Bring on the easy one-pan recipes!

You guys know I love a good skillet meal and you won’t be let down with this ground turkey sweet potato skillet recipe.

It combines just 10 simple ingredients – ground turkey, sweet potatoes, veggies, a few southwest spices, and cheese – to make a delicious dish one-pan meal. It’s gluten-free, high protein, and easily made dairy-free by simply leaving off the cheese.

Ground turkey sweet potato ingredients

• ground turkey – I used 99% lean
• sweet potatoes
• onion
• bell peppers
• kale
• chili powder
• cumin
• paprika
• garlic powder
• pepper jack cheese – optional, but adds a nice touch to finish it off
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

How to make ground turkey sweet potato skillet

1. Cook your turkey. Heat a large cast iron skillet or nonstick pan (it needs to be large – I used 12 inches) over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon oil, and let it get hot. Add ground turkey, breaking it up with a spatula or meat chopper. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-7 minutes until browned on the outside and cooked through. 
2. Cook your veggies. Add the remaining oil to your pan. Then add sweet potatoes, onions, and salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Add about 2 tablespoons water, cover with a lid, and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add the peppers, mix to combine, cover again, and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add your kale, a little more salt and pepper, and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes. All the veggies should be tender at this point.
3. Bring it all together. Turn down heat to low and add your ground turkey (with the juices) and the spices to the pan and stir well to combine. Finally, top with shredded cheese to cover the turkey mixture and let melt, for about 1-2 minutes. If needed, you can cover the pan with a lid.
4. Top with optional toppings and enjoy! We love greek yogurt or sour cream, jalapeno, green onion, hot sauce, chopped parsley, or cilantro to name a few.

Meal prep and storage

This ground turkey sweet potato skillet is super easy to throw together and works great for meal prep. Depending on how much prep you want to do, you can either meal prep it all or just a few components. Here are a few suggestions for prepping:

• partial prep – cook the sweet potato mixture and store it in the fridge. When you are ready, make your turkey. As soon as it is browned, add the veggie mixture and heat until warmed through. Add the cheese and let it melt. Making the veggie mixture in advance will save you 15-20 minutes when fully assembling.
• full prep – just follow the directions as written and store it in a tightly sealed glass dish for up to 5 days in the fridge.
• freeze – I haven’t tried freezing this recipe, but it would work. I would suggest leaving off the cheese and then adding it when you are ready to heat it up after it defrosts. You can either freeze the whole recipe in a large container or in individual servings. It should last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Substitutions or additions

• ground turkey – ground chicken will work instead of ground turkey. You can also use ground beef, but it will change the flavor a lot. Feel free to use any fat percentage you like.
• sweet potatoes – any kind of sweet will work (Japanese, white,…) or you can use white potatoes. Butternut squash will also work instead of potatoes.
• kale – spinach (or most leafy greens) will work nicely instead of kale.
• spices – you can also use taco seasoning to give it the same flavors if you have that on-hand.
• pepper jack cheese – any kind of cheese will work. Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or shredded mozzarella cheese would work great. Leave off the cheese to keep this dairy-free, paleo, and Whole30.
• oil – any kind of neutral oil will work or butter/ghee.
• veggies – the more the merrier! Zucchini, mushrooms, or even broccoli would all be great additions.

More healthy skillet recipes

• Philly Cheesesteak Skillet
• Maple Mustard Chicken Skillet
• Steak and Sweet Potato Skillet
• Sausage Peppers and Potatoes Skillet
• Healthy Chicken Pad Thai
• Chicken Fajita Casserole

If you love quick and easy healthy dinner recipes, check out our free 30-Minute Meals Recipe Book!

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