Mayan Harvest Bake
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Published Sep 05, 2017, Updated Jul 24, 2023
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A homemade version of Kashi’s Mayan Harvest Bake! This vegan + gluten-free casserole has layers of polenta and quinoa with roasted sweet potatoes, plantains, kale and black beans all in a rich ancho chili sauce.
Back when I first started my healthy eating journey I wasn’t as confident in the kitchen and I gravitated towards convenience foods like frozen meals and canned soups. I looked for healthier options and I had a few favorites — Amy’s Mattar Tofu and Kashi’s Mayan Harvest Bake. Anyone else a fan?
After eating them for a while I decided to try making homemade versions. Mattar Tofu recipe is absolutely delicious so definitely check that out too!
I created the copy-cat Mayan Harvest Bake back in 2010 so the pictures were pretty terrible and the recipe needed a little tweaking/testing. Maria and I tested it twice last month and I feel like it’s absolutely perfect now — ready to be re-shared with new photos and the updated recipe.
This tasty bake combines sweet, ripe plantains, roasted sweet potatoes, black beans and kale with a spicy ancho sauce and pumpkin seed garnish — all the served over a base of polenta and quinoa. It’s got a kick to it, but not overly spicy and the flavors of the sweet potato, plantain, and ancho sauce pair together nicely.
The recipe makes a full casserole dish so it’s a great meal prep recipe. Cook once and have the bake on hand for quick lunches and dinners all week or eat a portion for dinner and freeze the leftovers and reheat a few weeks later for a quick meal.
Mayan Harvest Bake
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes, washed and diced into 1/4 inch cubes (about 4 cups)
- 1 ripe plantain, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch cubes**
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil, divided
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
- 1 Tablespoon ground ancho chile powder/pepper, or regular chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 cups finely chopped kale
- 1 15 oz. can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 18 oz tube polenta, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
Toppings:
- 1/4 cup roasted pepitas
- avocado, for topping
- cilantro, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° degrees.
- Toss chopped sweet potatoes and plantains cubes in 1 Tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and spread onto a baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.
- While the potatoes and plantains are roasting, heat remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato sauce, water, chile powder, coconut sugar, paprika, sea salt and cinnamon into the skillet and let sauce simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add black beans and kale into the skillet. Stir kale into the sauce, allowing it to wilt. Once kale has wilted down, remove sauce from the heat.
- Meanwhile, spray a 9×13 or 11×7 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Line the bottom of the dish with polenta slices, overlapping if needed. Top with the cooked quinoa. Then add the roasted sweet potatoes and plantains. Pour the saucy black bean and kale mixture over everything and use a spoon to create an even top layer.
- Bake casserole in the 400° oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle pepitas over the bake and serve warm. Top each portion with sliced avocado and fresh cilantro.
Notes
- ** The plantain should be very ripe — yellow and covered with large black spots. Mine had a ton of black spots and worked great.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Yikes, this was a hot mess! I love your recipes but this one was TERRIBLE! The combinations were just off.
Oh no! I’m sorry you didn’t like this one. I tested this one multiple times and really enjoyed it. Did you not like the sauce?
There wasn’t enough sauce and I could not figure out what it was supposed to be, a Caribbean, Italian or Mexican dish. No worries though. It was the first recipe of yours I did not like.
I’m sorry! When I tested the recipe there was plenty of sauce, but maybe I need to test it again. It’s supposed to be a Caribbean/Mayan dish.
I from Australia and we don’t have plantains here. What could I use instead?
You could just do more sweet potato chunks or another hearty veggie like parsnips or carrots.
Thank you for doing this! How wonderful. I’m going to try it tomorrow. I agree, this is the best frozen meal out there. And I am *not* a lover of frozen meals.
A tip: Trader Joe’s has a “Greens, Beans, and Grains” meal: http://eatingatjoes.com/2015/04/09/trader-joes-greens-beans-and-grains/ that I think is worth looking up and copying.
I love Kashi’s Mayan Harvest Bake and attempted a version of my own that turned out pretty well, but thought I’d collect recipes by others just to see if I could get it even closer to the original.
Holy cow! This version has 102.49 grams of carbohydrates per serving! Kashi’s has 58, which is bad enough for diabetics like me, but this one is over the top.
I’m wondering what causes such a huge carb load in this as it doesn’t appear much different from mine or other recipes. Is it possible the nutritional information is wrong and that it’s for 2 servings instead of 1?
I love the frozen Kashi dish and went looking for a copycat recipe and stumbled upon yours. Using your recipe (to the T) I made it tonight and it was delish! I agree with Amy when she said to add vegetable broth and/or cover the sauce while baking because it dried up a lot when it was baked. (After tasting it, I ended up adding a little broth to the finished product to help and that worked fine too) Hubby loved it and kids ate it with no fuss. Overall, I can’t wait to make it again! Thank you so much!
I tried this again… used a different tomato puree (Hunt’s), and also added half a can of water. I added about a tablespoon of raw sugar to the puree, and added the spices to the onion and garlic first (I think this makes a big difference) . I cooked the kale right into the sauce. This time around it was pretty spot on!
Love these suggestions Amy. I’ll have to try your version. Thanks for sharing.
I just had the Kashi meal again for lunch today, and I agree it is the best frozen meal out there. In fact, I was looking for a recipe that uses the same ingredients when I happened on your website. I will be trying your version of the Mayan Bake very soon. Thanks!
very good and close, indeed. I believe the Kashi version has more sugar, or maybe the plantains they use are just more ripe. Mine did have black spots all over, but I probably should have baked longer and covered the pan since it turned out dry. The sauce is a little on the tomato-ey side for me and I might try adding a bit of vegetable broth next time. Good job!
Thanks so much for posting this! This is also one of my favorite frozen foods and I’m glad that you were able to replicate the recipe. I’ll try this out soon!