For the longest time I used to overcomplicate things. One of those things was how to cook sweet potatoes. Especially how to bake sweet potatoes. For some reason, they always tasted amazing when others made them but I could never get them right. After years of chasing the elusive perfect sweet potato, I stumbled across the holy grail when I started baking sweet potatoes in the oven. Now I like to bake 10 at a time and keep them in fridge for when I am hungry. I peel them and saute them with my eggs in the morning, I mash them and bake with them, and sometimes I just eat them cold. Either way, they are always delicious. Leave me a comment with your favorite way to eat Sweet Potatoes, hopefully this one is on the top of the list.
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 1/2 red apple diced
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 4 slices bacon cooked and diced
- 3 packed cups spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit (205 Celsius)
- Wash and scrub your sweet potatoes, prick them with a fork and place on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet
- Coat your sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- Place in the oven and bake until soft all the way through, about 45 minutes to 1 hour
- While your sweet potatoes are baking, preheat a cast iron skillet or saute pan over medium heat
- Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and add your onions, stirring often
- Cook onions for 5-7 minutes or until translucent
- Add the bell pepper, apples and cranberries, cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Add bacon and spinach, stir often for 2-3 minutes until all spinach has cooked down
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat
- To serve, slice each sweet potato lengthwise and push on the ends to open up the middle
- Spoon the stuffing into each sweet potato and serve
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Brandon
These were great. I doubled the stuffing and added ground pork to make them a bit hardier.
Sweet potato curls ( spiralized sweet potatoes pan fried with some cinnamon and maple syrup ) are one of my favorite breakfast treats
Jeremy
Double the stuffing sounds like an amazing idea! I’m also going to try making someone sweet potato curls!
Jeremy
Team Caveman
James Hayes-Bohanan
Thanks, George. I just made this and it was terrific. I used our Big Green Egg for both the sweet potatoes and the bacon. But this is an answer — two, actually — to your question about favorite sweet potato uses.
The first is good all year — sweet-potato quesadillas:
The second is especially important at Thanksgiving — sweet-potato hash with leftover turkey:
I like your idea of baking sweet potatoes ahead of time; I’ll certainly be using that.
Karen
Thank you for posting this recipe George. I made as a meal – it was so good. The flavors go so well together. I’ll pin it for sure!
George Bryant
This is one of my favorites :)
fritz schnitz
You spelled elusive wrong, Professional Writer.
George Bryant
All fixed, thank you so much
Heather
You are just plain petty. Most of us foodie’s do not care about spelling. We just want the recipes to have the correct measurements!?
Audra
I easily eat a sweet potato everyday, since changing my diet. I like dicing about 6 of couple varieties and roasting them with red onion, avocado oil, salt and pepper. Then I also eat them cold or sautéed with kale and protein of choice for breakfast. Also great with fresh herbs.
Cindy C
Quick and easy egg drink for breakfast or any meal.
Put in a blender
2 or 3 eggs
2 or 3 tbs butter
1 tbs coconut oil. If not used to it, you may have to start with less.
your favorite spices
1/2 tsp sea salt
about 2-4 oz cold sweet potato(cooked the night before). Instead of the sweet potato, 1/2 an avocado will be good too, and you can throw in a handful of berries.
Add some boiling water, about 1/2 to 2/3 cup. Blend in blender, until smooth. You may have to stir some more as you drink it. I am small, and so mine is the less amount in that recipe. Some say cold sweet potato will have more resistant starch. I have not tried freezing this, and eating as ice cream, but it may work.
Carolyn
The stuffed sweet potatoes turned out SO good, hubby called ’em “loaded heaven”. I’m not a big fan of pork, next time I’ll stuff ’em w/chicken sausage, everything else in the recipe will stay the same. Thanks for the great recipe :-)
Carolyn
I have two sweet potatoes in right now, this recipe will go good w/the paleo bar b que pork ribs…..hubby will be happy :-)
George Bryant
I bet he will be VERY happy… hehe enjoy!
Claudia
WOW! I LOVED this! I am making this again and again! I made the bacon and just tossed everything in the bacon fat :D… spectacular! Plus I shared the recipe with others cause it was amazing!
George Bryant
Bacon fat is truly the BOMB!
Nancy
do you consider this as a main meal or side?
George Bryant
I consider it a side, but you can eat it as a meal if you have a big enough potato.
Brittany
These look delicious and I’m looking forward to trying them. But do you ever roast your sweet potatoes on the grill?? I normally start mine in the microwave then finish it on the grill in foil and a thin layer of almost honey like stuff forms on the outside.
Stacie
I made this stuffed sweet potato recipe for dinner last night. However, I substituted the bacon for leftover pulled pork I had. It turned a delicious side into a full-blown meal that even my paleo-rebellious kids gobbled up. I actually cooked the sweet potatoes in the crock pot (thank you, Juli at PaleOMG). Whole meal took only minutes to make and was a huge hit! Awesome flavors.
George Bryant
Juli is awesome, huh? Glad we brought you a huge hit !
Jackie
I found my recipe book in my downloads on my kindle numerous times because I didn’t think it was working and kept trying.
Sheila h.
Baked with Breakfast sausage, spinach, egg and salt and pepper filling
makes a yummy and well rounded breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Rene
I bake my sweet potato until the sweet goo oozes out. Then once they are slightly cooler I halve it and I blob almond or macadamia nut butter on those babies. And when I am feeling adventurous I even tuck some sliced banana inside and spread the nut butter over that….ridiculous delight!
