As it turns out, sweet potatoes are good for something more than just being smothered in brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows. Not that there’s anything wrong with that delicious approach, but the fact is that sweet potatoes are 
actually super healthy, and can act as a meal in and of themselves when paired with the right ingredients.
I’ve always loved twice baked potatoes, but never ate them terribly often because as good as they are, they never made me feel like I was eating particularly healthily. So I got to thinking and decided, why not kill two birds with one stone, here? Let’s make a twice baked potato that’s healthy, and give the old sweet potato a chance to show what it can do, minus the marshmallows.
And voila! The twice baked sweet potato was born. So what was the process here? I knew that I wanted a bit of spice to offset the sweetness of the potatoes, and what better way to do that than using spicy sausage? I also like a bit of color in my meals, and interestingly enough decided that peas were the appropriate way to provide that color here. I say interestingly enough, because I actually don’t really like peas. I never eat them on their own. But I’ve discovered that nonetheless, they can provide a nice depth of flavor in certain dishes, without tasting too much like. . . peas. Perfect.
I also tossed in my old standby ingredients, the trusty garlic and shallot combo, to add just a bit more flavor to the potatoes. Finally, some shredded pepper jack (one of my favorite cheeses), some chopped chives, and some butter added the finishing touches! Mix all of that together (plus the pre-cooked sweet potatoes, scraped out of their skins), put it back into the skins for a bit more baking, and you’re done! A healthy, wholesome meal featuring the lovely sweet potato.
A word about prepping the sweet potatoes: You will need to bake them first in order to be able to separate the inside from the potato skin. To do this separating, cut the potato about 2/3 of the way through so you can scrape out the inside with a fork. If you accidentally cut all the way through the potato, don’t worry – just be sure to slightly overlap the edges of the potato skins that were supposed to remain connected before filling, and the whole thing will bake together in the oven.
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 large shallots
- 1/2 lb. spicy sausage
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup peas, frozen or fresh (optional)
- 1/4 cup chives (chopped)
- 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese (shredded)
- 2 oz. goat cheese
Instructions
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Wash the sweet potatoes and pierce all over with a fork. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
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When about 30 minutes remain in the potatoes' baking time, begin the prep for the rest of the ingredients.
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Chop the garlic and shallots. In a large pan, saute them in the olive oil for about 3 minutes, until the shallots begin to turn translucent.
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Add the spicy sausage and brown, breaking apart with a spoon.
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Once the sausage is browned, add the salt, pepper, and paprika. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, and then add the peas, if using.
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Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked through and beginning to crisp.
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Once the sweet potatoes are baked and slightly cooled, slice each of them 2/3 of the way through. Scrape out the insides and place in a bowl. Reserve the skins.
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Add to the potatoes 2 tbsp. butter, the meat mixture, a shake or two of nutmeg, the yogurt, the goat cheese, and the chopped chives. (Reserve about a tablespoon of the chopped chives.)
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Thoroughly mix everything together. Spoon the filling back into the potato skins.
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Sprinkle the filled potatoes with the pepper jack. Bake in the oven (still heated to 425 degrees) for 15 minutes, until the cheese topping is melted and beginning to brown.
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Remove from oven, top with remaining chives, and enjoy!