Next Post
Chai Spiced Apple Ricotta Galette.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Keeping things comforting, but healthy with my Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins. Kind of like cheesy nachos, but instead of chips, we’re substituting crisp sweet potatoes skins…so better! Made simply with sweet potatoes, chicken, chipotle chilies, spices, a touch of lime, spinach, and a generous amount of sharp cheddar cheese. Each homemade, oven-baked, sweet potato skin is delicious…and pretty healthy too. Think crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. Stuffed with sweet and spicy chicken that’s full of protein and perfectly balanced. Each sweet potato skin makes for the perfect weeknight dinner that easily doubles as lunch the next day.
What I love so much about fall food is that it’s comforting, cozy, warming, and typically on the heartier side. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a good salad (though I do prefer warm, roasted salads over cold salads). But I think it’s obvious that I really shine when it comes to cozy, comfort food. In fact, I want one of my upcoming cookbook titles to be Half Baked Harvest Cozy. What do you think…cookbook #3…before cookbook #2 even rolls out? Yeah, I have issues.
Point is, I love cozy recipes. I even love the word cozy. And I really just love fall food.
BUT, sometimes fall recipes can get to be a bit on the heavy side. I prefer to lighten them up a little and get back to a more balanced, healthy dinner. To me, that still includes cheese, but also includes plenty of vegetables, lean chicken, and flavorful spices to keep us warm and our metabolism running quickly.
Enter in my go-to, healthy yet comforting, fall dinner – Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins
These are SO GOOD.
I’ve been making a version of these for years and years, but this year I added a few things. Things like crunchy chickpeas (because I’m obsessed with them), a touch of onion, and I also kicked up the spices.
I could not love these skins more. And? They are so simple and easy to make. They do take some time, because baking sweet potatoes just takes patience. But all the prep and hands-on time is under 20 minutes. Easy.
To make these sweet potato skins
Start with the sweet potatoes themselves. I like to bake the sweet potato whole, directly on the oven grates. Cooking the potatoes this way allows them to soften in the center, but also keeps the skins from getting soggy.
While the skins are baking, also bake the chicken and the chickpeas together in the same baking dish. As the chicken cooks, the chickpeas crisp. I do want to note two things here…
First, if you don’t like chickpeas, you can very easily omit these from the recipe entirely. Most of my family really dislikes any kind of bean, so I never even add the chickpeas when they’re around.
Second, if you are vegetarian, you can leave out the chicken and use double the amount of chickpeas. The cooking times will be the same. Also? Black beans would be equally delicious, but they will not crisp like chickpeas.
Now, and this is key, the chicken is where all the flavor is at. It’s seasoned with chipotle chiles, garlic, and spices like oregano, cumin, and chili powder. I also threw in some lime zest for a little citrus zing.
It’s that sweet and spicy combo that I love so much.
During the last few minutes of cooking, toss some baby spinach in with the chicken. I love the added greens and the spinach pairs well with the flavors happening in these sweet potato skins.
Next, scoop some of the sweet potato flesh out of the skin. Bake another 10 minutes until the skins become crisp, and then stuff the chicken into the sweet potatoes. Then add as little or as much sharp cheddar cheese as you’d like and bake. About 10 or so minutes later your kitchen will smell heavenly and your skins will be ready for eating. The smell of sweet potatoes baking is truly the most comforting smell and so very “fall”.
These are best enjoyed warm. Preferably with cilantro and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt. Super simple, but so delicious. Between the sweet potatoes and the cheese, this is one of the coziest fall dinners. And it just so happens to be healthy, score!
Kind of like cheesy nachos, but instead of chips, we’re substituting crisp sweet potatoes skins…so better!
These skins are great any night of the week. But they feel especially great for Thursday, Sunday…or Monday night football.
And the biggest bonus…the leftovers. They make for such a delicious lunch the following day.
Love a two for one recipe!
If you make these healthy chipotle chicken sweet potatoes skins be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 709 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can (14 ounce) chickpeas, drained (optional)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 2-3 chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped (more or less, to your taste)
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- zest of 1 lime
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork. Bake directly on the rack until tender, 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool.2. At the same time, cook the chicken. Place the chicken, and chickpeas - if using, in a baking dish. Add the olive oil, garlic, chipotle chiles, chili powder, onion powder, oregano, cumin, lime zest, and a pinch each of salt and pepper, gently toss to coat. Transfer to the oven and bake 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, scatter the spinach over the chicken and cook 5 minutes, until wilted.3. Shred the chicken using 2 forks, then toss with the chickpeas, spinach and any oil left in the baking dish. 4. Scrape the sweet potato flesh out of the peel, leaving 1/2 inch thick layer of sweet potatoes. Brush the skins with a little olive oil and bake for 5 minutes, until crisping. Remove skins from the oven and stuff with the chicken. Top with shredded cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve with fresh cilantro and greek yogurt, if desired.
