Roast Turkey and Cranberry Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

These Roast Turkey and Cranberry Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are a perfect way to use up leftover turkey and cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving for healthy lunch or light dinner.

So many say that the leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving and I agree. Especially when it comes to pie for breakfast the next day with a hot cup of coffee. But by the time Monday rolls around people are craving healthier foods after a weekend of indulging and these stuffed sweet potatoes are a great way to combine both leftovers and a healthier meal option. Best of both worlds.

There always seems to be an imbalance of leftovers after the holiday, pies tend to go faster than the turkey,  sides don't last as long especially veggies. I love  sweet potatoes, it's something we eat year round. And I also look forward to cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving but I stash a few bags of cranberries in my freezer to make a quick sauce when I am craving a Thanksgiving type meal. The sweet tart cranberry sauce is perfect with the creamy sweet potato and roast turkey.

I made these stuffed sweet potatoes with roasted light meat turkey, dark meat would work fine too. If you are out of turkey from Thanksgiving I included a recipe for roasted turkey breast. I also made a quick cranberry sauce for these in case you have already eaten up all of yours. I can eat cranberry sauce or chutney by the spoonful. It is one of my favorite. I even put it on vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Toasted pecans add a little crunch, and now I sound like I have been watching way too much Food Network cooking shows lately.

The roast turkey and cranberry stuffed sweet potatoeo recipe makes 6 servings, with baking 3 sweet potatoes and using each half for a serving. You can halve the recipe but you will have leftover sweet potato. Which in my opinion is never a bad thing. Sweet potatoes never go to waste in my household.

Roast Turkey and Cranberry Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Shanna

Healthy Roast Turkey and Cranberry Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes. A perfect way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Additional Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 Lbs leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving OR
• For the Turkey:
• 2 lb turkey breast bone in, skin on
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ cup water
• Leftover Cranberry Sauce from Thanksgiving OR
• For the Cranberry Sauce:
• 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• Zest and juice of one large navel orange with water added to the juice to make 1 c total
• ⅓ c pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/ c water
• ⅓ c pecans chopped

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 425 Deg F.
• Scrub the potatoes under cool water and pierce all over with a fork. Wrap in foil and place on a small baking pan
• In a separate baking pan place the turkey breast. Season the turkey with the salt, pepper, garlic, onion and basil. Pour the lemon juice over the turkey breast and add the chicken brother and half of cup of water to the pan. Place the pans of potatoes and turkey into the oven side by side. Roast for 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft and the turkey is at 165 Deg on a meat thermometer. Allow to cool and shred the chicken with a fork or your hands. When the sweet potatoes are done cut in half and allow to cool.
• While the potatoes and turkey are roasting make the cranberry sauce. Place a small saucepan on the stove and add in all of the ingredients except for one half cup of the cranberries. If using fresh cranberries rinse them and pick through to toss out any that are starting to wrinkle then add the remaining to the pan. If using frozen do not thaw, just add to the pan. Stir and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 min or until most of the berries have popped. Add in the remaining berries and let cool.
• Fluff the potato flesh inside the skin with the fork in each potato half and make a well for the turkey. Add in 5 ounces of the turkey and top with 3 tablespoons of the cranberry sauce. Place back in the oven for 5 min to heat up then sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the chopped pecans over the top. Serve warm.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I am now looking forward to Christmas. We already got our Christmas tree and need to get our decorations out of storage. I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.