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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Made this twice – first time followed recipe and it was kind of bland and spicy at the same time – weirdly lacking a depth of flavor. Second time made it but changed it a lot – used jimmy dean’s sausage instead of ground turkey so it was much more flavorful. Left out all the other spices and added cooked rice at the end. Less healthy meat, but also ditched the cheese so I feel like it might even out. My revised version was a lot tastier – will probably do it again.
Hey I just need you to know that leaving out the cheese absolutely does NOT even out swapping the ground turkey for Jimmy Dean. I did the math and you added 1048 calories to the recipe even after taking out the cheese. Not to mention the sickening amount of fat and sodium you added to the recipe as well. Please don’t do this again. I’m concerned for your health.
Delicia de alimento também muito saudável
This is it! I could eat this every single day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So delicious, so easy. Seriously the best recipe! Love it.
I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this review. 🙂
Loved this! Super easy and fast. I was only cooking for one but found myself eating half of another serving. …oops!
Lol that’s awesome! Thanks for your feedback 😉
YUMMO!! Added pinto beans and a frozen bag of veggies!!!
Mm… Sounds delicious!
I LOVE this recipe and want to make it as a freezer meal for my brother and his wife since they just had their first baby. Would this be a good meal to cook, freeze, then reheat? I’m assuming I would cook everything as directed aside from adding the cheese and save that for when they are ready to reheat and eat? If ok to freeze, what temp and for how long would you throw it in the oven to make sure its warmed all the way through? Thanks again! WE LOVE THIS MEAL!!
Yes this recipe is great to freeze. It can keep in the fridge for up to 3 months and unfreeze over night in the fridge. Pre heat the oven at 400F and cook for 10 minutes. The time will depend on the size of the meal. Or you can use the microwave. 4 minutes should be fine. Hope it helps 😉
Let me start off by saying…I can’t cook. That being said, this came out DELICIOUS. I was super nervous that it was going to take bad but with your easy instructions it came out great! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it! That’s awesome! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this review. 🙂
As I was cooking this I was really skeptical that it would have any flavor. But then I bit into it and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe, it is defiantly a keeper.
You’re very welcome. And thanks for stopping by 😉
This is a new family favorite! I topped the leftovers with a fried egg for breakfast-delicious!
Mm… Yum!
I bought precut isquash by accident and it was delicious and lower weight watcher points!
Awesome!
Absolutely loved this recipe!!! If you’re trying to make this an easy weeknight dinner I would do the prep beforehand because it does take a little bit longer to cook than expected. I put it in the oven for a few minutes on broil for toasty cheese as well. Definitely will make again!!!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this review. 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I added some black beans just because they needed to be used up. I also used fresh grated Romano cheese because it’s what was in the fridge. I did roast the potatoes ahead of time to save stovetop cooking time and I think that was a big help. My husband (who had apparently been dreading this meal when I told him it was on the menu, ground turkey isn’t his jam) said he would DEFINITELY eat it again! 🎉 I served it with some toasted and buttered sour dough bread. (We love our carbs. ❤️) I will certainly be making this again. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your feedback. Happy to hear that your husband loved it too 😉
Love this recipe! It’s one of my go tos for dinner! I don’t eat cheese anymore so tonight I added mushrooms.
Happy you like it!
Hi! I am trying to make some healthy prep meals. Do you think this would be suitable for the freezer to have portioned for individual meals?
Yes it freezes really well!
We make this often at our house since trying it from your recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m so thrilled to hear that 😉
Made this tonight for dinner, sooo good!!! I’m new to cooking with cast iron, and i didn’t have a cover for my skillet so i par boiled the sweet poatoes. It worked out so well! I am always looking for delicious inexpensive recipes, and this one fits the bill! Thank you for sharing!!
Yes if you don’t have a cover for your skillet it’s better to boil the sweet potatoes first. Happy to hear you liked this recipe 😉
can you use frozen sweet potatoes?
Sorry I haven’t made this recipe with frozen sweet potato. You can always unfreeze your sweet potato over night.
If I don’t want the cheese do I still have to put it on the oven? Can I make this recipe and skip the oven part?
Yes you skip the oven part.
We love this recipe! I do have a question about the nutrition information though – you say serving size is 1/4. Is that 1/4 of the dish/recipe or 1/4 of a cup or ?
Thanks so much
It’s 1/4 of the dish/recipe.
Really looking forward to trying this recipe! Was wondering what sides you would suggest serving it with.
Good question. I would say rice, cauliflower rice, tortillas or even roasted veggies.
I made this tonight. It was quick and easy and even my 17 month old gobbled it up. I added a teaspoon of cumin to spice it up a bit. I will definitely be making it again. Thanks!
Awesome. I think cumin is great for this recipe too 😉
Made this recipe tonight, added a couple handfuls of baby spinach, and a few shitaki mushroom. Very easy and tasty. Thank you for posting it.
Love the addition of shivaji mushroom 😉
I wonder how well it would turn out in a pressure cooker. I keep reading the potatoes take a while so it makes me want to try it in the pressure cooker. 🤔
I didn’t try this recipe in a pressure cooker yet. If you did, please let me know. I would love to know how it turned up!