Do you like carbs? Hell yes you do. If you don’t, you’re either 1.) a liar, or 2.) a liar. Carbs make meals more delicious. The only problem is the spike the sh*t out of our insulin and give us saddle bags. Oh, you don’t know what saddle bags are? I hate you.
Moving on though. Sweet potatoes are definitely my splurge when it comes to carbohydrates, other than when I go all out for a cheat meal and stuff my face with mac and cheese covered with breadcrumbs…but that’s besides the point. Sweet potatoes are freaking delicious and I try to stick them in my diet randomly, especially for a post wod meal. Cutting out everything in a diet, including higher glycemic foods, is just unrealistic. Telling yourself you can’t have something, ever, will ruin your diet. So splurge a little here and there. Live a little.
Want to know how I’m living it up this weekend? Of course you do. I’m having a girls night out on Friday. This night will include alcoholic beverages and dancing like an idiot. It may also include falling. Why? Because I plan on being a girl and wearing heels. Is that scary? Hell yes it is. First of all, I don’t really know how to be a girl anymore so wearing heels makes me feel like an awkward teenager again. And second, because I rolled my ankle during the Tough Mudder and have a kankle. It’s incredibly sexy, if you’re into that sort of thing, weirdo.
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 large sweet potatoes (I used the yellow kind)*
- ¼ cup Red Hot hot sauce (or another kind you like)
- 1 tablespoon fat (I used duck fat)
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut your sweet potatoes in half, lengthwise and put them face down on a cookie sheet. Put in the oven to cook for about 25-30 minutes depending how thick they are. You will know when they are done if they are easy to push on, on the skin side. If you pull them out early and the inside doesn’t come out easily with a spoon, you’ll need to cook them a bit longer.
- While your sweet potatoes cook, put out a pot or skillet over medium-high heat. Add a bit of fat to the hot pan then add your garlic and onions to start cooking down.
- Once the onions are translucent, add the ground turkey and use a large spoon to break it up to help cook it a bit quicker.
- When the turkey is half way done cooking, add the spices. Let the turkey cook until no longer pink or until completely cooked through, take off heat.
- Now pull your sweet potatoes out of the oven and use a large spoon to scoop out the insides. Be careful to not go totally to the skin or it may tear and be pointless to add meat to.
- Put the insides of the sweet potatoes directly into your pan of turkey and mix thoroughly to combine.
- Now scoop out the new mixture and put into your sweet potato skins. You can go as high as you want. Think of it as a loaded bake potato…load that sh*t on!!
- Now put those loaded sweet potatoes back on the cookie sheet, face up, back into the oven and cook for 3-5 more minutes just to meld the flavors together and harden the top a bit
- Now eat them. They are DAMN GOOD. I mean it. Like seriously. Really good.
Grocery Store Helper:
- Ground Turkey: on sale at King Soopers for $2.99/lb
- Sweet Potatoes: bought at Sunflower Market



















LoL this post was great! Making this saturday
this looks perfect! I am excited to try it…and love the humor in your blog.
I made this dish last night. AWESOME!!!!
Thanks Chris!
Lindsey and Kris–you gotta try this one! You will not regret it! Thanks so much for checking out my blog and leaving a comment! You guys rock!
Paleofirsttimer–You are the BEST!! So glad you tried it AND liked it!!
Made these last night and they were so good! You've definitely got some talent. Everything I've made has been awesome. Love reading your adventures and recipes. Thank you!
Thanks for trying the recipe Rebecca!! So glad you liked it!
I made these last night for dinner. SO GOOD! perfect comfort food.
Awesome comfort food huh?! Glad you liked it Jenn :)
I am in love with your BLOG…addicted actually. I am a recent convert to the Paleo lifestyle and am trying lots of new things to show my hubby and toddler there are awesome alternatives! These were so YUMMY!
Hope your family likes some of the recipes!!
Made these this weekend, and they were AWESOME! Yummy and spicy and….yummy.
I was looking for something to have with them as a side dish (so I didn’t eat the whole batch), and came up with some chili lime cauliflower rice. I cooked up some onion and garlic, added the raw cauliflower rice, and sprinkled some chili powder in. I also squeezed the juice of one lime and grated some lime zest in as well. At the end, mix in some chopped cilantro and BOOM. Yum. I thought it went pretty well with your smoky, spicy, sweet creation.
