You Should Start Adding Canned Tuna To Your Sweet Potato Dishes

Fun fact of the day: Sweet potatoes are not actually potatoes — they're root vegetables, according to American Sweet Potato. They're also marked by their orange colors and carrot flavors, though this also depends on the variety you choose.

Some sweet potatoes are, as the name suggests, sweet, like Envy, Creamsicle, and Covington sweet potatoes, per Saveur, while others are lighter, such as O'henry and Hannah varieties. Meanwhile, some are actually nuttier in flavor, as seen with the Speckled Purple, Korean Purple, and the rare Willowleaf types.

Generally speaking, sweet potatoes do well with boiling, mashing, and roasting methods, among many others, per MSU Extension. The sky's the limit here, as sweet potatoes can be transformed into french fries, casseroles, and even dessert-like sweet potato pie, a feat that surpasses regular potatoes.

To that, sweet potatoes pair well with a myriad of ingredients, ranging from produce and meats to nuts and spices, via Produce Made Simple. Additions like butter, cream, honey, and brown sugar also help to add an element of richness to the simplicity of sweet potatoes. But what about adding canned tuna to sweet potato dishes? Is this considered to be a culinary faux pas, or is this a combo worth writing home about?

For starters, one can of light, water-packed tuna sans salt contains 42 grams of protein, not to mention a host of other vitamins and minerals, like iron, potassium, and vitamins B6 and B12, via Very Well Fit. It's also considered cost-effective, as a can of store-brand tuna usually hovers between $1.50 to $1.89 in big cities, per Seafood Source. So if you're looking to add more protein to your diet, or simply trying new things, combining canned tuna with sweet potatoes may be the way to go.

Canned tuna and sweet potatoes are a match made in flavor heaven, evidenced by the myriad of recipes that blend the two seamlessly. For instance, BBC Good Food likes to place canned tuna (they don't specify what type) atop microwaved (and split) sweet potatoes, followed by additions of sliced red onions, chopped chili peppers, lime juice, and Greek yogurt. Food Network, on the other hand, puts a spin on healthy grain bowls with shelled edamame, cabbage, turmeric sweet potatoes, and albacore tuna, all tossed with a spicy yogurt dressing. Many of the recipes we've come across also use water-packed tuna, though you can certainly swap in oil-packed tuna if you'd like.

So whether you need a boost of protein or you're looking for a new way to amp up your next sweet potato dish, try incorporating some canned tuna into the mix.