These Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are an easy to make Mexican inspired dinner recipe stuffed with shredded chicken, red enchilada sauce and all your favorite toppings! (gluten free)
If you’re looking to spice up your lunch or dinner routine, these stuffed sweet potatoes covered in enchilada sauce, shredded chicken and ALL THE TOPPINGS are for you!
Compared to white or red potatoes, sweet potatoes tend to be a little, well, sweet. And while I love sweet things for dessert, I don’t necessarily want them for lunch.
Luckily, the Mexican-inspired ingredients like the enchilada sauce, cotija cheese, avocados and cilantro really help to balance out the flavors, bringing the sweet potato from potential dessert territory to definite savory territory.
How to make Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potatoes {VIDEO}
The end result is a super satisfying lunch that’s healthy, filling and leaves you ready to take on the rest of your day.
Idon’t know about you, but around here lunch is usually one big mish-mash of leftovers from the nights before. Foods that don’t really “go together” always end up on the same plate and though I end up eating everything, I don’t really enjoy lunch as much as I’d like to.
Friends, that has got to change and these stuffed sweet potatoes are going to help!
Chicken enchilada stuffed sweet potatoes are perfect for meal prep. Because the individual ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a week, these little guys are practically made for meal planning. This recipe makes enough for 6 servings, so if you’re meal prepping for 2, I recommend doubling the recipe.
How to bake sweet potatoes in the oven
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Poke holes all around each sweet potato with a fork.
- Cover in foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, until tender and easy to cut through. (The bigger the sweet potatoes, the longer they’ll need to bake.)
- Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, remove the foil and set aside until cool enough to handle.
INGREDIENTS
- 6 medium potatoes
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 onion, halved
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- water, enough to fully cover the chicken
- 2 cups authentic red enchilada sauce (or your favorite store-bought enchilada sauce)
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, minced
- 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (or feta cheese)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
INSTRUCTIONS
To make the sweet potatoes
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Poke holes all around each sweet potato with a fork.
- Cover in foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, until tender and easy to cut through. (The bigger the sweet potatoes, the longer they'll need to bake.)
- Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, remove the foil and set aside until cool enough to handle.
To make the chicken
- In a dutch oven or pot, add chicken, onion, garlic, salt and bay leaf. Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 25 minutes, until chicken is tender and can be shredded with a fork.
- Remove the chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate or cutting board. Shred the chicken, season with salt and set aside.
To assemble
- Heat the enchilada sauce and black beans on the stove or in the microwave, until hot.
- Cut the tops of each sweet potato into an oblong shape. (See the video in the recipe post for a visual example.) Scoop out a little of the inside so that you can fill it in with the toppings.
- Fill each sweet potato with shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, black beans, avocados, cilantro, cotija cheese and sour cream.
Analuisa says
September 17, 2018 at 7:59 pmWill this still taste good with regular potatoes?
Isabel says
September 18, 2018 at 8:14 pmAbsolutely! You can definitely use regular potatoes.
Beverley T says
August 3, 2018 at 10:32 amLooks great, but why didn’t you show the sodium amount on the
nutritional list? This is also the case for the wonderful Cauliflower Rice
Broccoli Chicken casserole, which does not display the sodium level.
It’s really important for people who might have to modify the recipe
ingredients to meet special diet needs.
Billy says
April 13, 2018 at 4:29 pmThis is an absolutely genius recipe. It looks so delicious! I can’t wait to try this at home. Thank you so much for sharing. Do you have a recommendation for store bought enchilada sauce?
Isabel says
August 8, 2018 at 5:18 pmThanks, Billy 🙂 To be quite honest, I don’t really have a favorite. As of right now, my only recommendation is to look at the ingredients list and make sure there’s not tomatoes or flour in there. The only thing I like in my enchilada sauce are various chiles, herbs, spices, water and onions.