Buffalo Chicken-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes aka Fully-Loaded CaveYam

Keeping with the theme of appetizers-turned-meals this recipe comes to you courtesy of CB. She's been in my Silly Little LunchClub for a few months now. At first, she provided catchy recipe names, then started contributing recipe reviews and suggestions for minor improvements. Now she's graduated to full-on meal requests, and is getting the hang of paleo-izing her favorite foods.

CB is a fan of televised sports, specifically those of the Notre Dame variety. She's also a sporty-lady in her own right, and plays on a half-dozen recreational sports teams throughout the year. So, she's eaten her fair share of bar foods while cheering her favorite team and celebrating her victories. Buffalo chicken wings and potato skins are natural choices at those events, and combining the two is the obvious next logical step. At least it was for CB. And I agree.

Buffalo Chicken-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

aka Fully-Loaded CaveYam

Doesn't this make you want to yell "touchdown" and spike the keyboard?

Ingredients

5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

8 large (or 15 small) sweet potatoes

1 bottle Buffalo sauce (I like Frank's)

3 heads celery, cut into 4 inch stalks

1 bag baby carrots

6 strips of bacon, diced

1 hand-full of chives, diced

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning to taste

Instructions

Wash and arrange the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 until soft to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool.

Open and arrange chicken thighs on baking sheet.  Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning. I like to use a few healthy pinches of salt and a few good shakes of pepper, then coat the chicken with garlic powder and poultry seasoning.  Bake at 400 degrees until cooked through. About 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

While the sweet potatoes and chicken are baking, cook the diced bacon in a skillet. Remove the cooked bacon from the grease and set aside.

Once the chicken is cool enough to touch, cut it into bite-sized chunks.  Clean the chicken grease off the baking sheet, then return the chunked chicken to the baking sheet.  Pour on the bottle of Buffalo sauce and use your hands to combine, ensuring that all of the chicken chunks are coated with sauce. Return the chicken to the 400 degree oven and bake until the sauce starts to caramelize. About 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.

If you are using large sweet potatoes, cut each in half length-wise and press at the ends to create a void in the middle.  You're trying to make a boat for the chicken.  If you are using small sweet potatoes, slice lengthwise, careful not to slice all the way through. Then press at the ends to create a void.

Scoop the sauced chicken into each sweet potato. Sprinkle with bacon and chives.  Serve with baby carrots and celery stalks.

Makes 15 servings. 

That is 5 CaveBoy servings with 8 oz of chicken, and 10 CaveGirl/CB servings with 4 oz of chicken.