Ancho Chili Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins {Whole 30}

Sweet potato skins stuffed with ancho-spiced beef chili make for a flavorful, wholesome meal or appetizer. This recipe is easy to make, and it’s dairy free, gluten free, and Whole30 friendly.

Healthy comfort food – is it possible?

We’re in the thick of it y’all. It’s chili season, football season, warm me up food season, snack and cheesy appetizer goodness season, and basically all the Fall food season.

Comfort foods like those may seem like heavy food. But want to know something totally ironic about this?

More than ever, people are looking for paleo friendly and whole30 comfort food recipes. Yes, those simple wholesome recipes that can still bring comfort and nostalgia.

Totally doable!!

Making HEALTHY comfort food makes me giddy, too. It means that we (a society as a whole) are caring more about OUR OWN health and balance. See, we don’t need to go overboard with strict dieting or detoxes. No no, please say that trend has come and gone.

You don’t need to eliminate all your favorite comfort foods, either. Instead, we take real food, dense in nutrients and maybe even calories (energy), and we use it for good.

Good like spicy chili ..beef chili!

Good like sweet potato skins… skins stuffed with chili. Did I mention this is beefy chili? Ya, this Whole30 appetizer packs some serious iron-rich goodness.

This recipe is paleo and dairy free, too. Plus, we make every bit of it using simple, wholesome food.

You’re getting my drift, right?

Football tailgating snacks, spicy food, hearty chili/soup, and starchy vegetables all look and sound heavy, but in fact, they can nourish us inside and out!

Making stuffed potato skins

NUTRITION and health benefits in the RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

• Organic lean beef – Mega source of healthy iron and essential amino acids from protein.
• Sweet potato – A starchy tuber packed with fiber Vitamin A , potassium, and Beta carotene. Plus they contain at least 12% resistant starch, which is good for that gut health and feeding the good bacteria.
• Poblano Peppers – Rich in Vitamin C and other antioxidant rich compounds that help to reduce inflammation.
• Ancho Chili powder, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon – powerful spices that help reduce inflammation.
• Raisins – Don’t worry, you don’t have to add raisins, but it does help reduce the heat, as in spice! And oh my, they are tasty in chili! This is almost like a cuban style picadillo. Natural energy, a digestive aid, and a good source of your plant based non-heme iron.
• Cilantro – Rich in Vitamin K and Folic Acid.

Sweet Potato Skins Recipe Video

Watch this QUICK recipe video before you make the sweet potato appetizers.

How to make this healthy comfort food recipe

There are basically three parts to making this recipe, baking the potatoes, making the beef chili, and assembling the sweet potato skins.

Bake the sweet potatoes.

1. Slice and remove filling. After the sweet potatoes cool off enough for you to handle them, slice them in half end to end.
2. Remove the potato from the skins. Be sure to keep a little bit of the potato intact, This will give some sturdiness to the skins. After all, they are about to hold some healthy chili.

Oh, and save the insides of the sweet potatoes! There are ideas in the recipe notes below for how you can use it.

Make the poblano beef chili

TIME SAVING TIP: You can make the chili up to two days ahead of time.

If you are not a spicy chili lover, you  have nothing to worry about because Poblano chilis are not very spicy at all.

As a matter of fact, they are less spicy than jalapenos. But, you still get the health benefits of capsaicin; it can increase your metabolism, and can reduce insulin spikes. This is GREAT news for diabetics.

Fill the sweet potato skins with chili.

BAKE, GARNISH, AND SERVE!

Recipe notes

• Make it ahead! You can make the chili and bake the sweet potatoes up to two days ahead of time. Store them separately in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the sweet potato skins.
• Vegetarian option –  Feel free to substitute the ground beef for my BBQ tempeh or other meatless meat.
• Skip the sauce – If you don’t want to use the avocado cream sauce, you can skip it, or top with some avocado or guacamole!
• No roasted poblano peppers? No prob, make this easy salsa recipe or top them with roasted jalapeños.
• Leftover chili? If you have extra chili, serve it with chips for dipping… it’s delish!
• Need some ideas for the sweet potato filling? Make my recipe for  chocolate peanut butter dough balls  (yep, they’re made with sweet potato!)

That’s it! Your next hearty appetizer just got healthier, with love from real food.

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By the way, the avocado cream sauce is kinda addicting. So even if you don’t use for the potato skins, go ahead and whip it up for tacos or salads! You’ll be in heaven.

What’s your favorite real food dish that no one can believe is healthy?

Ancho beef chili, have you tried it yet? Whether you stuff it in potatoes or eat it from a bowl, you just must!

Cheers!
LC

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MORE WHOLE HEALTHY SWEET POTATOES RECIPES

This recipe is part of our 8 Healthy Ways to Cook Sweet Potatoes collection. Check it out!