This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy.
These Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes are a favorite dinner recipe! Stuffed with tender chicken and topped with a quick guacamole, they’re so healthy and insanely full of flavor. Whole30 and paleo, these stuffed sweet potatoes are filling, full of protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
These Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes have become an all-time reader favorite since they’ve been published, for every reason imaginable. Filling, super healthy sweet potatoes are stuffed with an easy Mexican shredded chicken made easily in the Instant Pot, and the whole thing is topped with a really exceptional guacamole. Here’s how it goes:
Blend up an avocado with some cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, and a couple of other simple ingredients to make a positively delicious, potentially life-changing green sauce. Easy, right? Then, instead of chopping red onions, squeezing just the right amount of lime juice, dicing tomatoes, and all the other hands-on tasks for a traditional guacamole, you simply stir that green sauce into more avocados to make my favorite guac of all time. Spoon it generously over these Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes and ding. dong.
Why This Recipe Is So Good
- They come together easily, using the Instant Pot to quickly and perfectly cook the chicken. You can use the Instant Pot for the sweet potatoes, too! Or just bake them in the oven.
- The combination of flavors is just right: sweet and spicy and creamy and rich and bright, thanks to the stuffed sweet potatoes, salsa-cooked chicken, easy guacamole, and extra salsa.
- These stuffed sweet potatoes are super healthy, full of fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Macros √
- They’re totally Whole30 and will become a staple on any Whole30 you do. Pinky promise!
My relationship with the Instant Pot didn’t get off to a running start, not exactly.
I started slowly, making terrible, watery curries and hating it. But then, all of a sudden, it kind of clicked. The weather was getting warmer, and I stopped obsessing over how long it took to get to manual pressure. I improvised a garlic-rosemary pork tenderloin in the IP, and what resulted was better than any filet I’d ever had. The kitchen didn’t heat up, there was one dish to clean, and best of all… I could quite literally set it and forget it.
Consider me fully converted, join the cult, sign me up, where’s the Kool-Aid, DONE.
But, of course, you all already know this, right? Because I’m always late to the party, always showing up in 2001 wearing jelly sandals asking, “What? Just me?” Always “discovering” sweet potato toast like 300,000 pins late. That’s just my style, and I’m trying to embrace it.
Chicken + taco seasoning + a can of tomatoes and green chiles + Instant Pot = perfection.
Variations
- Stir together some mayonnaise and adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers and drizzle your chipotle mayo on top of the stuffed sweet potatoes. If you’re on a Whole30, you might have to use chipotle pepper powder instead; it can be hard to find Whole30 compliant chipotle peppers.
- Swap sweet potatoes for Russet potatoes for a stuffed potato taco!
- Make the Mexican shredded chicken in the slow cooker: combine all ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Proceed with the recipe as written.
- Use pico de gallo from the prepared foods section (Or make it yourself!) for a super fresh topping on these stuffed sweet potatoes.
How to make it
Of course, stuffed sweet potatoes always start with super tender sweet potatoes. Make sure they’re really soft and totally cooked through.
Combine chicken breasts with a can of tomatoes and green chiles plus a bit of taco seasoning. Seal your Instant Pot and cook Manual High Pressure 20 minutes. Quick Release, then remove chicken breasts from Instant Pot and shred. Return shredded chicken to Instant Pot and cook on Sauté mode, stirring, until sauce is absorbed, a few minutes.
Make the avocado-jalapeño green sauce: blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender.
Make your quick guacamole: mash together a bit of the green sauce with a couple of avocados and salt.
Assemble everything: slice the sweet potatoes down the middle and press ends in to open. Top with shredded chicken, lots of guacamole, a little extra green sauce (It’s spicy!), and more garnishes, like more tomatoes with green chiles or other salsa, freshly chopped cilantro, and jalapeños.
Other Whole30 recipes you’ll love:
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla-Less Soup
- Chilaquiles with Sweet Potatoes
- Loaded Sweet Potato Fries
- Chipotle Beef and Avocado Bowls
Whole30 Instant Pot Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Food processor
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potatoes
- 4 medium sweet potatoes scrubbed
- 1 ½ cups water
For the Chicken
- 2 chicken breasts 1-1 ½ pounds depending on size
- 1 10-ounce can tomatoes with green chiles undrained, any variety
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
For the Avocado-Jalapeño Sauce
- 1 avocado peeled and seeded
- 1 jalapeño stemmed
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ cup water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Guacamole
- 2 avocados halved, pitted
- ¼ cup avocado-jalapeño sauce
- salt
For Garnish
- jalapeños sliced thin
- fresh cilantro
- salsa or more tomatoes with green chiles drained
- red onion chopped
Instructions
- See Notes for sweet potato and chicken cooking instructions if you do not have an Instant Pot. You can also bake your sweet potatoes in the oven while you cook the chicken in the Instant Pot to save time if you like.
