Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet (One Pan, 35 Minutes, 36g Protein)

This ground turkey sweet potato skillet is the one-pan dinner I lean on hardest from October through March: cubes of sweet potato get a head start in olive oil until their edges caramelize, lean ground turkey browns with onion and bell pepper, then chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika, a can of black beans and two big handfuls of spinach go in before a blanket of sharp cheddar melts over the top. Thirty-five minutes, one cast iron skillet, 36g of protein a serving. It is the fall cousin of my ground turkey taco skillet and a faster, dinner-sized version of the sweet potato chicken chili so many of you make — and like the new healthy turkey chili I posted today, it reheats even better than it starts.

Save recipes like this straight from TikTok and plan your week in minutes with RecipeLoop, the free AI meal planner.

Why this ground turkey sweet potato skillet works on a weeknight.

• The sweet potatoes cook first, alone, in the hot pan. The mistake in most ground turkey and sweet potato skillet recipes is adding everything at once, which steams the potatoes into mush before the turkey browns. Giving the diced sweet potato 8 minutes on its own in olive oil means it ends up tender in the middle with caramelized edges, and the pan is already seasoned with that flavor when the turkey goes in.
• Ground turkey is actually seasoned properly. Lean turkey is a blank canvas, so it needs salt, fat and a real spoonful of spice. Browning it hard with onion and bell pepper, then blooming chili powder, cumin and smoked paprika right in the pan, gives it the savory depth people usually assume only beef has. Nobody has ever asked me if this was turkey.
• It is a complete meal in one skillet. Protein, a slow carb, two vegetables, fiber from the black beans and a little cheddar to tie it together — nothing else needs to be cooked. That is the whole appeal of high protein one pan dinners like my Philly cheesesteak skillet and egg roll in a bowl, and this one has the most fiber of the bunch.

Here's what you'll need.

Fourteen ingredients, most of them already in your kitchen: ground turkey, sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, yellow onion, garlic, a can of black beans, baby spinach, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, olive oil, shredded cheddar, cilantro and a lime.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — Start the sweet potatoes.

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add the diced sweet potato with a pinch of salt, spread it in a single layer and cook, stirring every couple of minutes, for 8 to 10 minutes until the cubes are browned at the edges and just tender when pierced. Scoop them onto a plate.

STEP 2 — Brown the turkey with the onion and pepper.

Add the ground turkey, onion and bell pepper to the same skillet. Break the turkey up with a spatula and cook 6 to 7 minutes, until no pink remains and the bottom of the pan picks up some browned bits. Stir in the garlic for the last 30 seconds.

STEP 3 — Bloom the spices.

Sprinkle the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt and pepper over the turkey and stir for a full minute so the spices toast in the fat. This is the step that makes the whole skillet taste like it simmered for an hour instead of 10 minutes.

STEP 4 — Add the beans and sweet potatoes.

Stir in the drained black beans and return the sweet potatoes to the skillet with 1/4 cup water to loosen the browned bits. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes until everything is hot and the sweet potatoes are fully tender.

STEP 5 — Wilt in the spinach.

Pile the baby spinach on top — it looks like too much, it is not — and fold it in a handful at a time until it wilts, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt and a squeeze of lime.

STEP 6 — Melt the cheddar.

Scatter the cheddar evenly over the top, cover the skillet with a lid for 2 minutes until it melts (or slide it under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes for a bubbly top). Finish with cilantro and lime wedges and serve right from the pan.

If one-pan dinners that quietly hit 35g of protein are how you want to eat, there are dozens of skillets like this one in the Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Dice the sweet potato small — 1/2 inch. Smaller cubes cook through in 10 minutes and get more caramelized surface. Big chunks will still be hard when the turkey is done, and you will end up overcooking everything else waiting for them.
• Use 93/7 ground turkey, not 99% lean. The little bit of fat in 93% turkey is what lets it brown and keeps the skillet from tasting dry. Extra-lean turkey works, but add an extra tablespoon of olive oil and do not cook it past just-done.
• Do not rinse away the browned bits. The fond on the bottom of the pan after the turkey browns is flavor. The 1/4 cup of water in step 4 lifts it up and coats the beans and sweet potatoes.
• Skip the cheese or swap it. For dairy-free, leave off the cheddar and finish with avocado and extra lime. Pepper jack is my favorite swap when I want a little heat.

Why this is one of the easiest high protein dinners I make.

• 36g protein and 9g fiber a serving. Lean ground turkey, black beans and a little sharp cheddar land at 36g protein and 470 calories a generous serving, with enough fiber from the beans and sweet potato to keep you genuinely full — which is exactly what makes it GLP-1 friendly. Plug your numbers into the protein calculator to see how it fits your day.
• It is the best meal prep skillet I know. Unlike pasta or rice dishes, sweet potatoes and beans do not dry out or go gummy after a few days. Portion it into four containers Sunday night and the Wednesday lunch tastes like the Sunday dinner.
• It turns into three other meals. Spoon leftovers into a tortilla with eggs for a breakfast burrito, over greens for a warm salad, or into a baked sweet potato. Or ladle it next to a scoop of the new chicken shawarma bowls salad when you want a cold, crunchy side.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Smashed cucumber salad — something cold and crisp against the warm, spiced skillet
• Cowboy caviar — spoon it over the top for extra crunch and even more fiber
• Roasted cauliflower — an easy second vegetable if you are feeding a crowd
• Air fryer sweet potato fries — for the sweet potato lovers who want more
• Healthy turkey chili — also new today — the same spice jar, a totally different dinner

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Cool and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. It also freezes well for up to 3 months; freeze it before adding the cheese if you can, then add fresh cheddar when you reheat.

Reheating: Warm in a covered skillet over medium heat with a tablespoon of water for 5 minutes, or microwave individual portions for 2 minutes, stirring halfway. Add a fresh squeeze of lime after reheating — it brightens everything back up.

More easy high protein recipes...

Ground turkey taco skillet Sweet potato chicken chili Turkey stuffed peppers Hot honey beef and sweet potato bowls

Also new today: healthy turkey chili — thick, 33g protein a bowl and freezer-friendly — and chicken shawarma bowls with charred yogurt-marinated chicken and garlic sauce.

More one-pan dinners with the protein and fiber built in

If this skillet is your idea of a weeknight dinner, the Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook is full of one-pan meals like it — lean protein, beans and vegetables, big seasoning and very little cleanup.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

Meal-plan the whole week around recipes like this with RecipeLoop — save recipes from anywhere, get a grocery list automatically.