Loaded Chicken Fajita Sweet Potatoes
With the veggies, chicken, sweet potato and simple seasonings, these loaded chicken fajita sweet potatoes are amazing! So much flavor!
If fajita flavors are your jam, you are going to love this recipe!
Veggies (customizable to your liking!), chicken and lots of smoky flavors are piled high on tender sweet potatoes, and the result is a combination that never gets old!
Fajita Vegetables
I like to stick with traditional fajita vegetables for this recipe;
- onions
- bell peppers (usually red, yellow and/or orange)
- mushrooms
But you can definitely (and easily) customize the vegetables to your liking, subbing in veggies you like or have on hand and nixing the veggies that cause you stress.
The vegetables are sautéed in a skillet – and if you like lots of golden color on them, cook them in batches so they get maximum exposure to the bottom of the hot pan.
Everything Else for Fajitas
Once the vegetables are cooked just until tender (say no to mushy veggies!), add in:
- cooked chicken
- cilantro
- lime juice
- seasonings: cumin, chili powder, smoked or regular paprika, garlic.
Pro Tip: for a meatless version, sub the chicken with a can of rinsed and drained beans (or just a lot of extra veggies!).
Cooking the Sweet Potatoes
The base of this yummy recipe is, of course, sweet potatoes (or yams 😉). *See the note in the recipe below for sweet potato substitutions.
Cook the sweet potatoes on a greased and foil-lined half sheet pan for about an hour at 375 degrees F. While they cook, prepare that fajita topping like we just talked about!
Cut the sweet potatoes in half and mess them up a bit with a fork so that the flesh is lightly mashed. Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper. DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP. It’s very important for overall flavor.
Top each sweet potato half with a very heaping (yes, this is scientific) scoop of the chicken fajita filling. And then douse with a healthy sprinkle of shredded cheese.
Broil those loaded chicken fajita sweet potatoes until the cheese is melted and bubbly and golden.
Ermagersh. SO YUMMY.
One sweet potato half is a very satisfying and abundant serving. They can be served as is or loaded with toppings of your choice: sour cream, avocado, cilantro, salsa.
I highly recommend going the load-up-the-already-loaded-sweet-potatoes-with-more-toppings route.
Loaded Sweet Potatoes
Digging into these flavor blasted sweet potato bombs is a bit chaotic and messy. It’s all part of the delicious journey.
I am, admittedly, a huge fajita fan. But these loaded chicken fajita sweet potatoes are next level delicious.
The leftovers (sans sour cream and avocados) reheat amazingly well and make for literally the best lunch in the history of ever. Which also means this recipe makes me a leftover hoarder for which I will not apologize.
Can’t wait for you to make these! You’re going to love them!
What to Serve With This
- Fresh Fruit
- The Best Cornbread
- Mexican Chopped Salad
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Loaded Chicken Fajita Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 medium sweet potatoes (see note)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ medium onion, cut into half moon slices
- 2 large bell peppers, any color, cored and sliced into thin strips
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 2 to 3 cups cooked, shredded or chopped chicken
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked or regular paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 ½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese (see note)
- Toppings: sour cream, avocado, cilantro, salsa, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a half sheet pan with foil and grease with cooking spray. Poke a few holes in each sweet potato with the tines of a fork. Place the sweet potatoes on the sheet pan and bake until tender, about 1 hour.
- While the sweet potatoes cook, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper. Remove to a plate and return the skillet to the heat.
- Add another splash of olive oil, if needed. Add the mushrooms and cook, without stirring (for more golden color), for 1-2 minutes. Stir or flip and continue cooking for a few more minutes until golden and tender. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Add the onions and peppers back to the skillet with the mushrooms. Add the chicken, cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, lime juice and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper!
- Preheat the oven broiler and position a rack in the upper middle position in the oven.
- Cut each sweet potato in half lengthwise and place on the baking sheet cut side up (replacing the foil, if needed). Scrape the flesh of the sweet potato with a fork until it is lightly mashed. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Divide the chicken/veggie mixture evenly among the sweet potatoes, piling it high.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top. Broil until the cheese is golden and bubbling (watch closely!), 2-3 minutes.
- Serve immediately with toppings of your choice (sour cream, salsa, avocado, cilantro, etc).
This was life changing. Even as a leftover at my friend’s house. Found the recipe just so I could make it!!
FANTASTIC. Made with steak not chicken. Was soo good.
Terrific!
I’m wondering about emptying the sweet potatoes into a dish/out of their skins and making it casserole style. Any thoughts on that idea?
Sounds like a great idea!
This is what I do and it works! I cube the sweet potatoes (but I don’t peel them), roast them with olive oil and a little salt for about half an hour at 425 degrees (stirring after about twenty minutes), and use them as the bottom layer of the casserole. (I rub a little olive oil into the pan first to grease it.) Then I pile the chicken/veg mixture on top and warm it all in the oven for a while (maybe 15 – 20 min?), putting the cheese on at the end before sticking it back under the broiler. So good!! And my kiddos who won’t eat sweet potatoes with the skin on, simply baked whole, will eat it this way. : )
This was SOOOO delicious!! Topped with cilantro lime sauce from Costco.
How did you cook the chicken for the chicken fajitas sweet potatoes? I have cooked chicken that is so tough! Do you have a good recipe to suggest? Maybe one in the instant pot?