- Cook your sweet potatoes: Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork. Place steaming trivet in the bottom of Instant Pot pot then pour 1 1/2 cups water in the pot. Place sweet potatoes on trivet then secure the lid and cook on Manual, high pressure for 16 minutes. Quick release pressure and remove sweet potatoes from trivet. Set aside. Discard steaming water and rinse the cooking pot, making sure outside is very dry.
- Make your shredded chicken: combine chicken breasts, taco seasoning, and can of tomatoes with green chiles (undrained) in the pot of an Instant Pot. Do not add water. Secure lid and cook on Manual, high pressure for 20 minutes. Quick release pressure and remove chicken breasts from the pot. Shred with two forks then return to pot. Stir on Sauté mode a few minutes until sauce is absorbed.
- Meanwhile, make your sauce: combine all avocado-jalapeño sauce ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.
- Make the guacamole: mash avocados and stir in avocado-jalapeño sauce.
- To serve: with a knife, make a slit down the top of each sweet potato and press sweet potatoes end's toward the center to push open. Top with shredded chicken, guacamole, avocado-jalapeño sauce, salsa or more tomatoes with green chiles, and garnishes. Serve immediately.
Video
- If you don’t have an Instant Pot, follow these instructions to bake your sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400º F. Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork then place directly on the oven rack in the middle position. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Remove sweet potatoes from oven and set aside.
- To make chicken in a slow cooker instead of an Instant Pot: In the pot of a slow-cooker, combine all ingredients. Do not add water. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or cook on high for 4 to 6 hours. After about 3/4 of the time, shred the chicken breasts with two forks and leave in the slow-cooker for the rest of the time.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
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.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
Never Miss A Meal!
New Recipes Straight To Your Inbox
A curated selection of our most recent recipes, delivered straight to your inbox once a week.
Leave A Review
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
So good!! Thanks for the recipe! One question though.. what do you do with the leftover sauce since you are only using 1/4 cup for the guacamole? Can you freeze it?
Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked it! Drizzle the rest of the sauce on top of the sweet potatoes 🙂 It’s amazing!
I made these and I have to say it’s filling, tasty, and quick to make. I don’t have an instapot (yet) but the crockpot is just as good for times like these.
I’m so glad you liked them! And great to know it worked well in the slow cooker for you 🙂
I made these the other night with slow cooker and oven since I didn’t have an instant pot and they were amazing! I got an instant pot today and tried it. The potatoes didn’t cook all the way through though. I’m new to instant-potting, how do you gauge how much longer to throw them in for?
Yay! Try adding 2 minutes on to the cooking time of your sweet potatoes – they vary so widely in size but 18 minutes has worked for even my largest sweet potatoes. I’m so glad you liked it, and congrats on the Instant Pot, ha!
I think I love you! This dish was AMAZ-A-LICIOUS! My new word…it totally fits here. I didn’t use my IP as I had leftover Sam’s chicken. Nuked the potatoes, made the avocado jalapeno sauce. Didnt have fresh cilantro. Tray of frozen worked perfectly! How did you come up with this? And then made the guac. Then I combined the chicken, rotel and taco seasoning and nuked it for 5 minutes. So, so, so good. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you SO much Terri! I think I love you too! I’m loving hearing about all your awesome shortcuts that still came out beautifully. I’m so glad you liked it, and thank you for coming back to let me know! 😀
I made mine with rabbit. I went out back, butchered a rabbit, threw it in the instant pot on high pressure for 45 minutes. I opened it, picked out the bones, stirred in seasoning and then put the steamer over the meat and put the sweet potatoes in and did another 16 minutes. Everything else I did according to the recipe. Rabbit is healthier than chicken and easier to digest. Took a healthy recipe and made it healthier.
Wow! That’s very interesting, Hannah. I’m so glad it worked for you! <3
My husband is sensitive to red tomatoes, although he’s usually ok with yellow tomatoes. I’d like to make this, so thinking of just using fresh yellow tomatoes in place of the Ro-Tel. Do you think they would produce enough liquid for the insta pot (I actually have a Breville slow/fast cooker)?
Hi, what size is the RO*TEL can?
Hi Mary, the standard 10-ounce RO*TEL can is great!
Made these tonight as my first instapot recipe. Delicious!!! Not only did my husband keep saying “so good” after every bite, but my kids also ate them. Win!
Yay! Husband AND kid approved? That’s near miracle status, Randi! I’m so, so glad you liked them, and thank you so much for coming back to let me know 🙂 Enjoy your Instant Pot – I’m positively obsessed with mine!
Could you possibly cook the sweet potatoes on a trivet above the chicken? So they can cook at the same time? I’m new to instant pot, so not sure if 20mins might be too long for the potatoes.
I think that could work, Melany! My only concern would be making sure the sweet potatoes are very, very well scrubbed first. And they might taste a bit like RO*TEL after, but since you’re covering them with chicken anyway, I don’t think it’ll matter much! Let me know if you try it and how it goes 🙂
Do you dump out the water used to cook the sweet potatoes before putting the chicken in? Or does the chicken cook in the sweet potato water?
Oh, good catch! Yes, you do dump out the water used to steam the sweet potatoes before cooking the chicken.