As the summer comes to an end, my hankering for root veggies begins. Sweet potatoes are my favorite because I have a neat hack to cook them. In a microwave. That’s right. What would be 30+ minutes in the oven becomes 6 minutes in the microwave. If you are a new reader to my blog you know I always love to cut corners when possible. Believe it or not I’m just like you – very busy without a lot of time to cook. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is cook dinner. That’s why this recipe is perfect. While the sweet potato is microwaving, the chicken is on the stove. Then you stuff ’em and you’re done!
I also like to meal prep this recipe by doubling it. After cooking I portion my meals by cutting each potato in half and adding another veggie or snack to my packed lunch. Adding a different vegetable helps switch up the meal a bit. So you don’t feel like you’re eating the same lunch everyday. Although for this recipe…I don’t mind! The chicken won’t dry out if you use organic or free range chicken. I find it’s always juicer. That way it doesn’t dry out by your third lunch meal.
Before you scroll and check out the awesome recipe…I have a proposal for you. In exchange for this recipe I ask you to consider sponsoring me in a cause that is incredibly close to my heart…and butt. See, I am a patient advocate for ulcerative colitis. Many of you reading this share a similar journey with Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis. All 1.6 million Americans affected by this disease know how debilitating it can be, how frustrating it is to fail medications, how exhausting it is to manage our symptoms. But we also know how truly amazing it is to meet friends with the same illness. That’s why I’m participating in Spin4 Crohn’s and Colitis Cures. It’s an indoor bike rally in NYC where I will join my team, Stormpoopers, this December. As you know I make $0 off my blog – on purpose! My passion for cooking/writing is a service to our community. So if you’ve been enjoying my posts will you consider sponsoring me with a donation? Consider it a ‘thank you’ and a big help to our community and future cure. You can do so by clicking here. All donations are tax deductible and go directly to Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation; an organization I 100% trust and has provided the Crohn’s and colitis community with patient programs, valuable research, and helpful resources.
Thank you! And here’s your recipe. 
| Servings |
| 4servings |
| Cook Time |
| 15minutes |
|
|
- 1pound skinless chicken breast
- 2whole sweet potatoesmedium size
- salt and pepperto taste, for chicken
- 2tsp olive oilfor cooking
- 1/2cup olive oil
- 1large handful fresh basil leavesabout 2 heaping cups
- 1clove garlic
- 1/4cup walnuts
- First, prep the pesto. Add basil, 1/3 cup olive oil, walnuts, garlic, and salt & pepper to a blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Individually wrap sweet potatoes tightly with plastic wrap. It should completely cover the sweet potato for steaming. Place both sweet potatoes in the microwave for 6 minutes or until soft.
- While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil on medium heat in a large stove-top pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook chicken until done, about 8-10 minutes each side. Let chicken rest.
- Remove potatoes from microwave and let cool before handling. Remove plastic wrap.
- While potatoes cool, shred chicken with forks. Mix in pesto.
- To assemble, slice sweet potatoes longways. Cut about 3/4 through the sweet potato. Do not cut totally in half. Place chicken inside the sweet potato. Mangia!
- Save extra pesto in an airtight glass container. It may brown on top due to the air discoloring the basil - but no fear, it's still perfectly fine.
The sweetness and creamy depth of the potato is the best compliment to an earthy pesto chicken. For my pesto I like to replace pine nuts with walnuts. Have you seen the price of pine nuts? What the? I work in higher education – I’m no Jeff Bezos$$ haha. So anyways, my pesto is simple – huge amount of basil, olive oil, garlic, walnuts (or pine nuts if you are a millionaire, hehe) and salt & pepper. I also have a creamy pesto made with avocado. It’s super delicious in recipes with other bright flavors. You can find it here.
Mangia!