This Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet will be ready to eat in less than 30 minutes, and you will be amazed by how flavourful it is. It’s a perfect ONE-PAN meal for your family to enjoy!
When I first made this recipe back in November 2014, it was a chilly Sunday, and I was in search of comforting food. I was thinking of making my zucchini lasagna or my eggplant lasagna.
But I decided to make something using sweet potatoes because I had a lot of sweet potatoes in my kitchen and I also love the flavor of sweet potato. I thought about making my favourite sweet potato soup, but my husband said he felt like eating something with meat.
So, I decided to make this gluten-free, one-pan Ground Turkey with Sweet Potato Skillet to warm us up a bit.
This sweet potato skillet meal is so easy and quick to make and the best part: it’s healthy. In half an hour, this dish will be ready to dig into, and you will be amazed by how flavourful it is. It is definitely a delicious comfort food to share the joy.
I seriously love my cast iron and one-pan meals, like this one or this Shrimp Vegetable Skillet. You can’t go wrong with one-pan meals when it comes to effortless clean up and cooking convenience!
- Extra virgin olive oil — or neutral oil of your choice such as avocado oil.
- Free-range extra-lean ground turkey — you also can use grass-fed ground beef or even ground chicken. Just keep in mind that chicken might cook quicker so it might be drier. Add extra moisture like broth to keep it moist.
- Garlic cloves — I prefer freshly minced garlic to pre-minced garlic.
- Onions — you only need to dice half an onion.
- Yellow pepper — or your choice of pepper. Red and orange peppers are great too.
- Large sweet potato — be sure to dice it small enough that it’ll cook evenly.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Red chili flakes — optional for a bit of heat.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese — If you’re doing Whole30 or following Paleo diet, don’t add cheese. Feel free to change up the cheese! Make this spicier with some Pepper Jack cheese, Habanero Cheddar Cheese, and more!
- Fresh parsley — for garnishing!
Saute the Ingredients
- In a cast iron skillet ( a large pot works as well), heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground turkey and garlic. Use a wooden spoon to break up the ground turkey as it cooks. Stir occasionally, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Next, add the onions and yellow peppers, and cook until the onions are soft.
- Then, add the sweet potato, red chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
Cover and Cook
- Cover the large cast iron skillet, and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. If necessary, add more olive oil or a little bit of water to cook the sweet potatoes faster.
Add the Cheese and Melt It
- While the sweet potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- When the sweet potatoes are tender, add the shredded mozzarella cheese, and put the skillet in the oven to melt the cheese. When the cheese melts, remove the skillet from the oven, and garnish with parsley. Since we are going from stovetop to oven, it’s important to use a cast iron skillet!
If you have followed Primavera Kitchen for a long time, you probably know that I love cast iron skillet recipes, which are staples in my kitchen. I even have a round-up of Cast Iron Skillet Recipes and Skillet Dinner Recipes. But you probably are wondering why I love them so much. Here are the reasons:
- These types of cast iron skillets are well-seasoned and have a naturally nonstick surface that makes all the difference when cooking.
- They also are safe to use on all cooking surfaces, such as on a stovetop, in the oven, under the broiler, or on a barbecue.
- Also, cast iron skillets are great to retain the heat and distribute it evenly for optimal cooking results.
- They are very versatile since you can use them for sautéing, searing, pan-frying, baking, broiling, roasting, and more.
- And last but not least, they are easy to clean. Here is a post where I explain more about cleaning your cast iron skillet without damaging it.
Cast iron skillets are the best cookware to have in your kitchen, and I truly could not enjoy cooking with cast iron any more. Please, give it a try and once you do, you won’t regret it. I promise! You can find lots of good options at Amazon.
Recipe Tips
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- Don’t overload your skillet with sweet potatoes because this veggie takes forever to cook, and you may burn your food. If your cast iron skillet is 9-10 inches, the ideal amount of diced sweet potato is between 2-3 cups.
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- Cover the skillet with a lid and reduce the heat to medium to cook the sweet potato faster.
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- Or, you can first cook the sweet potato and add it into the pan when the ground turkey is cooked.
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- You can also add another spice that you have in your kitchen to make this recipe even more flavourful. According to some readers’ reviews, this recipe is also good with cumin, curry, paprika, sage, chili powder, onion powder, thyme, rosemary, and hot sauce.
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- And, some readers said that they added kale, spinach, and mushroom as well, which make this recipe even more delicious. I’ve already made this recipe with broccoli and green beans, and it worked very well, too. So, be open to adding more veggies if you wish.
- Make sure to store all your portions in an airtight container and, if you prefer, you can also add some rice to the container to serve with. I use glass containers as they don’t hold onto any smells and are easier to clean.
- Be sure to keep the meals refrigerated until you’re ready to eat. When ready to eat, cover it with a damp paper towel when microwaving to keep the moisture in.
- This meal prep will last for up to 4 days when properly stored.
- Before serving it, top with some fresh cilantro, sour cream and even Greek yogurt for an extra protein boost.
- Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet: It’s very flavorful, easy, quick-to-make, healthy, a one-pan meal and gluten-free! It’s great as leftovers to take to work for lunch.
- Ground Turkey Skillet with Green Beans: A recipe that is definitely easy to make and a tasty meal for your family dinner.
- Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Lettuce Wraps: Fresh and flavourful, this recipe can easily be prepared in just 20 minutes.
