Healthy Sweet Potato Skins
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Published Oct 15, 2018, Updated Oct 29, 2024
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These healthy sweet potato skins are crispy and loaded with cheesy, smoky flavor! No one will guess that they are plant-based.
While I’m not a huge football fan, Isaac is obsessed with it, and every Sunday from September through February is basically Football Day in our house. I started playing fantasy football over the past few years and that’s helped me to care a little more, but in general, the best part of sports for me – especially football – is the snacks that I get to enjoy while “watching” the game.
And football definitely wins for the best tailgating/game-day food. I love making my air fryer chicken wings, a big pot of healthy turkey chili (or my vegetarian chili) to serve up with tortilla chips, my healthy guacamole and a little black bean dip… give me all the game day snacks!
That’s where these potato skins come in… they’re my new favorite game day snack!
Traditionally, potato skins are made with white potatoes and they are loaded with sour cream, cheese, and bacon… aka lots of calories and not really my vibe. To this point, I don’t think I’ve had potato skins since high school, but oh man… one bite of these sweet potato skins and I was quickly reminded how good they are.
Here’s What You Need
- sweet potatoes – try to pick 5 sweet potatoes that are similar in size and weight so that they cook evenly! We’ll be using baked sweet potatoes as the base of this recipe.
- olive oil – you’ll need some to cook the tempeh in as well as to coat the sweet potato skins.
- sea salt and ground pepper – spices to elevate the flavor!
- Lightlife Organic Smoky Tempeh Bacon – packed with protein and a savory yet sweet flavor, Lightlife Organic Smoky Tempeh is a great go-to bacon alternative.
- dairy-free cheddar cheese – I have really been enjoying Chao Creamery. If you’re intolerant to dairy, I know how hard it is to say farewell to cheese. Thankfully, the dairy-free cheese world has come a long way over the past 5-10 years!
- scallions – you’ll only be needing the green part!
- cashew sour cream – you can make your own cashew sour cream or use store-bought. Make sure its dairy-free if necessary!
For these healthy potato skins, I decided to use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes because I find sweet potatoes to have a few extra nutrients and they’re sweeter! They’re a great source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
But honestly, I have never met a potato I didn’t like, especially when they’re crisped to perfection. When I was growing up, my favorite side dish was skillet fried potatoes that my mom would serve with beans (topped with ketchup) and cornbread… aka all the carbs!
These babies are plant-based, so I’m using tempeh bacon, dairy-free cheese and cashew sour cream. They’re so delicious, we’ve even been eating them cold this past week… they’re that good. 😉
Is it Easy to Cook With Tempeh?
If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I have a ton of tempeh recipes. People are often intimidated by tempeh until they actually prepare it, but there’s nothing to be worried about. It’s actually one of the easiest proteins to work with! That being said, how you prep your tempeh makes a huge difference – and marinating is the way to go! But that takes time and a little prep – that’s where the organic smoky tempeh strips from Lightlife come in. It already has a sauce so it’s ready to heat – and eat – and it is delicious! No prep is required other than to throw it in the pan and warm it up.
Tempeh was actually the first product Lightlife came out with when the brand was founded in 1979. They’ve had almost 40 years to perfect it and you can tell. The Tempeh Bacon works great for vegan breakfast sandwiches, breakfast bakes, main dishes and as a topping for salads. I use it for my vegan cobb salad and it’s so good!
The next star of the show is the homemade cashew sour cream. If you are vegan or intolerant to dairy and have been missing your sour cream, please make this. It’s so simple to make, so creamy and has only five ingredients. I feel like I’ll need to have this on hand throughout the winter to use on top of soup. It’s perfect crumbled on my sweet potato soup.
More Sweet Potato Recipes to Try
- Black Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Frittata
- Easy Classic Sweet Potato Casserole
- Baked Sweet Potato Chips
- Black Bean Sweet Potato Burgers
- 5-Ingredient Sweet Potato Curry
- Sweet Potato Nachos
Be sure to check out my full collection of healthy game day snacks.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Healthy Sweet Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 5 small-medium sweet potatoes
- 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt, to taste
- ground pepper, to taste
- ½ package Lightlife Smoky Tempeh Strips
- 1½ cups dairy-free cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup chopped scallions, green part only
- ½ cup cashew sour cream, or store-bought dairy-free sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash, scrub and dry sweet potatoes. Use a fork to poke several holes in each and place the potatoes on a baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until potatoes are tender and a fork easily pokes through the skin/flesh. Remove potatoes from the oven and let cool.
- While potatoes are baking, make the cashew sour cream if you haven't already and cook your tempeh bacon as well. Place a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, add about 1 teaspoon of olive oil and cook tempeh strips for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until crisp. Let cool before cutting or crumbling the strips into tiny bacon bits.
- Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, carefully cut each lengthwise in half and scoop out all but ¼ inch of flesh to create the sweet potato skins. Coat each skin (on both sides) with a little olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Place skins flesh side up on the same baking sheet.
- Turn heat on the oven up to 450°F and bake skins, flesh side up for 10 minutes, flip potato skins and bake for another 15 minutes. At this point, your potato skins should be turning golden brown and getting a little crisp on the outside.
- Flip skins and add cheese and tempeh bacon bits to the cavity of each. Turn heat on the oven to broil and place the potato skins back into the oven until the cheese melts, about 2 minutes or so.
- Remove skins from the oven and once cool enough to handle, top with chilled cashew sour cream (spoon it on or drizzle it on) and fresh scallions. Enjoy right away!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
wow, great, the food seems very attractive. This is the first time I know this item. You are very creative. Especially with my favorite cheese and ingredients. I will do it. thank you for sharing
I can’t wait to try these! I just made a double batch of your tempheh bacon this weekend!
Ahhh!!! Perfect timing. You’re going to love these, Courtney!
These are such a great idea!! I’m not really a football fan but I feel like these would be great football snacks 😉 haha
I feel like you and I are in the same boat!! 🙂