This Sweet Potato Zucchini Casserole recipe is incredibly flavorful and easy to make. It’ll be on your table in less than 30 minutes and is a one-pan meal loaded with vegetables.
How are you guys? I’ve been in São Paulo (the biggest city in South America) for about a week with my husband and baby boy visiting some old friends and a few family members. We are having a good time because this city has a lot to offer.
We already visited parks, shopping malls, friends, and family. This weekend we are going to the biggest exposition in South America about The Beatles and I am very excited.
I’m a huge Beatles fan. Also, we’re going to visit a very close friend of mine who I haven’t seen for over 5 years. OMG… I CAN’T WAIT!!
Here in Sampa (this is the cute local nickname for São Paulo), we’re staying in a house that has a spectacular kitchen and of course, I’m cooking a lot.
I love how much countertop space this kitchen has. It’s great to chop all the veggies and make salads.
Of course, we’re going to some cool restaurants around the town too.
But when you have a small child, it’s not very easy to eat out a lot and I prefer to make his food fresh. Then, I know exactly what we’re eating.
And talking about homemade food, what about making this Sweet Potato Zucchini Casserole for dinner today? I can give you many reasons to convince you this is the perfect dinner during your busy week. The first reason: it’s very easy to make. I know I always say that, but it’s true.
What you have to do is slice the sweet potato, cut the zucchini into cubes, sauté them in olive oil, and then cook the ground turkey until it’s no longer pink. And finally, you assemble it in a baking casserole and bake it for about 25 minutes. Now, tell me if it isn’t easy?
The second reason is: that you only need one pan to sauté the zucchini, cook the meat, and a casserole dish. So, this recipe is also perfect for those days when you don’t have time to clean up your kitchen after cooking.
That’s why I love casserole dishes like this Cauliflower Casserole Recipe, Sausage and Potato Breakfast Casserole, Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole Recipe, Zucchini lasagna and Brussels Sprouts Casserole Recipe. Everything is baked in one dish and clean up is a breeze!
Sweet Potato Zucchini Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium zucchinis diced
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1/2 cup onions chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 cup homemade tomato sauce or any other sauce of your preference
- 2 medium sweet potato sliced
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)
- Garnish with fresh parsley (chopped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium skillet, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add zucchini, salt, and pepper. Stir occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In the same skillet, add onions and garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent.
- Add the ground turkey and cook until the meat is not pink anymore. Make sure to break apart the meat with a spoon as it cooks.
- Add homemade tomato sauce, the cooked zucchini, salt, and pepper. Cook for more 3-5 minutes.
- In a greased baking casserole, place the slices of sweet potato in an even layer.
- Pour the ground turkey mixture into a baking dish.
- Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
- Before serving sprinkle some fresh parsley.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You can leave the skins on the sweet potatoes if you’d like. Just make sure you clean the potatoes thoroughly beforehand.
- The amount of zucchinis you need will depend on the size of them. While larger ones are great, they are a bit more watery compared to smaller zucchinis.
- I recommend shredding mozzarella from a block as it melts more smoothly than pre-shredded cheese.
- To store: Keep in mind that zucchini is a watery vegetable so the longer you store it, the more the texture changes (this is why I don’t recommend freezing this). So, try eating this sweet potato zucchini casserole immediately or only keeping it for 2-3 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
- To reheat: Reheat the casserole in the microwave or oven until warmed through.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
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Absolutely delish! I was skeptical at first because I usually don’t make recipes unless there are reviews, but I figured I would give it a shot because it looked amazing… And it was! I eat a lot of turkey but I always make it the same way. Needless to say, my boyfriend and I were getting sick of the same old turkey meat recipes so this was a great way to switch it up. My boyfriend loved it! here are some things I did different: I doubled the amount of mozzarella (I felt like 1/2 cup wasn’t enough), and to save time I used jar sauce instead of making my own. Definitely recommend!
I’m so thrilled to hear you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe! We (my husband and me) also love this recipe 😉
Could you substitute with chicken?
I’ve never tried this recipe with chicken but I think you can. Please, let me know if you try it and how it turns out. Thanks!
I substituted cubed chicken since that was what i had available and my whole family liked the recipe. They thought it needed more chicken and more cheese but only a little.
