Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (Paleo)

These easy chili stuffed sweet potatoes are perfect for a weeknight dinner. Paleo inspired, but many ways to customize.

When I meal prep, there is always some sort of southwestern inspired meal in the weekly food plan, like these chili stuffed sweet potatoes or my southwest chicken chili. You can never go wrong with anything that requires chili powder, cilantro, avocado, and sour cream (non-dairy if that's your thing, like me).

Sweet Potatoes vs. Yams

Did you know that most potatoes labeled as yams are really sweet potatoes? A yam is actually a white, starchier potato with brown, bark-like skin. Probably not what you're used to seeing!

Most sweet potatoes have orange skin and bright orange or red/orange flesh (what you're probably used to seeing labeled as a yam). Most commonly they are orange, but they can also be purple or white.

I'll spare you the boring details, but essentially eons ago there was an attempt to clarify the difference between root vegetables, and sweet potatoes were labeled as yams… failed attempt! So, what you are probably used to buying labeled as a yam is actually a sweet potato. Fun fact for the day… you're welcome!

The Perfect Potato for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I have read there are upwards of 25 varieties of sweet potatoes; most of which you'll probably never come across in your life. At most grocery stores you will find garnet, jewel, purple, and Hannah (white).

I recommend jewel yams/sweet potatoes for baking. These are typically shorter and fatter, which is perfect for a whole, baked sweet potato. Plus these are the ones you typically find at common grocery stores. However, any sweet potato works as long as they are a good shape for a baked potato (the more round the better).

The Directions

These are such an easy weeknight meal! Making these are so simple.

1. Preheat oven to 425. Clean sweet potatoes and pierce each potato with a fork 4-5 times to allow steam to escape while cooking. Bake potatoes for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife or fork can easily be pierced through entire potato.
2. While sweet potatoes are cooking, cook your ground beef and onion until no longer pink.
3. Add canned tomatoes and spices to ground beef. Keep on low heat until potatoes are ready.
4. Once potatoes are cooked through, slice open and stuff with ground beef mixture. Top with desired toppings.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Told you they were simple!

The Ingredients and How to Keep Them Clean

Sweet Potatoes - high in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, and many other vitamins and minerals. They get their orange color from beta-carotene, which is an antioxidant. 

Sweet potatoes are typically grown with less pesticides than regular white potatoes, so conventional are okay to buy. I recommend organic if you can, but no need to be too concerned if you are buying non-organic sweet potatoes.

Ground beef - the "stuffing" is made up of mostly ground beef. In order to buy the cleanest/healthiest ground beef, look for 100% grass-fed or grass-finished ground beef. Luckily, this can be found at most grocery stores and is only marginally more expensive than conventional ground beef.

Yellow onion - onions are typically on the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) clean fifteen, so go ahead and buy conventional!

Canned tomatoes - Organic and BPA-free cans are best.

You can find Organico Bello canned tomatoes at Whole Foods. But there are others that only contain tomatoes-just read the lable. And if you aren't able to find any that only contain tomatoes, don't sweat it!

Spices - simple, southwestern inspired spices are used to give the chili a well-rounded flavor!

To ensure you are getting the highest quality, best flavor, and purest form of the spices, I recommend organic. In addition, like most produce, herbs and spices are contaminated with chemicals, so best to keep those out of your kitchen as much as possible.

Toppings

Go ahead and top these beauties with anything you'd like! My go-to toppings for these are:

-Cilantro
-Sour cream (I used almond-milk Greek yogurt since I'm dairy-free)
-Sliced radishes
-Avocado or easy homemade guacamole
-Green onion
-A squeeze of fresh lime juice

Substitutions and Add-Ins

Vegan? No problem, replace the ground beef with some cooked quinoa and black beans.

Not paleo? Add some black beans to your ground beef.

How to Store Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Leftovers can easily be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Store any leftover toppings separately so you can re-heat the potatoes and chili separate from the toppings.

To make it easier, you can store the potatoes and chili stuffing together and re-heat all together. They can be re-heated in the microwave or oven at 350 until heated (recommend slicing up potato prior to reheating to allow for even heating).

More Dinner Recipes To Try

If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think! I would so appreciate you leaving a star rating and/or comment below. And don't forget to share a photo on Instagram or Facebook and mention @CleanPlateMama!

Eat Clean.Be Well!
-Sara