These veggie-packed twice-baked sweet potatoes get a Thai twist that I know your taste buds will love! Nutrient-dense sweet potatoes are filled with steamed broccoli, protein-rich tofu or shredded chicken, and scallions, seasoned with garlic, ginger, pepper, and a pinch of salt, then drizzled with a perfectly sweet-yet-savory peanut sauce. Move over take-out!

The first time I had Thai food was in college. All my friends raved about pad thai and basil garlic chicken, but it wasn’t until someone mentioned “peanut sauce” that I was sold. I fully admit to having a peanut butter addiction, putting it on almost every breakfast, snack, and dessert item that I can think of, so realizing peanut butter can also be a dinner food was life-changing. Unfortunately, I could never replicate the peanut sauce at home. I don’t know how many recipes my mom and I went through and could never get it just right. The sauces either ended up overly peanut buttery (until that moment I didn’t know there was such a thing as “too much” peanut butter), overly salty, or overly just odd from the fish sauce.

For a few years I gave up on my quest, resigning to the idea of peanut sauce as a restaurant-only food. Then, the mom of one of our close friends introduced me to the best peanut sauce I have yet to come by. Seriously, this stuff is so addicting. The secret? Hot water. After making the recipe many times, the only changes I like to make are adding ground ginger and using chunky peanut butter (make sure to use natural peanut butter!).

After peanut butter, sweet potatoes have to be one of my favorite foods. They are jam-packed with vitamin A (almost 100% of your daily needs in 1 sweet potato), vitamin C, and many of the B vitamins, as well as filling fiber. Plus, just like peanut butter, they can be sweet or savory. In college, most of my meals started with sweet potato as the base then I’d layer on any leftover or frozen vegetables, some type of sauce (usually salsa or BBQ), leftover chicken or beans, and a sprinkle of cheese. Then bam – you have a healthy dinner that is budget friendly and delicious.

When putting together this recipe, I used that same college formula for a balanced meal: sweet potato base as my carbohydrate + veggies (scallions and broccoli) + protein (tofu or you can use chicken) + healthy fat (peanut butter). I also made this recipe after work one night, so I did a combination of microwave and oven cooking to speed things up, but if you have more time at night definitely make the whole recipe in the oven as I feel sweet potatoes taste so much sweeter when baked rather than nuked.

So here’s a toast to eating peanut butter at every meal 😉

Print Recipe

Thai Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Peanut Sauce

These veggie-packed twice-baked sweet potatoes get a Thai twist that I know your taste buds will love! Nutrient-dense sweet potatoes are filled with steamed broccoli, protein-rich tofu or shredded chicken, and scallions, seasoned with garlic, ginger, pepper, and a pinch of salt, then drizzled with a perfectly sweet-yet-savory peanut sauce. Move over take-out!

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time50 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: Healthy, Peanut Butter, Sweet Potato, Vegetarian

Servings: 4

Author: The Healthy Toast

Ingredients

For the Sweet Potatoes

• 4 medium sweet potatoes
• 4 scallions
• 1 head broccoli
• 4 Tbs plain Greek yogurt
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp ginger powder
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 Lime for garnish

For the Protein

• 1 package very firm tofu OR 1 lb chicken breasts if short on time you could even use a rotisserie chicken
• 1 tsp Thai garlic chili paste

For the Peanut Sauce

• ¼ cup chunky peanut butter natural only i.e. ingredients should only be peanuts and salt
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 and ½ tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp garlic powder or 1 tsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• Pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Wash and dry sweet potatoes; then, using a fork, prick sweet potatoes. If baking sweet potatoes in the oven, preheat to 400°F. When oven is pre-heated, bake for 45-60 minutes, or until soft. If you are short on time, place sweet potatoes in the microwave (I did two at a time) and cook 5-7 minutes, or until soft. Set aside.
• While sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare your protein.
• If using tofu, drain and press tofu for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes. Heat skillet to medium-high heat and coat with olive oil cooking spray. Cut tofu into small 1-inch cubes and toss with Thai garlic chili sauce. Pour into skillet and cook until browned on all sides (about 10 minutes).
• If using chicken, place in saucepan and pour water to cover. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Shred cooked chicken then toss with 1 tsp Thai garlic chili paste.
• While protein is cooking, steam broccoli then chop into small florets. Place broccoli in large mixing bowl.
• Dice the white ends of the scallions and place in bowl with broccoli. Save the green ends of the scallions for garnish later.
• When the sweet potatoes are done cooking and have cooled a bit, cut in half length-wise and scoop out the insides, being careful not to tear the skin. Place flesh of the sweet potato in the mixing bowl along with the broccoli and scallions. Add in Greek yogurt, ground ginger and garlic, and then salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. At this point, make sure to taste your mixture, and adjust seasonings as needed.
• Finally, add in your protein to the mixture. If using tofu, gently fold it into the mixture. Scoop filling back into the sweet potato skins (you may have some left over).
• Place sweet potatoes back in the oven for 10 minutes or microwave for an additional 3 minutes.
• While the stuffed sweet potatoes cook, whisk together ingredients for the peanut sauce.
• Once the sweet potatoes are done, remove from oven and plate. Drizzle each sweet potato half with peanut sauce and garnish with green scallions and lime juice. Enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition per 2 sweet potato halves (with tofu): 300 calories, 13-g fat, 2-g saturated fat, 29-g carbohydrate, 6-g fiber, 7-g sugar, 18-g protein
With chicken: 375 calories, 9-g fat, 1-g saturated fat, 26-g carbohydrate, 5-g fiber, 7-g sugar, 37-g protein