This savory chicken and sweet potato recipe is packed with kale, veggies, and protein. It’s perfectly seasoned with garlic, salt, black pepper, and red chili pepper flakes for a little kick. Get dinner on the table in just 30 minutes, using one skillet. Perfect for a busy weeknight!
I love how balanced this meal is. You can serve it with a few sides, if desired, but everything you need is right there in a single pan. It doesn’t get much better than that.
If you’re not keen on doing a ton of dishes, I’ve got so many one-skillet meals to help keep you away from the sink.
Be sure to check out more chicken and sweet potato recipes here: my Sweet Potato Chili, Chicken and Vegetables Soup, and Roasted Veggies and Chicken.
Ingredients
- Bacon — The bacon in this recipe adds both tremendous flavor and crunchy texture!
- Chicken — I use boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Seasonings — Simple salt and pepper. You can play around with the spices in your cabinet and add others if you please.
- Garlic — Just a touch of garlic will add amazing flavor to this skillet.
- Sweet potatoes — I normally buy sweet potatoes with orange flesh, but purple or white options will also taste great.
- Chicken stock — Vegetable broth can also be used as a substitute, and you can use a low-sodium option, if desired.
- Kale — A helping of fresh greens. Remove stems and chop them up into small pieces!
- Chili pepper flakes — Add some heat with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
Prep work:
- Chop both bacon and chicken into small, bite-sized pieces, then place chicken cubes in a small bowl. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and red chili pepper flakes.
- Next, mince garlic and peel/chop sweet potato. Rinse kale and pat dry. You’ll want to remove stems because they’re tough and chewy; we just want to use the kale leaves in our skillet.
Sauté meats:
- Place a large skillet on medium heat and add chopped bacon directly to the pan; you won’t need any oil because bacon is high in fat.
- After five minutes, add seasoned chicken cubes to the skillet, along with the bacon. Cook the two together for around 7 minutes, stirring often, until fully cooked through.
- Remove meats from the skillet, so they don’t overcook, and set aside.
Cook vegetables:
- Now use the same skillet to cook your veggies, leaving the bacon grease in so they brown and become infused with flavor.
- Add minced garlic, diced sweet potato, and chicken broth to the pan and cook for 7 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in chopped kale, cook until wilted.
- Return meats to the skillet, and mix well. Do a taste test and add more salt, pepper, or chili pepper flakes if you feel the dish needs more flavor.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Chicken should be cut into small, even sized cubes. This will help with quick, even cooking.
- You can also use Chicken thighs instead of chicken breast.
- Don’t leave your chicken and bacon in the pan while sautéing veggies. Instead, remove them and set to the side so they don’t overcook!
- If preferred, you can boil sweet potato cubes while the meats cook to get dinner on the table faster.
- Leave bacon grease in the pan while you sauté veggies, it will add tons of flavor.
- Feel free to use other spices in this recipe if you want! Try paprika, turmeric, curry powder, chili powder, onion powder, dried and crushed rosemary or thyme!
- You can also add or substitute veggies as desired.
Chicken and sweet potato is the best combo! I’ve got lots of fun recipes that utilize these two tasty ingredients:
- Slow Cooker Chicken And Sweet Potato
- Goat Cheese Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potato
- Sweet Potato Chicken Soup Recipe
- Asparagus Sweet Potato Chicken Skillet
- Sweet Potato Pesto Chicken Skillet
Chicken and Sweet Potato Recipe
This savory chicken and sweet potato recipe is packed with kale, veggies and protein. It’s perfectly seasoned with garlic, salt, black pepper and red chili pepper flakes for a little kick. Get dinner on the table in just 30 minutes, using one skillet. Perfect for a busy weeknight!
Video
Ingredients
- 6 bacon strips chopped (You can use any type of bacon, but I recommend using a sugar-free, nitrate-free, and nitrite-free version.)
- 2½ cups free-range organic breast chicken diced
- salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 cups sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- ¾ cup organic chicken stock
- 4 cups kale chopped
- ½ teaspoon chili peppers flakes
Instructions
- On a plastic cutting board, cut the chicken into small pieces, and season with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.
- In a skillet over medium heat, add the bacon, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken to the skillet.
- Cook for about 7 minutes or until it is cooked through.
- Don’t forget to stir well. Remove the chicken and bacon from the skillet, and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the garlic, sweet potatoes, and chicken broth.
- Cook for 7 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked. It will depend on the size of the sweet potato pieces.
- Turn the heat to low, and add the kale, stirring until wilted.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, and chili peppers flakes.
