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{Detox} Sweet Potato with Greens

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Sweet potato:

Baked sweet potato with greens

Meet greens:

Baked sweet potato with greens

sweetpotatomeetgreens!

sweet-potato-with-greens (1)

Um…yeah. I just wanted to do that, sorry.

So, this was one of my favorite detox recipes—I think I made it about six times over the course of my cleanse since its introduction during the second week. The cleanse listed this as a breakfast and lunch option, but it’s now become a go-to dinner staple in my routine because I prefer this hearty greens and potato load fresh out of the oven. It’s SO simple (only five or so ingredients) and it can be made in a leisurely fashion (oven) or superfast (microwave).

Baked sweet potato with greens

It’s surprisingly tasty and I say that as someone who glanced at the menu and thought, “onions and Swiss chard? yeah I’ll skip that one.” But when I serendipitously happened to have everything on hand to make them, dinner happened and now I’m a little obsessed.

Baked sweet potato with greens

I also discovered a cool trick to cook these even faster: using baking soda while caramelizing the onion (JUST a pinch!), browns, breaks down and cooks the onion like whoa. It’s crazy fast. You could even cook the onion without oil and with just baking powder, a trick I learned from Susan at Fat Free Vegan.  Warning: go very light on the baking soda. You can always add more. You can’t un-baking soda your onions. I learned the hard way.

Baked sweet potato with greens

So if you like sweet potatoes, caramelized onions and spinach…

Baked sweet potato with greens

…meet your new favorite dinner.

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Sweet Potato with Greens

Soft sweet potato flesh, sweetly caramelized onions and bright, mild greens are totally harmonious in this simple, tasty entrée. I swapped in mix of dirt-cheap collard greens and spinach for the more expensive Swiss chard, but use your greens of preference. This was adapted from Whole Living.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 2 servings
Calories 275kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • ½ tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion sliced thin
  • 1 bunch collard greens washed, stemmed and chopped
  • 1 bunch spinach washed, stemmed and chopped (about 3 cups)
  • salt
  • sliced avocado optional

Instructions

Leisurely oven version:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick sweet potatoes with a fork and bake until tender, about 45 minutes.
  • Slice onion and greens while heating a large pan over medium heat. Add olive oil. Once hot, add onion and cook until slightly caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Add collard greens and spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.
  • Serve potatoes split and topped with a mountain of greens and sliced avocado, if using. More salt, pepper, cayenne or a squeeze of lemon optional.

Quick and dirty microwave version:

  • Stab a sweet potato a few times with a fork and microwave for 2 minutes on high. Check for doneness. If still firm, microwave for another minute until tender.
  • Heat olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and a tiny pinch of baking soda (less than 1/8 teaspoon—this will speed up the cooking process like whoa). Once onions are brown and tender, add greens and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.
  • Serve split potatoes with a mountain of greens and sliced avocado if you want. More salt, pepper, cayenne or a squeeze of lemon optional.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Brandi

    Oh I love sweet potatoes and eat them weekly! This looks really delicious and pretty at the same time. I like to put avocado and nutritional yeast and smoked paprika on mind…weird but delish! I’ll need to try this next time!

  3. Liz Ardell

    You could also cook the sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker, they are so yummy cooked this way, and it only takes 15 minutes.

    • erika

      Thanks Alex! Right?? I’ve only caramelized onions maybe two or three times, but this will make the whole process sooooooo much faster. I’m envisioning caramelized onions everywhere!! 🙂

  8. Leah

    Hahaha, I definitely just got a kick out of your GIF – very nice! This recipe looks great – I love how you provide two diff cooking methods. I’m so excited to try the baking soda tip!!

    • erika

      Lol thanks Leah…I was debating including the gif! And let me know how the baking soda tip works for you! It’s SO quick, it feels like cheating!

  9. Nancy @ gottagetbaked

    Ok, now this is detox food I can get behind. I love eating all of these things individually, but never thought of eating greens with sweet potato! Your photos are gorgeously tantalizing and I love the GIF – hilarious! Thanks for meeting both my pancake and healthy food needs, lady.

    • erika

      YAY! I originally didn’t think this would make a very well-rounded/satisfying meal but it totally is! Thank YOU for the kind words, as always 🙂

  10. Rachel @ Bakerita

    This looks so good! I love sweet potatoes, but would never think to add greens and onions. I really want to run to the store to make this! Mmm. Delicious. And thanks for the baking soda tip – never knew that.