As I’m about to head out on vacation at the end of the week, I’m in a vacation recreation mood today and we’re going back to Cleveland with these spicy chicken stuffed sweet potatoes.
Okay, so not an exact vacation recreation, but let’s say inspired by, shall we?
At the start of summer a few years (!) ago, you may recall that I hopped over to Cleveland for some hiking and some best work friend camaraderie. Beside both loving to hike, we both loooove to eat and we popped by this charming spot and couldn’t help by order their stuffed sweet potato skins after practically drooling at every plate of them that walked by our table.
Now, that dish was definitely appetizer status and this recreation moves it over to meal time. I made a few other changes (using pulled chicken rather than pulled pork) but I like to think I captured its essence.
But first, an important question:
What is the best way to roast a sweet potato?
There’s the easy way, and then there’s the Smitten Kitchen way, not that it’s hard, just more time-intensive. This recipe gave me a chance to try Deb’s slow sloooow roasted sweet potatoes and you know, darn it, it makes a difference. Before you chide me for my instance on making a three hour (!) roasted sweet potato, I say this to you. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it deal. And if you’re like me and have a toaster oven, then you don’t have to worry about it heating up your whole house at the time of the year when we want to keep things as cool as possible.
What else do I need to make these spicy chicken stuffed sweet potatoes?
I’m going to start off by saying this is more of a method rather than an exact step-by-step. Kinda like a taco. Assemble as you wish.
- single-serving size sweet potatoes, roasted as detailed above. Or, if you are in more of a time crunch, until soft and squishy in the middle.
- pulled chicken; I went with a good ole’ rotisserie chicken here, shredded with a fork. Let’s keep it easy on ourselves, and also, yay leftovers.
- apple slaw; homemade, with apples, onion and carrot, to add a little sweet and tang to the sweet potatoes.
- bacon, because bacon.
- kimchi mayo; you’ve seen this magic making sauce before. Here’s the link to this very specific ingredient. Sriracha mayo I bet would also be fab, and I think is more readily available.
- green onions to garnish
The best thing about this? It’s definitely an assembly-line dinner, so you can make big batches of everything, let everyone create their own adventure, and have loads of leftovers to repurpose the rest of the week.
Dig in!
Spicy Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
For the potatoes
- 4 sweet potatoes single-serving size
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp coarse salt
For the slaw
- 1 Granny Smith apple julienne
- 1 carrot julienne
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 TB apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
For the rest
- 1 pound shredded, cooked chicken warmed
- 2 slices bacon cooked and diced
- 2 green onions chopped
- ¼ cup kimchi mayo (or any other spicy mayo)
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes. Preheat the oven 275F. To a foil-lined baking sheet, add your potatoes. Rub the outside of each with 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well coated. Bake about 2 1/2 -3 hours until very soft inside. Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Cook the potatoes under it until lightly charred on top. Set aside to cool slightly.
- While the potatoes are cooking, make the slaw by adding all the liquid ingredients to the bottom of a medium bowl. Mix until all combined. Add the dry slaw ingredients to the wet and toss well to ensure all is coated with the dressing. Set aside.
- To assemble each potato, add 1/4 of the cooked chicken to each. Top with 1/4 of the slaw, 1/4 of the bacon, 1/4 of the green onions and drizzle each with about 1 TB of the spicy mayo. Repeat with additional potatoes and serve!