Yummmmm!! That sounds awesome Jenn!! Nice work!
Made these tonight with a modification. I can’t eat nightshades, so no paprika and I don’t care for chipotle. So I left out those two ingredients and the red pepper and in their place I added…a pound of bacon. Yum!!!! Thanks for the recipe :-) Really enjoy your blog and sense of humor.
Thanks for telling us about your modification!!
This was GREAT! Before adding the turkey to the mashed sweet potato mixture, I added honey and cinnamon ( just a dash of both) to amplify the sweet potatoes and keep that sweetness from disappearing from the overall taste. It was absolutely amazing! Perfect balance between sweet and salty. The hot sauce (i used tabasco) gave just enough kick to get all your tastebuds involved in this one dish. Definitely recommend!
There should be a warning label on this–it’s SPICY! At least mine certianly was. Delicious, but it made me sweat. I will definitely make it again, and go lighter on the spices and hot sauce.
Please help me. I cannot stop making these.
This was delicious. Thank you!
Thank you for keeping things real. Your sense of humor is refreshing and honest. I just started on my Paleo journey and your recipes are simple enough for my beginning cook self to sort out. ;)
Thank you!!! I’m so glad I found this recipe, and more importantly your blog! I’m definitely making these tonight. Is it dinner time yet? ;)
I have never been a fan of sweet potatoes, but I have seen the light. This was amazing and it helped satisfy my chili craving! The husband asked if I would put this in the dinner rotation. Thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe!
I am new to Paleo and this is amazing. I could eat them everyday!
This was delicious! My two year old devoured it. I added some cooked bacon pieces and topped it with homemade guacamole. DEEE-LISH!
I made this today, and I LOVED it. Every recipe of yours I’ve made (all 3 of them… lol) have been amazing. I’m new to Paleo, so your site is like my bible. :D
I’m so happy I came across a link to this blog, I printed out a bunch of recipes and went shopping! Made this recipe yesterday and it was freakin fantastic!! And man did it have a BITE! My boyfriend isn’t into spicy, but this chick is. I loved it and will be making more, thank you!!
Made this tonight for my family – they loved it!!! They’re not paleo but I think I may have begun to convert my dad…
Absolutely amazing! I did my own spin, but the base is superb!!! I’m always looking for new ways to spice up those boring old sweet potatoes and this sure did the trick :}
delicious! I didn’t realize that the hot sauce was meant to be mixed in when the spices went in so we just put it on top of the loaded potatoes before the second bake. We also had to bake our potatoes at least 20 minutes longer i’m guessing due to size or that we used the orange potatoes. Either way, very tasty! We had plenty of the filling leftover too :)
Delicious! My family loved this recipe… I had to force my 6-year-old to take a bite (knowing he would love it!)… and he devoured it and asked for more! I’m sure if I hadn’t served them in the potato skins he would have been just fine. Stinker =) Thanks for another wonderful recipe! I printed up your Chocolate Coffee Banana donuts and am eager to surprise my guys with them in the morning…
Just made this and it’s definitely one of my fav’s!
is the fat (duck fat in your case) a necessary part of the recipe? could something like coconut oil be used instead?
absolutely!
I’m making these tonight but adding zucchini, carrot and peas to the meat mixture.
Holy crap this was good! Love the intermingling of spicy and sweet.
Made this for dinner…yummy flavors but holy cr@p was it spicy!! Maybe my chipotle powder is spicier than yours? Anyway I’d recommend to anyone reading this to start with half the amount of chipotle, red pepper, and hot sauce then taste and add more if you’d like…delicious, but ow my mouth :’(
Just made this tonight and it was amazing!! My husband thinks I’m crazy because I have to have things every now and then that make me feel like I’m eating crappy food even though I’m not. The problem with being a stupid girl! And this definitely fit the bill. Btw I love your blog and think you’re great. It’s always nice to find another girl that says “balls” and the f word on a regular basis :0)
This has quickly become one of my favorite meals! Thanks for all you do! I’m finally below 2 hundo for the first time since ’01.
Just made this a few minutes ago!!! It’s great! I’m working on getting into the habit of “dinner for breakfast” or just incorporating meat into my breakfast every morning.. this was perfect!
I forgot the hot sauce and used chipotle, ceyenne and garlic salt b/c I didn’t have the other spices on hand… still tasted great! I only needed one half of the potatoe to fill me up tho.
five stars for you!