BBQ Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

My husband’s birthday was last week and I mentioned on facebook that he has asked for the same birthday dinner for 3 years in a row. 3 years in a row!

I figured it must be pretty darn delicious if he could basically have anything he wanted and he wanted these BBQ pork stuffed sweet potatoes (along with my famous grain free chocolate chip cookies) for his special birthday dinner.

I’m not going to lie, I was secretly hoping he would ask for these stuffed skins again. I don’t make them a lot because it does take a bit more effort than my usual one pan, easy weeknight dinners. But when I do make them, I’m reminded of how amazing they are and that they are definitely worth every bit of extra effort. (Side note: these are nice to put together ahead of time and then pop them in the oven when needed.)

These stuffed sweet potato skins also make wonderful, crowd pleasing appetizers, but we like to pile the pork sky high, add some fresh homemade guacamole or avocado slices and eat them as a complete, nutritious and healthy dinner.

In our opinion, having a good BBQ sauce takes these stuffed sweet potatoes from great to amazing so make sure you have a good BBQ sauce that you really like. As for us, we adore our healthy, homemade BBQ sauce (we could lick it by the spoonful) and think it totally makes these sweet potato skins.

BBQ Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Makes 8 stuffed sweet potatoes skins

Ingredients:

2 – 3 lb pork roast or loin

½ cup chicken stock or water

4 large sweet potatoes

4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

½ cup BBQ sauce + some more for topping (THIS is our very favorite BBQ sauce recipe)

1 red onion, sliced

1- 2 tablespoons fat of choice (like coconut oil or butter)

salt and pepper, to taste

Optional ingredients: ½ cup of your favorite cheese (we use a raw milk sharp cheddar), extra BBQ sauce, guacamole, avocado slices, cilantro or parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Put your pork in a slow cooker along with the ½ cup of chicken stock or water. Salt and pepper, to taste. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

When the pork is done cooking, shred it with 2 forks and then add in the ½ cup of BBQ sauce. Stir until combined.

Preheat your oven to 400.

Bake your sweet potatoes until soft, about 40 minutes (or longer depending on their size).

Once they are cool enough to handle, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop the insides out in a bowl. Make sure to leave a small bit of sweet potato still in the skins. Salt and pepper the sweet potato mash and stir to combine. Set the mash aside.

Take all the potato skins and place them on a greased cookie sheet, cut side down. Brush the skins with oil or butter and sprinkle some more salt and pepper on them. Bake for 13 – 15 minutes.

When the skins are in the oven crisping up, caramelize your sliced onions by adding them to a skillet with 1 tablespoon fat of choice (I use butter or ghee) over medium low heat. Cook until caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside.

Once the potato skins come out of the oven, flip them over and fill each skin with about 2 tablespoons of the sweet potato mash. You will most likely have some sweet potato mash left over. That’s ok – just put it in the fridge and use it another day (for smoothies, as a side for lunch, etc.). Then pile on the BBQ pork. Next, add ½ piece of bacon per skin. Next add your caramelized onions. Top with 1 Tablespoon cheese per skin if you are using cheese.

Pop them back in the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Once they come out of the oven, top with a dollop of extra BBQ sauce and then top with any extra toppings you wish. Enjoy!