After three and a half years of paleo and a year and half on the autoimmune protocol you would think that I would be better at coming up with paleo and AIP friendly lunches. Back in my standard American diet days my lunch was typically always simple, cold, and medium sized. Now my lunch is typically just leftovers from the day before or an easily cooked meat and veggie combo. This is fine until it gets boring or until I am traveling or in need of a more “normal” lunch. In these cases I typically go for a salad and some plantain chips or something starchy to fill me up, but after just eating these stuffed sweet potato skins for lunch I may have found a new favorite.
Obviously, these don’t just have to be eaten for lunch, they would make a perfectly respectable dinner too, but because I think they are good warm or cold I am putting them in the lunch category. Many stuffed sweet potato recipes you see online are “Mexican” themed or covered in cheese so I decided to try something that would be totally delicious and still AIP friendly. The filling for these is so flavorful and delicious, but it is the sauce that really pulls it all together and will make you do your happy dance. The sauce has the perfect creamy texture that turns this from just a hollowed out sweet potato with some meat in it to a full and delicious meal.
It is very clear to all that I love sweet potatoes but this may take the cake as my favorite sweet potato recipe to date… you will have to let me know what you think!
Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins with a Sweet Potato Vinaigrette (AIP/Paleo)
(serves 2-4)
Ingredients:
Ingredients:2 medium sweet potatoes
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts– cooked and shredded
2 pieces of bacon
1 cup of fresh spinach
½ yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic- minced
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried ginger
½ tsp sea salt
½ cup olive oil
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place your two sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet and poke them both with a fork multiple times. Place them in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until they are tender. In a medium pan cook your two slice of bacon until crispy and then set aside, leaving the grease in the pan. When the sweet potatoes are tender take them out of the oven and carefully cut them in half. Allow them to cool slightly and then scoop out most of the flesh, leave a small lining to keep the skin from tearing. Set the flesh aside and place the skins back in the oven for about 5 minutes to get crispy. Meanwhile, add your onions and garlic to the pan that you cooked the bacon in. Sautee until the onions start to become translucent. Then, add in your spinach and allow it to wilt. Finally add in your shredded chicken and spices and mix together. Remove the sweet potato skins from the oven and fill them with the chicken. Sprinkle the bacon on top. Finally, to make your sweet potato vinaigrette sauce add ½ cup of the cooked sweet potato flesh along with your olive oil and balsamic vinegar to your food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon over the top of the potatoes and serve.
11 Comments
I made this last night and it was quite nice. A bit sweet which I expected, and a bit smoky, which I didn’t. The smoky dimension was the best part. Am thinking this would be a beautiful dish to take to a potluck.
I made these with white sweet potatoes. From the photos, looks like you used orange ones. Was it hard to keep the shape when you scoop out the flesh? I used white sweet potatoes because when I bake orange ones they’re so soft they fall apart. They wouldn’t hold their shape if I scooped anything out. Maybe I’d have to cook them for a little less time to make this dish. I don’t usually time the baking; i just put them in there and check every so often to see if they’re soft enough.
I did use orange sweet potatoes, but white ones sound great too. You do have to monitor how long they bake for because you don’t want them to get too soft, but if you do then you shouldn’t have much of an issue.
I tried this last night and simply amazing. My skins never got crunchy but boy were they delicious. My husband couldn’t stop saying wow! Thanks for this recipe, definitely adding it to the rotation.
Oh good! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
May be a dumb question but are you eating the crusty outer shell (peeling) as well?
You can, it is tasty and edible, but I don’t usually eat it for this particular recipe.
These were excellent thanks! My son thought they tasted like a pizza so I had to make them two nights later and will become a staple. Love the recipes to make AIP easy
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