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.
- Slice and remove filling. After the sweet potatoes cool off enough for you to handle them, slice them in half end to end.
- 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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Chili Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 8--10 skins 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
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.
Ingredients
- 4--5 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 lb organic lean ground beef (93% lean) – see notes for substitutes
- 1/2 cup chopped onion, red or white
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 large or 2 small poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika or regular chili powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1/4 cup raisins (optional). The raisins help reduce the spice level, if desired.
Optional topping
Avocado Cream Sauce (see notes for instructions)
Instructions
- Set oven to 400 F. to preheat, and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Use a fork to pierce around the surface of each potato several times to create holes for the steam to escape.
- Place sweet potatoes on prepared sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until tender. Set aside and allow potatoes to cool for 10 minutes before slicing them in half from end to end.
- While potatoes are cooking, make the chili
MAKE THE CHILI
- Add beef to a deep skillet. Brown the meat on medium to medium high for about 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, break beef into crumbles. Spoon browned and crumbled beef onto a plate or a bowl. Leave grease/fat in pan to saute the vegetables with.
- To the same pan, add the onion and peppers, then saute on medium-high until fragrant and onion start to soften (about 3-5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for additional minute, stirring to prevent it from burning.
- Add the browned beef back to the pan, then mix in the spices. Cook on medium for 5 minutes. When beef is almost done cooking, mix in the tomato paste and optional raisins .
- Continue to cook on medium until beef is cooked through and the chili is well combined, an additional 5-10 minutes. Cover and set aside.
ASSEMBLE SWEET POTATO SKINS
- Flip the potato skins over so that now you can fill them with the chili.
- Scoop a few spoonfuls of chili into each potato skins.
- Place back in oven for 15 minutes at 350F. Broil for 1-2 minutes for extra crispy skins.
- Remove from oven. Set aside.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and optional avocado or avocado sauce.
Notes
- Make Ahead – You can make the chili and bake the sweet potatoes up to 2 days ahead.
- Vegetarian option – feel free to substitute the ground beef for my BBQ tempeh or other meatless meat.
OPTIONAL Avocado cream sauce:
In a food processor or blender, blend together the following:
- 1/2 of a large avocado, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 garlic clove, 1 tsp lime juice, 4 tbsp coconut milk or heavy cream, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, salt and pepper, to taste.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Category: appetizer
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American, Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 skin (without sauce)
- Calories: 120
- Sugar: 5.5g
- Sodium: 352.4mg
- Fat: 3g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 12.1g
- Fiber: 2.2g
- Protein: 12.8g
- Cholesterol: 32.9mg
Keywords: sweet potato skins, healthy appetizers, sweet potato recipes, healthy chili recipe
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
MORE WHOLE HEALTHY SWEET POTATOES RECIPES
This recipe is part of our 8 Healthy Ways to Cook Sweet Potatoes collection. Check it out!
can you freeze these?
I haven’t’ tried freezing them but I don’t see why not! I think, if anything, freezing the filling is the best way to go. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks, they’re very good!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I like the crispy sweet potato skin. but the avocado sauce and beed chillies feels like somethings is missing.
★★★
Did you add enough spice to the sauce? Feel free to add more or adjust the salt content as needed
I find this recipe amazing, I will cook this for my family this weekend. Thank you for sharing it
Thanks! Enjoy!
I made this recipe once and loved it! I really want to make it again tonight, however, it now seems that the recipe is no longer available. Maybe the link is broken? Is there any way to get the recipe back up? Thanks!!
Is it working now? so sorry about that!
These sound great! The photos are super enticing. I just have to say, you FREAKED me out when you wrote “omit raisins if doing a W30” because I’ve been occasionally putting them on my salads these past few days of my 2nd round and I was SURE they were okay if eaten in a savory meal as a small garnish.. I had to double check and what I thought was true is correct. I think raisins would be okay in this dish, or maybe 1/8 cup instead of 1/4 but it’s similar to what they say about dates: we’re not eating this dish solely for the sugar in the raisins!
okay, enough about raisins. I will be definitely be making this dish sometime in the next month, love your recipes!!
OMG I totally spaced. I keep thinking sugar is not allowed. LOL! Raisins, yes, allowed! I will update. Glad you can enjoy!
Every single recipe I read of yours leaves me drooling. Gorgeous photography and beautifully written. Excellent work!
Thank you friend. I appreciate that!
I have a feeling we’re going to need something a little cleaner to eat when we get home… this is going on the menu! Even Vegas has admitted she has a gluten problem after all of the pasta. I *almost* refrained from saying “I told you so.” Almost. HA!
haha, should I tell her? I told you so vegas! LOL! p.s. You home yet?
Thursday. 🙁
just stay, we will move there! mm k?
I’ve never consumed chili on a regular basis! I can’t even imagine how AMAZING chili tastes with sweet potatoes though, haha!
it’s amazing! i bet the vegan chili would be awesome too with this!!
I need to make these for Jesse as I’m pretty sure he’d think they were the best thing ever! Yum!
for sure!!
That looks amazing!!!!!!!
thanks lovely!
These look SO flavorful!!! Those potatoes are roasted to perfection, Lindsay! 🙂
thanks Tara! you’d love this
YES YES YES Ancho beef chili, I HAVE to try itS stuffed in potatoes or straight out of the pan! Fantastic recipe – Whole real food is where it’s at, my friend! Happy FriYAY to ya! xx
i so agree! real food is magical!
These would be perfect to enjoy while watching football! YUM!
my thoughts exactly
It was 95 here yesterday. I can’t even think about chili. Lol! Will it ever cool off for good?
I know. It was 92F here. I’m just going to pretend it’s cold. LOL!
Remind me again why we don’t live together? I still haven’t figured it out…
i still can’t figure that out either. Ugh.