Baked potatoes just got even better now that you have found this chili topped sweet potatoes recipe. Make a complete meal that is fun to eat, easy to customize and something everyone in your family will love.
Contents
Chili Sweet Potatoes
Chili is an amazing dinner option especially in the winter when you want something filling, warm and flavorful to serve at dinner time. This chili checks all those boxes and more since we add roasted sweet potatoes to the mix. Rather than serve chili with rice, why not stuff it inside a baked sweet potato, making an even more filling and rich meal? It sounds like a fantastic idea! Take a look at how to make this chili sweet potato dream come true.
How to Bake Sweet Potatoes
To start this recipe, you need to have about 4-6 medium sweet potatoes baked and ready to use. There are a few ways you can easily make sweet potatoes to serve as the base of this recipe.
- Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven. Prick the medium sweet potatoes all over with a fork or a knife then wrap them in foil. Place the wrapped potatoes on a sheet tray and cook for one hour at 425 degrees F. (This is also a great time to use your countertop convection oven so you do not have to turn the entire big oven on to cook a small thing!). Squeeze one of the potatoes gently while it is still inside the foil. If it feels soft, they are done! If not, cook for another few minutes until they feel soft. Remove from the oven, unwrap carefully, slice the potatoes in half and you are ready to top them with chili!
- You can also make sweet potatoes in the microwave. Pierce the sweet potato all over with a fork or knife and then wrap in a piece of paper towel, enclosing it completely. Place on a plate and microwave for 8-10 minutes (it may take longer if you are cooking more potatoes at one time). Slice in half and use for your chili-topped sweet potatoes recipe!
Roasting in the oven may take a little more time but it can be worth the extra few minutes in order to get some extra flavor. However, the microwave option is nice and fast and get you the sweet potatoes you need in just a few minutes of time! Either option works well.
Making the Quick Chili
Our recipe for chili that we use in these chili-topped sweet potatoes is very fast and simple. In fact, it only takes a few minutes to toss everything together and pretty much cooks on it’s own. Take a look:
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the vegetables over medium heat.
- Cook the chopped veggies for about 10 minutes or until they are nice and soft.
- Add all the remaining ingredients (turkey, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper) and simmer for 15 minutes of medium heat.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary (you may want to add some extra chili powder, cumin or salt!).
- Use it while hot!
In a little more than 20 minutes, you will have enough chili to make 8 servings of chili potatoes! It seems like an amazing recipe to make during a busy week when you are short on time but want something with a lot of flavor.
Chili Stuffed Sweet Potato
Once you have your servings of sweet potatoes ready and your chili has cooked, you are ready to add them together! Place the sweet potatoes on the dishes or serving plates you will be using and slice them in half lengthwise. You can fluff the inside of the sweet potato with a fork if you’d like or leave it with a nice smooth cut.
Scoop about 1/2 cup of chili (one serving size is about 1/2 cup) into each potato then add a little more to each dish if you have extra. Top the potatoes with sour cream, chopped chives, black beans, canned corn, chopped tomatoes or any of your other favorite chili toppings. Serve while hot as a complete meal (you have a vegetable, protein and starch all on the plate- what many consider to be everything a meal needs).
Recipe Variations
If you love this recipe but want some options to go along with it, here are a few things we have tried and loved. However, we firmly believe the recipe is amazing as written, using just the ingredients listed in the recipe. Yet there is always room for improvement…
- Top the chili with grated cheddar cheese and microwave the entire plate for 30 seconds to melt the cheese over the chili
- Add black beans, canned corn or seasonings like cumin, dried basil, or oregano to the chili mix. This can all be added when you pour the tomatoes into the saute pan.
- Top the potatoes with fresh cilantro, a little extra salt and pepper or hot sauce to make the chili even more spicy.
- Slice the sweet potatoes in half, drizzle with olive oil or butter and fluffy the potato with a fork to make it easier to eat.
- Use russet potatoes instead of sweet potatoes for the recipe
- Use ground beef instead of ground turkey. Keep in mind that while this substitution will work wonderfully and taste great, ground beef does have more saturated fat per serving than ground turkey or even ground chicken and will alter the nutritional facts.
If you have any other exciting ideas to make these chili-topped sweet potatoes even better, send an email to our inbox and let us know! We love to hear your ideas about what ingredients to add or adjust.
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PrintChili Topped Sweet Potatoes
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Gluten Free + Paleo
Description
This is the perfect dinner to make on a cold, winters day when you need both a warm scoop of chili and a tasty, rich sweet potato.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. cooked ground turkey (or beef)
- 1 (28oz) can organic tomato sauce
- 1 (14oz) can fire roasted tomatoes, drained
- 2 small yellow onions (diced)
- 2 small zucchinis (peeled and diced)
- 2 cloves garlic or garlic powder
- 4 tablespoons chili powder
- sea salt + black pepper
- 4–8 baked sweet potatoes
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté zucchini, onion, and garlic for about 10 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients and let everything cook together for about 15 minutes. Serve over a baked sweet potato and add any other toppings you prefer.
Notes
Pro Tips:
- You can easily make the potatoes and the chili for this recipe in advance, even a few days before you would like to enjoy the dish. When you are ready to enjoy, slice one potato in half, top it with about 1/2 cup of chili and heat in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes or until nice and hot. This recipe also makes for a fantastic meal prep option for lunch and dinner. Even if you do not need the full 8 servings, make the whole recipe so you have extra for the week.
- Make this recipe vegetarian by replacing the ground turkey with more chopped veggies. Add extra zucchini, an additional can of tomatoes, diced carrots, asparagus, eggplant and even tofu. A vegetable based chili will be delicious as well!
- The chili part of this recipe is also great to serve over rice, pasta or even on bread as a sandwich. Keep it in mind anytime you need to make a tasty chili in just 20 minutes.
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