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!

Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet - a delicious gluten free skillet dish
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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 low-carb and gluten-free 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.

Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet - a delicious gluten free skillet dish

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!

overhead view of a white skillet containing ground turkey and sweet potato

Ingredients to Make Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet

  • 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!

How to make Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet

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!

Reasons why I love 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 50 Healthy Cast Iron Skillet Recipes and 15 Healthy Skillet Dinner Recipes. But you probably are wondering why I love them so much. Here are the reasons:

  1. These types of cast iron skillets are well-seasoned and have a naturally nonstick surface that makes all the difference when cooking healthy foods. They have no bad chemicals, and as a bonus, they give off a little extra iron for you. As we all know, iron is an essential mineral that we need to avoid anemia and keep healthy cells, skin, hair, and nails.
  2. 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.
  3. Also, cast iron skillets are great to retain the heat and distribute it evenly for optimal cooking results.
  4. They are very versatile since you can use them for sautéing, searing, pan-frying, baking, broiling, roasting, and more.
  5. 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

  1. 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.
  2. Cover the skillet with a lid and reduce the heat to medium to cook the sweet potato faster.
  3. Or, you can first cook the sweet potato and add it into the pan when the ground turkey is cooked.
  4. 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.
  5. And, some readers said that they added kale, spinach, and mushroom as well, which make this recipe even more delicious and nutritious. 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.

Meal prep tips

  • 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.

Substitutions

For this recipe, you can replace a pound ground turkey for ground beef or sausage.

You can also also make this recipe with black beans and sweet potato to turn it vegan and vegetarian. You can add some corn and some chopped tomato on top.

More sweet potato recipes to try:

As a memory, I kept this original photo from 2014!

Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet - a delicious gluten free skillet dish

Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet

3.61 from 1528 votes
Author: Olivia Ribas
Servings4 people
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time17 minutes
Total Time27 minutes
This gluten-free and low-fat Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet will be ready to dig into 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!

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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
  • 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.

Notes

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Nutrition

Serving: 1/4, Calories: 306kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 31g, Fat: 14g, Cholesterol: 66mg, Sodium: 186mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 6g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Olivia Ribas

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Hi, I'm Olivia


Happy to have you here! I’ve been creating and sharing tasty, easy-to-make recipes on Primavera Kitchen for over 10 years now! I’m all about simple, delicious recipes made with fresh, seasonal, and wholesome ingredients that your whole family will love.

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3.61 from 1528 votes (1,379 ratings without comment)

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468 Comments

  1. Jenn says:

    This is a family favourite…we are making it again tonight.

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      One of our faves too. Easy and quick to make and so flavourful.

  2. Carolyn says:

    Can I use a different kind of pan? I have other oven safe fry pans

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      Yes you can.

  3. Jen says:

    I pinned this recipe back in 2016 and it has been on my meal rotation ever since! It is easy, delicious and everyone loves it. I follow the recipe exactly as it is written and it’s perfect every time. Try it with a dippy egg on top! So good!! Thanks for this great recipe!

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      SO glad to hear that!

  4. Kristine Schoneman says:

    Can this be prepared and frozen prior to baking?

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      Yes you can.

  5. Stephanie says:

    I absolutely love this recipe. I have now made it twice this month

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      That’s awesome. Happy you liked this recipe!

  6. Elizabeth Quintero says:

    My 18 month old and I loved this recipe! Simple, healthy and delicious. I included a whole onion, whole yellow pepper and 3 cups of sweet potato. Added chicken broth when the sweet potatoes were cooking. Turned out really well!

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      That’s awesome. Happy you liked this recipe!

  7. Michelle says:

    LOVED THIS! It turned out so good and I was able to sneak sweet potatoes in for some non veggie lovers. (Craziness)I’m gonna figure out how to attach a photo.

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      So glad you enjoyed this recipe!

  8. Denise says:

    This was really a hit with my kids & hubby! Next time I’ll double it, this truly fed 4 but we all would have had more if there were leftovers. Delicious, thank you!

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      I’m so happy to hear that!!

  9. Makida says:

    So easy, healthy and tasty.

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      Indeed!

  10. Shirley Orfanella says:

    We’re at the beach house and only had some of the ingredients, but even without the peppers & garlic and using Mexican blend cheese instead of mozzarella, it was delicious. Hubby says it’s a keeper. I also had a leftover handful of spinach so I added that, plus diced cherry tomatoes for garnish. Will definitely make again with all the recommended ingredients, including kalamata olives as one commentor added. Also used another’s tip on simply finishing it off on top of the stove, which saved heating up the oven. Delicious ground turkey dish!

    1. Olivia Ribas says:

      I am so glad to hear that. I hope you can make this recipe more times!! Enjoy your time at the beach 😉