Kit Cohan
It is fun to see the different ‘vision’ each paleo recipe maven has; I sure love your approach, it really suits us here.
My favorite easy sweet potato recipe is to just peel, slice and then chop into 1 1/2″ chunks, coat with avocado oil or melted coconut oil, then toss with cumin. Bake them on a broiler tray and then you don’t have to turn them. I take them for lunch, for in the car on the way up to go skiing, put them in scrabbled eggs, etc.
George Bryant
Cumin and sweet potatoes does sound like a wonderful combo. Nice!
Shauna
Made these for supper tonight. I had everything except for the red peppers (which I don’t care for anyway). They were incredible! I made them with your cinnamon and sage chicken, which has become a staple in our house. but I think one potato would have been a meal on it’s own for me. Awesome recipe!
George Bryant
Thank you!! Sage chicken sounds like it would be the perfect compliment.
Jessica
Yum! I’m making these for my toddlers and hubby. Sweet potatoes are so nutrient dense….I’m excitied. Usually I make sweet potato pancakes (mashed sweet potato, eggs, cinnamon) or we eat them mashed with loads of raw butter and honey.
Thanks for the idea :-)
George Bryant
You’re so welcome. I love everything sweet potato :)
Kelly
Made this recipe last night and it was delicious! Sweet, salty, and savory all at once :)
George Bryant
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it!
Natashalh
Thanks for the recipe! I’m heating my oven right now. I’ve never really enjoyed sweet potatoes, but I’ve honestly also never had them cooked in very creative ways. I bought one the other day, though, and was searching for something to use it for when I came across your recipe. I have all the ingredients on hand and this is looking like supper tonight!
George Bryant
I’m so glad you have all the ingredients ready! Let me know how you like them :)
Ben
To anyone saying you entered your email address but didn’t get the book:
Check your junk mail folder. It comes from a different source. That’s where mine was and I would be willing to bet yours is too.
angela@spinachtiger
Everything about this is wonderful, hearty, and healthy. Lots of flavor and texture. Anyone would be happy eating this as a meal.
Tessa Yost
I’m adding this to next week’s menu. Looks delish!!
George Bryant
Sweet potatoes are great!
Moo Fox
This looks amazing! Do I use fresh whole cranberries or dried cranberries? Thanks!
George Bryant
I would use fresh cranberries :)
Jerry
I did receive the e-mail with the link to the book. Thanks!
Jerry
How do I click to get the book?
Betty Jo
The stuffed potatoes look wonderful; I’ll definitely try them. Thank you so much for the free book. The pictures alone are incredible. I can hardly wait to try some of your recipes. I’m your newest fan on FB and just signed up for your blog post alerts. Now I’m off to explore the Recipe Index I see above!
George Bryant
Let me know how you like them! :)
Martine
Hi George
Thank you so much for the Dessert book – I’m looking forward to trying out the recipes! I was just wondering if I would be able to freeze any of the recipes? Thanks.
Martine
George Bryant
You are so welcome. You could freeze most of them, yep.
Debbi
Unfortunately, until now, I only knew to boil the hell out of them and mash them up with butternut squash. This looks pretty darn good though so will be trying this out for sure to shake things up.
George Bryant
Mashed sweet potatoes are a whole new world as well. I like my sweet potatoes in many, many ways!
Jabbara
I bake up a bag of sweet potatoes at a time. I’ve added the pulp to nut flour biscuits and sautéed with lots of spice. They’re great with a shot of lime, topped with toasty cashews.
George Bryant
mmmm sounds delish!! Thank you :)
Leslie Hughes
These spuds look delicious! Like you, I have been baking mine in the oven and keep them in the fridge for eating throughout the week. I have been slicing them and throwing them on the grill (quick reheat) with my meat. This looks like a great change-of-pace recipe to try so I don’t get too bored of my favorite veg! Thanks :)
Arianne Butler
I followed the link yesterday and sent my email address for the free book but over 24 hrs later I have still not received anything.
Thank you. Xx
George Bryant
Please send me an email: [email protected]
Chris Clark
Awesome recipe George! I would put the bacon in the cast iron first, and then cook the other ingredients in the fat that comes out of it. ;) Making these tonight with some braised ham hocks for sure..
Carol
So, when you bake 10 spuds at a time, do you adjust anything – time, cook temp, etc? BTW, these look AMAZING. Can’t wait to try them!
Steve
I haven’t even added the stuffing to the sweet potatoes yet and this already gets 5 stars The combination of flavors is out of this world. Thanks for this awesome recipe!
Katherine
These are beautiful and sound delightful. I’ll give them a whirl (and likely become addicted). Sweet taters are my go-to food when I feel the need for extra carbs or when I’ve not been feeling well, such as after a migraine. My favorite way to eat them is julienned and fried up in pig butter with onions, garlic, mixed bell peppers, jalapeno, collards and topped with bacon and poached eggs. My second favorite is baked with a spoonful of coconut oil on the finished potato.
George Bryant
Pig butter is delicious, huh? Love how versatile sweet potatoes can be!
sarena
Beautiful photo. I can’t have bacon but am thinking some ground beef as a sub…
George Bryant
Thank you! :) Ground beef would be a great substitute.
George Bryant
You’re so welcome. I hope you love them
Debbie T
I have entered my email twice and still have not received the download link for the free desserts cookbook.
George Bryant
Debbie, I will see if I can do anything. If not I will forward you the link to download it.
Arianne Butler
I followed the link on the 23rd and entered my email address but have still not received the free book. I did message yesterday but it did not post.
Many thanks