Sweet Potato Whole30 Breakfast Bowl
Posted: 07/24/17
Updated: 07/25/22
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This sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl is the perfect Whole30 breakfast: quick and easy, a bit naturally sweet, packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats. It’s strangely delicious, considering how simple of a recipe it is! This sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl uses a banana and a couple eggs to generate some serious staying power, and you’ll love how quickly this Whole30 breakfast bowl comes together. Super versatile, too!
The Problem
When I did my first Whole30 about a year ago, there just weren’t the options that there are now. I found one non-savory breakfast, a pumpkin-egg custard bake sort of thing, and clung to it with dear life, even though I didn’t even really like it. But when I searched for “Whole30 breakfasts” on Pinterest?
Eggs. Sausage. Bacon. Brussels sprouts. More eggs, more veggies, more bacon. EVEN MORE EGGS.
These days, it seems easier to find naturally sweet Whole30-approved breakfasts. No sugar added, of course, but sweet potatoes are still fair game, y’all! My Whole30 sweet potato breakfast bake is a favorite of mine and 40 Aprons readers, along with my Whole30 breakfast sandwiches (affectionately referred to as Whole30 McGriddles, because I apparently love giving virgin recipes SWYPO titles) and my Whole30 carrot cake breakfast bake.
But, Wait. You Just Said…
OK, yes. There’s eggs in all of these dishes, including the one I’m sharing with you today. But these eggs don’t quite provoke the Oh-God-not-again reaction that a savory, bacon and veggie laden casserole does. When faced with the idea of fried eggs and veggies vs. no breakfast at all, I hate to admit that I’ve chosen the latter a few more times than Melissa or Dallas would approve of.
Back when I did my first round, I tried mashing a few ingredients together to satisfy that need in the morning to fill up with food that would stick without having to load up on meats, green veggies, and fried or fluffy eggs. I let Leo try some, and he kind of loved it… I have proof.
For me? Savory in the morning just doesn’t work every day. And I don’t think that, as humans, we were noshing on wooly mammoth and only wooly mammoth don’t even think about those berries, dammit Cheryl!, each morning. We were probably picking at fruits and nuts and seeds, things like that. Right?
I’m telling myself that, at least. Feel free to join me.
Why This Recipe Works
So, while I don’t exactly love a savory start to my morning every single day, I still want to ensure I’m loading up on the Whole30 essentials: fiber, protein, and healthy fats. And this sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl?
Check, check, and CHECK.
Winner, winner, more free-range, antibiotic-free, pasture-raised chicken for dinner! With, hm, a side of cauliflower rice, a sliced avocado, and more sweet potato? I know you well, Whole30; I know you well.
This sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl has, in fact, a secret weapon that might make you groan/close your browser tab/hate me, but hear me out! It’s secret for a reason…
eggs.
The Secret Ingredient
In this sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl, you mash a banana with a piping hot sweet potato and a couple eggs, cooking the egg with the heat of the tuber. Stir in a bit of cinnamon, a pinch of sea salt, and a tablespoon of ghee, then top it with fruits, nuts, nut butters, and seeds worthy of the most glorious smoothie bowl and poof. You’re full for hours, loaded with fiber, protein, and healthy fats, and those secret weapon eggs weren’t even a blip on your radar.
The beautiful thing about this sweet potato Whole30 breakfast bowl is that you can bake, steam, or pressure cook several sweet potatoes in advance, then reheat them in the morning to make this Whole30 breakfast bowl fresh. I can only eat about half of this recipe, making it perfect to share, but it also works beautifully as leftovers.
With about 11 grams of fiber and nearly 22 grams of protein in the entire recipe, it’s a versatile dish that’s easy to make and absolutely delish. And the reason I’m posting this recipe now and not a little deeper into cooler weather? I simply can’t get over how perfect the spiced sweet potato mixture is with fresh cherries – the slight tartness, the firm texture, the rich and natural sweetness. Ugh!
It’s kind of Whole30 summer perfection. Come fall? Try sautéed apples and raisins or no-sugar-added dried cranberries, maybe even pomegranate arils or figs.
More Incredible Breakfasts You’ll Love Waking Up To
- Whole30 Breakfast Meal Prep
- Air Fryer Hashbrowns
- Egg Roll in a Bowl Meal Prep (Whole30, Paleo, Keto)
- Breakfast Egg Roll in a Bowl (Whole30, Paleo)
- 15 Whole30 Breakfast Ideas
- Instant Pot Scrambled Eggs
Sweet Potato Whole30 Breakfast Bowl
Quick and easy, a bit sweet (naturally), and packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats. It's a simple, satisfying, and delicious Whole30 breakfast.
breakfast bowls
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl
Suggested Toppings (All Optional)
- fruit cherries, figs, blueberries, or sautéed apples
- dried fruit dried cherries, raisins, blueberries, or no-sugar-added dried cranberries
- nuts slivered almonds, walnuts, or pecans
- nut butter almond butter or sun butter
- seeds pepitas, chia seeds, or hemp seeds
- cacao nibs
- unsweetened flake coconut
- coconut cream
Equipment
- equipment of choice to cook sweet potato see Notes for methods
- Large bowl
- Whisk
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Large spoon
- potato masher or fork
Instructions
- Cook sweet potato using desired method (see Notes below). Sweet potato must be very hot in order to cook eggs.
