Stuffed Sweet Potato
Everything you want from Tex-Mex comfort food packed into one split sweet potato. Cumin-spiced ground beef with corn and tomato fills the center, the scooped-out potato mashed back through the meat for a creamier bite. Fresh guacamole and cool yogurt on top.
30g of protein and 17g of fiber in a loaded potato that comes together in 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- sweet potato 0.5 pound
- garlic 1 clove
- tomato 1
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- 96% lean ground beef 3 ounces
- corn 2 ounces
- tomato paste 2 tablespoons
- ground cumin 1 teaspoon
- paprika (ground spice) 1 teaspoon
- avocado 0.5
- lime juice 1 squeeze
- yogurt, nonfat 2 tablespoons
Method
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Poke several holes in the sweet potato with a fork. Place the sweet potato in a microwave-safe dish and microwave on high for 5-7 minutes or until soft. Flip the potato halfway through. Remove the potato from the microwave and let it cool for a moment.
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Peel the garlic and chop finely. Cut the tomato into small cubes.
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Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.
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Add the ground beef and cook until done in 4-5 minutes.
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Add the tomato, corn, tomato paste, cumin and paprika powder. Stir and let it cook for another 3 minutes.
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Mash the avocado in a bowl. Add lime juice and salt and pepper and mix well.
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Cut the sweet potato lengthwise. Scoop out some of the potato with a spoon to create a hollow. Mash this potato and mix it through the ground meat mixture. Spoon the ground beef mixture into the sweet potato.
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Serve the stuffed sweet potato with the guacamole and the yogurt as topping.
When scooping out the sweet potato center, leave about half an inch of flesh as a wall. Too thin and the potato collapses under the filling. Too thick and there is not enough room to stuff it properly.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Why does this recipe add avocado and olive oil to sweet potato?
Beyond flavor, the fat matters. Research found that adding fat to cooked sweet potato can increase beta-carotene availability from around 1% to over 10%. This recipe pairs the microwaved sweet potato with olive oil in the sautéed filling and fresh avocado on top, both fat sources that help your body absorb more of the orange pigment during digestion.
Read the full evidence reviewIs 30g of protein enough for one meal?
Research shows there is no rigid 30g per-meal protein ceiling. Dose-response and tracer studies found the body continues to use protein well beyond that number, with diminishing but real returns up to at least 100g in a single meal. The 30g in this stuffed sweet potato is a solid contribution to daily intake, not a biological limit.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I bake this instead of microwaving?
Yes. Bake the sweet potato at 350°F (180°C) for about 50 minutes instead of microwaving. The filling and toppings stay the same. Total time goes from 20 minutes to about an hour, but the oven version gets a slightly caramelized skin that some people prefer.