This was a winner! Really yummy. Sweet potato was different but I really loved the flavors together! I love how versatile it is too. My family all loved every bit of it – adding this to my ‘favorites’ pinterest board. 🙂
The hardest part about this meal is keeping the kids from devouring the sweet bell peppers and mushrooms before you get them all chopped. Otherwise, this was easy, delicious, flavorful, and beautiful. I replaced the usual toppings (aside from cheese) with Mel’s Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing, and it was fabulous. This is also a great way to use up the whole bunch of cilantro. I prefer to bake my sweet potatoes at 450 in order to bring out the caramelized sugars and then peel them before topping with the rest, making slices across the strings/grain of the potato. That way, you can just devour the whole thing without having the mess with the skin. I have learned that the way you get kids to like cooked mushrooms is to chop them small. Thank you again, Mel!
Note that my husband will not eat a sweet potato. These are wonderful filling in an almond tortilla or one made with regular flour. That’s how he enjoyed it.
Great recipe Mel thank you! The whole family loved it. DIdn’t have any cooked chicken but had some boneless skinless chicken thighs that need to be used. Sliced them up and cooked all together with the veggies, spices and mushrooms in the skillet. Simple, quick and delicious.
Oh wow. This recipe is amazing—it’s the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in weeks. My family members have mixed feelings about sweet potatoes so I served it with both sweet potatoes and Yukon gold potatoes. I’m a sweet potato fan so I was surprised to find that, though it was delicious both ways, I preferred the Yukon gold, and I may never make baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, chives, and bacon again. Thanks for introducing me to my new favorite meal. I finished off the last sweet potato and filling for breakfast this morning with an egg on top. Yum! Now I just wish I had tripled the recipe for extra leftovers!
This was SO GOOD! Loved by entire family including two teen boys. I added some broccoli since I didn’t think anyone would notice (they didn’t), two cans of black beans and topped with a creamy jalapeño cilantro dressing and avocados. The boys wanted assurances we would be eating it again soon!
We loved this! 3 out of 5 kids even liked it. So yummy!!
Absolutely delicious and fun to prepare.
We loved these! I love just plain yams as a side, but these for dinner are fantastic. Used leftover seasoned turkey burger we’d used for tacos the night before and everything else as written. Healthy too! Topped with salsa and avocado.
I learned that sour cream does not belong on a sweet potato! This recipe was definitely not a hit for me or family. Maybe would be better on a white potato.
I love sweet potatoes but I found I liked this recipe even better with Yukon Gold potatoes. It would be good with russets, too. You should try it!
I’ve been doing this with your 30-minute ground beef/Turkey tacos for years. We love them and can’t wait to try this new version. Yum!. Thanks for always keeping things fresh on our dinner rotation!
So delicious, exactly as written! I can hardly wait to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
That’s how I feel when I make these. The leftovers are SO GOOD for lunch!
Make this one! So full of flavour, so filling and really healthy ingredients too. I didn’t have any lime but a had a lemon and that worked just fine! You want that citrus kick! Topped ours with medium salsa and sour cream. Go ahead. Eat the skin…kinda hard not to
I agree on the skins! Just eat ’em!
I am here for these savory sweet potato recipes! My husband and I loved this. The kids ate the sweet potato plain and the fajita mix in a quesadilla. We were all very happy!
Love how you make dinner work for your family, Kristina! Thanks for taking the time to let me know what you thought of this recipe!
Hello Mel, another great recipe. My husband and I loved this! Wonderful flavors and healthy! Easy to put together. Out of my normal “box” and so happy I tried it. Very flavorful but not spicy. I will try this with black beans in place of chicken for my Vegan nephew. He will love it! I love all the detailed instructions in your recipes. Much appreciated.
Best to you and your family.
Thank you so much for the feedback, Jakalyn! So glad you enjoyed this one!
Another recipe I am going to immediately add to the menu! We love the seasoning from your chicken quesadillas so I’m pretty sure we’ll love these! My husband actually requests THAT seasoning when I put tacos on the menu. He says it’s not as overpowering as the packet seasonings I normally buy but still flavorful to compliment all the ingredients. That’s A LOT of info from a guy I have to squeeze like a lemon to get feedback from. lol
Have a great week Mel!
Haha, “squeeze like a lemon” – you are funny, Andrea! I’m glad your husband likes that seasoning from the quesadillas! I think you’ll like this one!
Mel, I’m gonna try theses too. They look delicious! Thanks for an interesting outside-the-box recipe!
Oh these sound yummy, Mel! hoping to make these this week! I’m not sure what would be a good side, though… any suggestions? Or do you guys just tend to eat them alone as an all-in-one meal?
A quick and easy green salad or fruit salad would be delicious! As well as sauteed or roasted broccoli or green beans (or even cornbread!).
I served it with corn and black beans on the side but everyone just piled them on their potatoes. It was tasty!
I have to admit, savory sweet potato dishes have never appealed to me but I might give this a try! Maybe a silly question, but do you eat the sweet potato skins? I don’t and have never seen anyone eat them off a baked sweet potato, but it seems like it would be hard to eat this dish if you were avoiding the skin.
That’s actually a good question. I like the skins and eat them, but a couple of my kids scoop out the sweet potato and leave the skins for the compost. 🙂 And I hear you on sweet potatoes. I’ve had a muddy relationship with them over the years myself…but have found lately I much prefer a savory sweet potato dish to the super sweet marshmallow ones I grew up with (around Thanksgiving time). 🙂