- Ground Turkey Cabbage Skillet: An easy recipe that is perfect for a quick dinner during the week. It’s made with ground turkey, cabbage, cheese, and spices.
- Sweet Potato, Kale and Shrimp Skillet: You need only 4 ingredients to make a quick, easy, and healthy dinner meal.
- Asparagus Sweet Potato Chicken Skillet recipe: Another one-pan meal that takes only 30 minutes to be on your table for dinner.
As a memory, I kept this original photo from 2014!
Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound free-range extra-lean ground turkey (you also can use grass-fed ground beef)
- 1 teaspoon garlic clove minced
- ½ cup onions diced
- ½ cup yellow pepper diced
- 1½ cups sweet potato diced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A pinch of red chili flakes optional
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (If you're doing Whole30 or following Paleo diet, don't add cheese)
- Fresh parsley for garnishing (optional)
Instructions
- In a cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground turkey and garlic. Use a wooden spoon to break up the turkey as it cooks. Stir occasionally, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the onions and yellow peppers, and cook until the onions are soft.
- Add the sweet potato, red chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Cover the skillet, and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender. Don’t forget to stir occasionally. If necessary, add more olive oil or a little bit of water to cook the sweet potatoes faster.
- While the sweet potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- When the sweet potatoes are tender, add the shredded mozzarella cheese, and put the skillet in the oven to melt the cheese.
- When the cheese melts, remove from the oven, and garnish with parsley.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
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Can you freeze this and thaw?
Yes, you can! You may thaw overnight in the refrigerator 😉
Loved this recipe thank you so much for posting this one. Will definitely make again and again.
So happy you made this recipe and enjoyed it 😉
I can’t wait to play with this recipe. I have a little sweet potato fiend at home that will devour this. I’m trying to cut down on carbs for dinner so this will be perfect for me too. With the Thanksgiving theme, I’ll see about sage-y or cinnamon-y seasonings and a few craisins to sprinkle on top.
So glad you like this recipe, Kristine. I think it would be great with sage-y and cinnamon too 😉
Please edit your recipe.
1) There are no green onions in the ingredients list
2) It doesnt say when to add the chili pepper
Just did. Sorry about that and thanks for letting me know about the missing ingredients.
This meal tasted so yummy! I didn’t use any oil, I used Pam instead & then added a little water when it was time to add the potatoes. I used the Jennie-O Italian seasoned lean ground turkey instead of regular, fat free mozzarella and I forgot the chili powder but I followed the remainder of the recipe verbatim. Nom nom nom, soooo tasty! Thank You!
Raia I am so happy your enjoy this recipe. You made it looks even healthier 😉
This was so good- I’m making it again tonight.
I used a lot of chili powder and also some pink salt to season the meat. Next time I’m going to cook the sweet potato and ground turkey separately so it won’t overcook the meat.
This tastes great with a dollop of sour cream on top.
Oh this looks good! Now if only I could convince my husband to eat sweet potato 🙂
I hope your husband changes his mind and try this recipe. Sweet potatoes are so delicious 😉
It looks great. I think I’ll make it tonight. What did most people serve this with?
You can serve it with rice or with tortillas 😉
I was a little leary of this dish, but had everything on hand, so I gave it a go. It was fantastic! I ground some fresh turkey breast from my daughter’s 4H turkey and made a quick mozzarella with goat milk. Everything else came from the garden. It did need a little salt and pepper, but the flavors were really great together – much to my surprise. Zero-mile dish! I served it with corn bread and sliced tomato and cucumber. It was perfect.
I found this post through Pinterest several months ago and it has become a regular on our dinner rotation. I pretty much follow your recipe but then add some Frank’s Buffalo sauce at the end for some bite and it is AMAZING! Easy, healthy and YUM!
Dana, thanks for commenting and stopping by. So glad you enjoy this recipe!
Awesome! Yummy! Making it AGAIN! Delish!
Glad you liked it. Thanks for stopping by 😉
Absolutely delicious and very easy to make. Thanks for the great recipe, look forward to trying more of them.
You are so welcome. Thanks for your comment 😉
AMAZING!! I have found so many recipes on Pinterest that never wow my very picky boyfriend. He absolutely LOVED this dish! I served it over brown rice because I was worried it wouldn’t be filling enough. I was wrong. Either way, every bite of this had sooo much flavor!. Leftovers were perfect! Definitely will be making this again and again!
So happy you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe, Cat. Thanks for your feedback 😉
I’m incredibly jealous of your trip to Brazil. Guess I’ll have to make some of this delicious looking comfort food to make myself feel better.
Does this call for chili powder or is the chili pepper spice something different?
Chili powder!
Sounds great and I’m going to make it today using ground sausage. But why would you heat up the entire oven just to melt the cheese at the end? Put the lid on the skillet….the cheese will melt and you won’t spend extra $$$ heating the oven.
That’s a good idea too, Debbie 😉
One of my families favorite dinners! For those looking for the calorie count use this website. all you have to do is copy and paste the ingredients to analyze the recipe. I got 330 calories per serving.
Thanks for putting this information here, B.Starr 😉
I made this several times and it is always a big hit. Thank you for this great recipe!!!
You are very welcome, Jaime. Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate it 😉
I just made this last night for my boyfriend and myself and it was delicious! I will make this again.
I added sage and thyme, a good handful of spinach, and about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries. It tasted just like Thankgiving! Definitely a keeper!
Wow… that’s great, Carla. It must have been amazing 😉