- While sweet potato cooks, crack eggs into large bowl. Whisk eggs together vigorously until mixture is pale in color and no longer streaky. Set aside.
- Carefully transfer cooked, hot sweet potato to cutting board. Working quickly, slice skin of sweet potato open and peel away as much skin as possible. Scoop flesh of sweet potato out of skin and add to bowl with whisked eggs.
- Quickly mash sweet potato and eggs together until sweet potato is smooth and mixture is fully, thoroughly combined. Continue mashing another 30 to 60 seconds more, until eggs are no longer glossy. This indicates eggs are cooked and safe to eat.
- Add banana, ghee, cinnamon, and sea salt to bowl. Mash all ingredients together until fully combined. Mixture should be very smooth. Taste and adjust cinnamon and sea salt as desired.
- Divide sweet potato mixture into 2 equal portions. Top each portion with desired toppings and serve warm.
Notes
- The sweet potato MUST be very hot in order to cook the eggs. If you’re not cooking the sweet potato immediately before prepping your breakfast bowl, reheat the potato in the microwave until it’s hot.
- Since the sweet potato needs to be hot when it’s added to the eggs, you’ll need to work very quickly so it doesn’t cool too much. Use potholders as needed to safely handle the hot sweet potato as you work with it.
Methods for Cooking Sweet Potatoes
- How to Microwave a Sweet Potato (6 minutes)
- Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes (30 minutes)
- Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes (30 minutes)
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1breakfast bowl, Calories: 251kcal, Carbohydrates: 28g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 205mg, Sodium: 130mg, Potassium: 520mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 10363IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 55mg, Iron: 1mg, Net Carbs: 24g
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
This was great! I added orange juice to the sweet potato to sweeten it a little. Also, just a note, cranberries are legumes and technically not allowed with whole30 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! But, fresh cranberries are Whole30-approved, since they’re fruits. Cranberry beans are the legumes, but they’re not related to cranberries.
I’m confused how this recipe is 20g carbs per serving before adding the toppings…the sweet potato would have to weigh only 60g…mine are weighing 325-425g each. Are you using verrrrry small sweet potatoes?? Curious because we need to keep breakfast at 20g carbs or less and I was excited about this one until I added everything up and just can’t figure how it’s only 20g carbs. 🙁
Hi, Gretchen! So, the macro amount for an ingredient is different than the weight of an ingredient. This resource might make it more clear: https://www.avatarnutrition.com/blog/flexible-dieting/guide-to-measuring-with-grams
For example, a sweet potato weighing 100 grams contains roughly 20 grams of carbs. In this recipe, we use a sweet potato that weighs approximately 5 ounces, or around 142 grams. For a sweet potato that weighs 142 grams, the carb count is around 29 grams.
Keep in mind, too, that 29 grams is the carb count for the whole 5-ounce sweet potato. This recipe yields 2 breakfast bowls, so you would only be consuming half that amount of carbs from the sweet potato. Don’t forget to also factor in the carbs from the banana.
To get our nutrition calculations you see on the recipe card, our calculator adds the information for all the ingredients used in the recipe (excluding the optional ingredients) and then divides those totals by the number of servings the recipe yields. These calculations are approximate and the exact macros will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use, the size and weight of your ingredients, etc.
It sounds like you’re on a fairly strict protocol here, so I would highly recommend you download an app that will allow you to input your specific ingredients and calculate the macros for the breakfast bowl you’d be eating. LoseIt is my personal favorite, though I’ve heard great things about Cronometer, and used MyFitnessPal for a while years ago. Also, Whole30 isn’t really a low carb way-of-eating by any means, so you might have better luck finding meals that work for your needs by looking at keto and low carb recipes instead. You can find all our keto recipes here: https://40aprons.com/recipes/dietary-concern/keto/
I hope this helps!
I was really looking forward to this recipe, but I think I may have messed up… I cooked 2 large sweet potatoes in the instant pot and I don’t think they’re cooked all the way through… I already added the egg. What can i do from here?
Hey Katie, we’re sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you. In this instance, you should continue cooking the sweet potatoes until they’re fork tender in the middle. You could put your cooked egg in a bowl and cover with foil to try and keep it warm until it’s time to serve. In the future, stick with one sweet potato as stated in the recipe to ensure it’s cooked evenly. Hope this helps!
Day 4 of 100% Paleo. I love this recipe. It’s easy to make and the sweet potato/egg part can be made ahead then reheated.
I am going to try replacing the banana with avocado next time!
Congrats on embracing Paleo! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Avocado sounds like a delicious addition!