to mash the avocado. Taste and season with a little more salt if needed. Set aside.
- Season the cottage cheese. Mix the cottage cheese with the chopped cilantro and the ranch seasoning. Set aside for now. PRO TIP: You can blend the cottage cheese first using a food processor, blender, or stick blender, if you prefer a smoother texture.
- Cook the spices. Set a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat, then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon of ground cumin, 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring, for a minute.
- Cook the ground beef. Add the ground beef and use a wooden spoon to break it up in the pan. Cook for a few minutes, until browned, and any water has evaporated. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and stir through the beef for a couple of minutes. Add the black beans and spinach leaves, then stir through the beef so that the spinach wilts and softens. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Assemble the bowls. Divide the sweet potatoes between plates, then top with the beef, smashed avocado, and the cottage cheese. Drizzle with hot honey sauce, then scatter with cilantro and a few pickled jalapenos.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: This is one of those brilliant blank canvas type recipes where you can really play around, based on what you have on hand. Adding extra veggies works well – think steamed or grilled broccoli, beans, or a quick tomato cucumber salad. Use good quality, full-fat cottage cheese for the best flavor – I’m not a huge cottage cheese fan, which is why I like to season it up a bit in this recipe.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Swap the ground beef for ground turkey, chicken, or a plant-based alternative. You could use Kidney beans, borlotti beans, or white beans instead of black beans if you like. If you really don’t like cottage cheese, use thick Greek yogurt (or labneh), sour cream, or whipped feta. If you have taco seasoning on hand, you could use a couple of tablespoons of that in the beef, rather than the individual spices.
MEAL PREP INSTRUCTIONS: This is a fabulous recipe to make ahead of time – every element keeps well for five days in the fridge – and is great hot or cold. You can store the cooked taco beef and sweet potatoes together for easy reheating, but store the cottage cheese, whipped avocado, and hot honey separately. You’ll notice the avocado will dull in color over time (the lime juice will prolong the color a little, but it will eventually get quite muted and you’ll see brown bits. Don’t worry, though, as it will still taste lovely.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: meat
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 300g
- Calories: 513
- Sugar: 12.6g
- Sodium: 1042.3mg
- Fat: 18.5g
- Saturated Fat: 4.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 48g
- Fiber: 13.2g
- Protein: 41.3g
- Cholesterol: 81.8mg
Really tasty, liked the smashed avocado suggestion too!
Yayyy so pleased you liked that addition!! Really elevates it doesn’t it xx Kate
Really tasty. Reminds me of a burrito bowl. Highly recommend.
So good! Definitely be making this again and again
Yay!! So happy to hear that Allison xx Kate
Could you recommend an alternative to the ranch seasoning for the cottage cheese?
Thank you
Hi Joanne, sure! I think taco seasoning would work well, or everything bagel seasoning, a mix of onion/garlic powder, or just a squeeze of lime juice for extra flavor xx Kate