So, I really loved this recipe a few years ago. I saved it to my “Favorite recipes” board on Pinterest. Then I kind forgot about it. I made it a few times, and my family loved it! They reminded me the other day about it, so I bought the ingredients and prepared to make it again…only to find the recipe has changed. Do you have a link to the original recipe? It was a big favorite! We’re not really into the chick peas idea for this particular thing, as we were already in love with it as it was!
Hey Michelle,
I am so glad you have been enjoying this recipe, sorry I do not have a link for the old one, this is the new and improved version! I hope you will love it too! xTieghan
I’ve made these twice now and they’re so delicious! if it were more important to me, I’d maybe give the recipe more like 4.75 stars since I followed the recipe and the sweet potato skins weren’t crispy either time, but personally I don’t really mind the soft texture of the hollowed out sweet potatoes. The flavor combination is 10/10, and the chicken recipe is *so* good. I also love that you can cook both the chicken and the sweet potatoes at the same time, and how colorful and simple the recipe is. Highly recommend trying it out 🙂
Thank you Allie! I am really glad this recipe turned out so well for you!! xTieghan
Delicious! I just made this for my family and we all love this recipe. My sweet potatoes were a little small at the store so I do have extra protein mixture left I think I’ll do something with that tomorrow for lunch!!! I definitely will be saving this!
Thank you so much Alycia! I am so happy this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
I cant seem to a recipe exactly as written! I made mashed sweet potatoes and used baked tofu instead of chicken. Prepared it as per instructions for chicken. A big pile of tofu and chickpeas on a pile of luscious sweet potatoes, and it was delicious! The flavors were balanced and tasty.
I am really glad this turned out so well for you, Kathryn! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
These were incredible!
Thank you so much Julia! xTieghan
Great looking recipe hòwever I am curious as to why you do not utilize the flesh that was scooped from the sweet potato? I would mix it with the chicken than stuff the potato skin.
Hi Kath,
No particular reason, you could absolutely do that! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Repeat recipe! Has been a hit every time.
That is so amazing to hear! Thank you Claire! xTieghan
Save this recipe! Everyone in my family loved these! Even the picky eaters in the bunch. Will definitely be making again.
That is amazing! Thank you so much Kristen! xTieghan
Just tried this last night and it was GREAT! I think it will also be great for leftovers. Definitely will be making this again in the future!
Love that! Thank you so much Nikki! xTieghan
Hi, I’m wondering what I could use instead of chipotle chilli in adobo? I don’t have access to that in the UK (that I’m aware of) I can get it on amazon but thought maybe normal jarred jalapeños? Many thanks ??
Hi Katie,
I would recommend using ground chipotle chili seasoning if you are able to find that! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This looks great! We actually made your sweet potato skins out of the HBH cookbook for quarantine passover and it was to die for! I was wondering if you have any recipes (maybe soup or something?) that we can use the sweet potato flesh in? We had quite a lot and weren’t sure what to do with it and want to make that recipe over and over and over again! Thank you! We have been making your recipes nonstop this month!
Hi Jennifer! I am glad you enjoyed the sweet potato skins!! I will link some recipes below that you may be interested in! I hope you enjoy! xTieghan
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/golden-sweet-potato-soup/#bo-recipe
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/sweet-potato-parmesan-tater-tots/#bo-recipe
This recipe changed. I like way better the original, or the one i met almost a year ago.
Hi Gaby,
So sorry you feel this way, I felt as though the recipe needed to be updated so I made some small tweaks. Tieghan
So delicious! My husband and I loved this recipe, the combination of sweet and spicy was perfect! I wish i would have read the blog before I made it because I missed the part where I should have put the sweet potatoes directly on the oven rack. They would have been crispier but they were still so so good.
Hi Daniella! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Hi there is it possible to bake the potatoes the day before or would that not work in getting the skins crispy
Hi! Yes, you can easily bake the potatoes the day before. I do that all time and it works very well! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
Hi, I was just wondering Can I use arugula instead of spinach? I have it on hand And didn’t want it to go to waste.
Hi Amanda! Yes, of course you can! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan