This ground turkey sweet potato skillet is a delicious one-pan dinner for those busy weeknights that the whole family will love. Spice it up and dress it down with your favorite toppings. Dinner tonight will be a Whole Lotta Yum!
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Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
One-pot recipes are a family favorite. Easy clean up, and on the table within 30 minutes is all we want when it's mealtime. This recipe is all that and more, if you've been looking for more healthy skillet recipes then this is one to add to the list.
For this recipe, we like to utilize some of our other kitchen appliances to make quick work of the sweet potatoes. When baked sweet potatoes can take 45+ minutes, we cut this time down significantly by using the air fryer.
Turkey is such a wonderful protein that takes spices well and can be used all year round in a variety of applications. Herb butter turkey thighs and air-fried crispy bone-in turkey breast are a couple of my favorites. Serve either of those with roasted air fryer sweet potato cubes or our sweet potato casserole in the Instant Pot.
Why You'll Love This!
- Great for meal prep- when you're short on time during the week, prep a skillet meal and store individual servings in meal prep containers.
- Super yummy- Lots of flavor with bold spices. Feel free to add more spice if you're feeling spicy.
- Quick and easy! Our precooked sweet potato instructions, help this recipe come together quickly and easily.
- Healthy - A great source of vitamins, fiber, and minerals.
🥘 Turkey Sweet Potato Hash Ingredients
Light and filling ingredients full of flavor and color. A perfect recipe for those farmer's market finds.
- Sweet potatoes - For a hash with fewer carbs use cauliflower rice or florets. Check out notes on how we precook our sweet potatoes so our bites are guaranteed to be tender.
- Lean ground turkey - We use lean ground turkey, however normal ground turkey or ground chicken would work perfectly. We don't recommend the 99% fat-free ground turkey as it can be dry and doesn't add as much flavor.
- Green bell pepper - Bell pepper adds crunch and color, try baby spinach or brussel sprouts
- Red onion - Red, yellow, sweet, or white diced onion will work.
- Colby jack - Block cheese will be creamier and melt more evenly than shredded cheese. Swap with Monterey jack for a different cheesy flavor.
- Fresh chopped cilantro - If cilantro isn't your thing chopped parsley is a good swap.
- Olive oil - Use any neutral oil with a mild flavor, olive oil or avocado oil are both great options.
- Seasonings - A tasty combination of ground cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, salt & ground black pepper.
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) - Add more heat with hot italian sausage or a few dashes of hot sauce.
- Garnishes - fresh cilantro and sliced avocado
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Variations
- Add beans: You can add black beans or pinto beans to increase the protein.
- Switch up the protein: Use ground beef instead of turkey, leftover shredded turkey from Thanksgiving, turkey sausage, or leftover corned beef.
- Other veggies: Cubed yukon gold potatoes or butternut squash cubes are great alternatives to sweet potatoes. Fresh tomatoes and roasted corn would be great additions.
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet
An Air Fryer- We have aCosori XL basket style air fryer, an Omni Plus oven style air fryer,and a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker air fryer combo. The Cosori was used in this recipe.
🔪 How to Cook Sweet Potato Turkey Skillet
To save time, we microwave or air fry the sweet potatoes and add them to the skillet to finish cooking.
Prep Ingredients
- Microwave - Pierce the sweet potatoes numerous times with a fork. Microwave the whole potatoes for 5 minutes on a microwave-safe plate or dish. Flip and microwave them for another 3-5+ minutes, or until potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced by a fork in the center. Remove from the microwave and let cool slightly.
- Air Fryer - Preheat the air fryer to 380 F for 5 minutes. Air fry the sweet potato cubes for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking until they can be pierced with a fork.
Cook
In a large non-stick skillet, heat the pan on medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey and cook it until browned.
Add the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, cayenne powder (if you're adding it for increased spice), salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
Toss in the sliced onions and bell pepper, and cook them for 4-5 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally.
Mix in the precooked sweet potatoes and heat the mix until the potatoes are warm. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Top with shredded cheese put the lid on the skillet and allow the grated cheese to melt.
Remove skillet from heat and garnish with fresh cilantro and chopped cubed avocado before serving. Enjoy!
🥗 Dietary Substitutions
As written this recipe is gluten-free.
- Keto: Swap out the sweet potato for mushrooms or broccoli.
- Dairy Free, Paleo & Whole30: Omit the shredded cheese in this recipe.
💡 Recipe Tips
- Cook this sweet potato skillet over an open campfire on a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.
🥡 Storing and Reheating
- Storing: Once cooled, you can store your sweet potato skillet in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Perfect for storing in meal prep containers.
- Freezing: Cool completely before storing in a freezer-safe container for 2-3 months.
- Reheating: Reheat on the stovetop in a skillet or quickly in the microwave.
❓ FAQ's
Serve this dish on top of rice or by itself. A squeeze of fresh lime wedges and a dollop of sour cream will bring the acid and creaminess.
Because ground turkey is so lean it does require a little bit of oil when cooking. Use olive oil, vegetable oil, or avocado oil.
😋 More Quick & Easy Recipes
Enjoy even more sweet potato or ground turkey recipes and check out these yummy options:
- Roasted Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes
- 31 Best Ground Turkey Recipes
- Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- 27 Keto Ground Beef Recipes
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Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
This ground turkey sweet potato skillet is a delicious one pan dinner for those busy weeknights that the whole family will love. Spice it up and dress it down with your favorite toppings. Dinner tonight will be a Whole Lotta Yum!
Ingredients
- 1 pound Sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 pound Lean ground turkey
- 1 Green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 Red onion, diced
- ½ cup Colby jack, shredded (optional for dairy free)
- ¼ cup Fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ tablespoons Ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground black pepper
- Pinch of cayenne powder (optional)
- Garnishes - fresh cilantro and diced avocado
Instructions
To save time, we microwave or air fry the sweet potatoes and add them to the skillet to finish cooking.
- Microwave - Pierce the sweet potatoes numerous times with a fork. Microwave the whole potatoes for 5 minutes on a microwave-safe plate or dish. Flip and microwave them for another 3-5+ minutes, or until potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced by a fork in the center. Remove from the microwave and let cool slightly.
- Air Fryer - Preheat the air fryer to 380 F for 5 minutes. Air fry the sweet potato cubes for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking until they can be pierced with a fork.
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat the pan on medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey and cook it until browned.
- Add the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, cayenne powder (if you're adding it for increased spice), salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add the sliced onions and bell pepper, and cook them for 4-5 minutes or until soft.
- Mix in the precooked sweet potatoes and heat the mix until the potatoes are warm. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Top with shredded colby jack, put the lid on the skillet and allow the cheese to melt.
- Remove skillet from heat and garnish with fresh cilantro and chopped cubed avocado before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- We used lean ground turkey to keep the calories down but we don’t recommend the 99% fat free turkey since it doesn’t have as much flavor.
- Add beans: You can add black beans or pinto. beans to increase the protein
- Protein Swaps: Use ground beef instead of turkey, leftover shredded turkey from Thanksgiving, turkey sausage, leftover corned beef
- Other veggies: Cubed Yukon gold potatoes or butternut squash cubes are great alternatives to sweet potatoes.
- This recipe is great for meal prep lunches and lasts up to 5 days in the fridge.
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 433Total Fat 19gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 110mgSodium 519mgCarbohydrates 33gFiber 8gSugar 10gProtein 38g
The nutrional information is just an estimate and was calculated by an automated calculator. If you're on a restricted health program please manually calculate this information using the brands of ingredients you have since brands can vary.
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