Happy to know your daily enjoyed it 😉
So, I will admit that at first I thought this might not be so good… something about the tomato and sweet potato and turkey combo… but I had made your zucchini lasagna recipe a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing, so I figured this would at least be worth a try. I am SO glad that I tried it. It was so good and easy. I did bake it for about 15 min extra, and it browned the cheese to perfection and cooked the sweet potatoes just right (the mandolin is definitely the way to go for this recipe!). I also thought that 1 cup of tomato sauce was a not quite enough, so I added another half cup. Thank you for the awesome and easy recipe!
Hi, Cayla. I am so excited to hear this! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and taking time to leave your positive review 😉
I was skeptical about cooking sweet potatoes with tomato sauce but my whole family loved it! My son even said he liked it more than nachos! I forgot the parsley and probably cooked the zucchini too long but it tasted amazing. I threw in some herb de Provence when cooking the turkey. Thanks!
I’m so thrilled to hear your whole family (even your son!) enjoyed this recipe! So happy 😉
Made it with all fresh ingredients, I used ground beef instead of turkey. The family loved it! I will definitely be making it again. I also added some fresh basil to the ground beef mixture.
Glad to know you and your family loved this recipe and the addition of the fresh basil sounds great!
This was wonderful! I used more tomato sauce (one 15-oz. can) and added some basil with it. I also made two layers of sweet potato slices and turkey/zucchini mixture. I baked the casserole covered for 30 minutes and then added the mozzarella cheese and baked for about 15 minutes more until the cheese was melted and began to brown. I let the casserole rest for about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven. My husband said “Put a star by this recipe — I think I could eat it every day!” Thanks for a great recipe!
Fabulous recipe! I used beef instead of turkey and it still tasted delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I’m making this to freeze for a post-natal meal at my home birth for the birthing team. How would you go about reheating from frozen?
I’m not sure since I’ve never frozen this recipe, but I think it would work well 😉
Ok, thanks! I baked it, let it cool, put foil over and froze. I’m planning on pulling it out once labor begins to thaw a bit (if labor isn’t too fast being my third!), then instructions I put on foil were 350* for 20m, longer if still a bit frozen. Will report back!
Great. Let me know how it was. And congrats on your third baby. Hope you have a save and happy labor 😉
It;s a good recipe but the printing of it is a HUGE waste of ink with all the story line stuff and many images.
A simple list of ingredients and directions would be much better.
Just copy and paste it all into a Word Document. Edit as needed before printing!
My whole family loved this…even my 16mo old grandson! I did the ground beef with fresh basil in it and a little sugar! I did not put the cheese on it and it still was delish!❤️
That’s great. I am thinking to make this recipe again without cheese. It’s good to know that it is good even without cheese!
Hello I’m gonna try this recipe out today but I do not have a sliver, could I chopped the sweet potatoe in small
Pieces and add it to the bottom if possible? Wanna say I made so many of your recipes and they are Amazing would you ever try making recipes on a budget like 50 dollars or less etc !(:
Hi, Eliana. Thanks for your questions. I think you can chop the sweet potato in very small pieces and place on the bottom. But check it after the cooking time to make sure it’s cooked. Happy to hear you tried lots of my recipes. IT makes me so happy. Yes I’ll try to make more budget friendly recipes 😉
I tried this recipe with ground venison instead of ground turkey. It was delicious and of course venison has very little fat. The olive oil keeps things moist and flavorful. I will definitely use this recipe again.
Happy to hear that. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment 😉
Hello,
I would like to know if you could put the nutrition information for this recipe. Thank you.
I just added the nutrition information for you. Thanks for stopping by 😉
can someone suggest what size casserole dish to use for this receipt? Thank you
It’s about 11×8-inch size.
How do you think this would work with the new ground beyond beef? I am just wondering if it would dry it out if i cooked it for this long??
I think so.
Would this recipe work if I did all the prep the night before and let it sit in the baking dish overnight to cook the following evening? Sounds very good and I can’t wait to try it!
Yes it will work 😉
What would be the best way to make vegetarian? Just leave out the meat or would substituting tofu/vege beef work? Thanks!
I believe tofu would work very well 😉
Should we cook the sweet potatoes 1st ? I was wondering if they would be cooked enough at a low temp and for a short amount of time. Thanks
You don’t need to cook the sweet potatoes before.
Can this be frozen?
Sorry I’m not sure because I’ve never frozen this recipe!
My family tends to like spicier food and we often find ground turkey too bland so I added chili powder and cumin as I cooked the meat. To keep my flavors consistent, I used enchilada sauce with a bit of homemade salsa in place of the tomato sauce. It was amazing.
Enchilada sauce works great!! Good idea 😉