- Return the chicken and bacon to the skillet, and stir well until combined. It will take only 1 minute.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Cut chicken into small, even pieces so it cooks uniformly.
- Remove meats from the skillet while sautéing veggies.
- You can boil sweet potatoes separately while cooking bacon and chicken if you’d like to get dinner on the table even faster!
- Do not remove the bacon grease from the skillet. It will help the chicken brown and add flavor.
- Feel free to use alternate spices and vegetables in this recipe.
- Use low sodium chicken broth if you’re worried about sodium.
- To store: Store leftover sweet potato chicken kale skillet in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To reheat: Reheat the leftovers in the microwave until warmed through.
- To freeze: Freeze leftovers in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/4, Calories: 354kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 39g, Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 88mg, Sodium: 711mg, Potassium: 1127mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 7g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
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Made this tonight and it was delicious! That’s definitely going to be made again! I just wanted to point out that although garlic is listed in the ingredients there’s no instruction as to when you add it to the skillet. No big deal though , I made it without the garlic and it was super good!
Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll add it on the instructions 😉
Brenda, thanks for your comment. I will adjust the recipe to clear further confusion. Thanks for pointing it out!
When do you use the garlic?
Hi, Julie. You add garlic before you add sweet potato. I will adjust the recipe to clear further confusion. Thanks for pointing it out!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was a delicious hit with my family! Thank you so much for sharing!
Made this for dinner tonight came out delicious my family of boys loved it. Only thing ill change is cooking the bacon separate and adding it till the end for a good chrunch. Great recipe thank you ☺
You definitely can cook the bacon separate! So glad your family love this recipe. Thanks a lot for your sweet comment and for making this recipe 😉
I made this last night and it was EXCELLENT. The combination of the salty bacon with the sweet sweet potatoes was so different and just magical. I served to my fiancé and cousin and they both loved it as well. I made no changes and will absolutely make this again! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I’m a celiac and this is my favorite recipe! My kids love it, too, and even ask for it. We eat so much of it that I have it in separate pans so we can make more and have leftovers. Smelling the chicken and bacon cooking is mouthwatering! I like to precut my sweet potatoes earlier in the day so it’s not so much work at dinnertime. But like I said I cook a lot more than the recipe calls for. I find the kale cooks more evenly in its own pan too, with the broth. When serving dip it all into the same bowl and enjoy! Now to go make some more…
So good even my Redneck loved it!! I added onion and at the end I added a squeeze of lemon. It really gave it that umami flavor I like so much.
Made it, made enough for one . Was very easy to adjust. Super yummy
Happy to hear that 😉
Making this right now. So delicious.
Glad to hear that 😉
I’m going to make this now but my sweet potatoes are already cooked I pre bake them can I still use broth?
It’s not necessary.
Bake the sweet potatoes first or cut them raw?
Cut them raw first.
This is seriously the best thing i’ve ever made and its all because of you! 🙂 thank you for this recipe i cannot wait to make it again.
I am so excited to hear this! Thank you so much for trying the recipe and taking time to leave your positive review.
This is delicious!! The whole family loved it!
Thanks!
Do you think this would freeze okay?
Sorry, Im not sure. But I don’t see why not.
I followed this recipe EXCEPT for the chili pepper flakes… it states adding it TWICE, but I omitted in step #3. I found the prep time was longer than the cook time, but I don’t usually dice sweet potatoes either. My husband and I enjoyed this dish, and I will make it again!
Awesome 😉
Hello,
This recipe looks delicious and I would love to try it but I’m not fond of kale, any suggestion what could be used in its place?
You can use spinach or collard.
Just found this recipe and am planning to make it for dinner tonight! Just a little confused on how much salt and pepper to add overall since I want to make sure I don’t overdo/underdo it.
Start with a pinch and add more if you want.
Would it be weird to use maple bacon?
Not at all. It will work well too 😉
I have celiac disease and make this recipe often. I must cut my potatoes bigger than you do because mine usually take more than 7 minutes, but it is delicious no matter how long it takes. If we have leftovers, I have it for breakfast with a fried egg over top! Sometimes I will even do a fried egg on top of each bowl at dinner too because sometimes it seems a little dry and the yolk mixed in is the perfect consistency. Thanks!
Mm… fried egg on top is a great idea. I do that sometimes too. So good!
I haven’t yet made this but it looks great and making it tonight. Do you think adding beans, tomatoes or anything else to add more nutrition, maybe enhance any sauce would be okay?
Yes you can add tomatoes and beans. It will work just fine 😉
It’s really easy to put together, but kind of bland. I’d definitely add some herbs for more flavor next time. Love all the veggies, though!
Thanks for stopping by!