I realized lately, after noticing that I let two sweet potatoes rot, that I have forgotten all about the delicious orange tuber. How is that even possible? I got so wrapped up in other foods (mostly fruits, whoops) that I forgot about my favorite veggie. So I tossed the rotten ones (so sad) and got some pretty new ones. But those pretty new spuds didn’t deserve the same ‘ol treatment, they needed to be turned into something new and different.
Enter the twice baked potato. Typically, the twice baked potato is something you imagine being all white and starchy, smothered in bacon, cheese, and sour cream. Try to stop drooling right now. I was talking to me. But white potatoes are actually boring and sweet ones are not. Not debatable, it’s a fact. So twice baked potatoes with made sweet potatoes have got to be good, right? But what do you do when you cut out the cheese and sour cream? You don’t cry about it and you make it way more awesome.
That’s what I did tonight. But since us paleo folk love meat, I had to put some sort of animal on the potatoes, and chicken is what I had on hand. Chicken has the tendency to be boring and BBQ sauce was just the solution for that. I’m a sucker for good BBQ. It’s definitely one of my favorite non-paleo treats.
Oh, and before I forget, let me tell you one of the best parts about this meal. It can actually turn into THREE different meals! Yeah, crazy right? The actual recipe below only accounts for two, so let me tell you how to add the third meal. You just double the chicken. The recipe calls for only 3/4 lb of chicken, but if you bump that up to 1-1/2 lbs, or even 2 lbs, you can have everything ready for lunch and dinner the next day, with hardly any prep. Ok, so now I should explain the “how”.
Turn 1 Meal Into 3
- Make the recipe as written below. Since you’ll be doubling the chicken, only use half of it for this recipe. Store the other half in a tupperware in the fridge. The next day, mix the shredded chicken with some Paleo Lime Mayo, chopped dill pickles, some salt and pepper, and enjoy a delicious chicken salad for lunch.
- For a family of 4-5, you may only wind up consuming half of this recipe. That’s what we did, so there will be 4 potato skins leftover. Scoop all the potato out of the skins, mix it all together, and store in a tupperware in the fridge for dinner the next day. There will be a little prep needed for dinner.
- For dinner the next day, you’ll need about 4 chicken breasts. Butterfly the chicken breasts and stuff them with the leftover sweet potato mixture saved from the night before. Close the chicken breasts, salt and pepper them, and secure with toothpicks. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.
There you have it, two dinners and one lunch. I’m all about making my job easier here folks, and if that translates into easier meals for you too, then that’s just gravy. Paleo gravy, of course.
BBQ Chicken Sweet Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 4 Sweet Potatoes, long and narrow, not too fat
- 3/4 lb Boneless, for quicker cooking, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into large chunks
- 2 Shallots, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Ghee, or Grass-Fed Butter
- 8 slices Bacon, chopped
- 3/4 cup Paleo BBQ Sauce
- 1/2 cup Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt, to taste
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Scrub the sweet potatoes to clean the skins and pat dry. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until fork-tender.
- Remove potatoes from the oven and cut in half lengthwise. Let them cool about 10-15 minutes.
- Scoop out some of the sweet potato and place in a large bowl, leaving some potato flesh on the skins. Mash the scooped out flesh.
- While the potatoes are baking, add the chopped bacon to a large, cold skillet. Turn it on to medium heat and cook the bacon, stirring frequently, until you have crispy bacon bits. Strain the bacon out of the pain onto a paper towel, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.
- Add the shallots to the pan with the bacon grease and saute until translucent, then add the spinach and saute another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the skillet and mix it into the mashed sweet potatoes.
- In the same skillet, heat the ghee. Add the chicken breast chunks and cook until no longer pink. Remove from skillet (don't overcook, chicken will be tough).
- To shred the chicken, there are a few options:(1) Blendtec (our preferred method): Place cooked chicken in the Blendtec, secure the lid, and press the pulse button a few times until the chicken is evenly shredded/chopped.(2) Food Processor: Place cooked chicken in the food processor bowl, secure the lid, and pulse until the chicken is evenly shredded/chopped.(3) Stand Mixer: Place the cooked chicken in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn on medium speed and mix until the chicken is evenly shredded.(4) By Hand: Shred the cooked chicken pieces by hand with two forks.
- Once the chicken is shredded, add the BBQ sauce to the chicken and stir until combined. Combine the chicken mixture with the potato mixture and mix it all together.
- Drizzle the potato skins with a little olive oil and place them back on the baking sheet (skin side up) and bake for 5 minutes to get them crispier.
- Remove skins from the oven. Spoon the potato/chicken mixture into each potato skin, dividing it evenly. Place filled skins back in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove skins for the oven, slice in half on the diagonal, and sprinkle with the bacon bits. Serve hot.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1/2 potatoAmount Per Serving Calories 298Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 68mgSodium 625mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 3gSugar 13gProtein 24g
cindy
Tuesday 12th of April 2016
Just made these and just put the the mixture in a big bowl for my kids to heat up after sports when they want something healthy but don't want to wait for me to make them something!
AManda K
Thursday 24th of July 2014
Hmmmmmm.... what about stuffing these with your chicken with bacon and Ranch recipe? That just sounds TOOOOOOOOOOOOO yummy!!!
Kendra Benson
Thursday 24th of July 2014
I think you might be a genius, Amanda...
abby!
Thursday 23rd of January 2014
I have extra stuffing.. anyideas on what i should do with it? Love this btw!
Kendra
Thursday 23rd of January 2014
I usually just eat the extra as-is. If you have enough leftover, it would be a great leftover-lunch. And thanks for reminding me about this recipe, I think I'll make it tonight :)
Lynn
Tuesday 13th of August 2013
Made this tonight with broccoli instead of spinach. It was super yummy and all my kids gobbled it up! It was a little time consuming, but worth it!
Kendra
Tuesday 13th of August 2013
Ooh, broccoli sounds good, and my kids are on a broccoli kick lately so any way I can add it to meals is great. Thanks for sharing your spin on the recipe, I'll definitely try it out :)