This easy ground beef and sweet potato rice breakfast skillet recipe is going to become one of your new go to favorite breakfast, brunch or dinner ideas! It’s so easy to make, ready in 15 minutes and is gluten free, grain free, paleo and Whole30 friendly! Oh, and it’s an easy way to get in protein, healthy fat, good carbs and veggies!
Why you'll love this fast breakfast skillet recipe
This easy ground beef and sweet potato rice breakfast skillet recipe was a happy accident. I originally wanted to use up some ground beef I had bought that was going to spoil. And we always have a ton of sweet potatoes on hand so I was going to make a hash but my plans changed and I needed the dish to be done in 15 minutes (not the 25-30 that the hash would have taken).
I remembered how quickly sweet potato noodles cooked up on the stove and though that would be the perfect solution. I knew that noodles would be kind of weird to have for breakfast so I quickly turned them into sweet potato rice and was able to get this super simple but delicious breakfast on the table in under 15 minutes from start to finish!
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Last year we discovered through food sensitivity testing with EverlyWell that Dave had a high reaction to eggs and we immediately took them out of his diet. After months of not eating them, we tried to reintroduce them and the results were not pretty.
Needless to say, we have kept eggs out of his diet since then. And I have to admit, it can be so tough, especially for breakfast and when baking!
So I have had to get creative in the kitchen for him! I make him homemade English muffins using this recipe for almond flour muffins and serve that with turkey bacon, make vanilla cinnamon sweet potato bowls regularly but every once and awhile I make something a little more involved.
How to make sweet potato rice:
Sweet potato rice is so easy to make! Don’t spend $3-4 for a tiny bag ever again! You do need to invest in a good spiralizer and food processor though for your sweet potatoes since that is really the key to making this meal quickly.
- Start by washing and peeling your sweet potatoes
- Next, spiralize the sweet potato into thin spaghetti like ribbons (use blade D on the Inspiralizer)
- Once you have the spiralized sweet potatoes, put them in a food processor and pulse until rice is formed
- Cook on the stove, covered for 4-5 minutes until cooked through.
How to make this simple ground beef and sweet potato rice breakfast skillet in 15 minutes
- Start by cooking the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat – this takes about 5-6 minutes.
- While the ground beef is cooking follow the steps above to make the sweet potato rice.
- Once the ground beef is brown, add the sweet potato rice and cover it with a lid.
- Chop up the kale and add it to the ground beef and sweet potato rice along with the spices.
- After the sweet potato, rice has been cooking 4-5 minutes and the kale is wilted, serve hot or cold.
Meal prep and storage tips:
This easy ground beef and sweet potato rice breakfast skillet recipe would actually be great for meal prep! You can make this ahead of time (even double the recipe) and quickly heat it up for breakfast on the go! It’s also perfect for brunch or breakfast for dinner (since it’s super savory).
This recipe will easily double in a large skillet but any more and you should probably cook the ground beef in batches so that it will cook up quickly and evenly.
You can serve this with simple oven poached eggs if you can do eggs for more protein and more healthy fats in your meal prep breakfast!
This easy ground beef and sweet potato rice breakfast skillet recipe will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in a sealed container. I have not tried freezing it but I imagine it would freeze well also.
Easy Substitutions:
If ground beef isn’t your thing, you could also use ground turkey or chicken in this dish and nothing would change about the instructions.
If you don’t like sweet potatoes, you could use regular potatoes, rutabaga, butternut squash or parsnips and follow the same directions on how to make rice out of them. Peel, spiralize and rice in the food processor.
For a lower carb breakfast, you can use half the sweet potatoes and add in riced cauliflower or completely substitute out the sweet potato for riced cauliflower
If you cannot tolerate or do not like paprika (or nightshades), you can use cumin, turmeric and black pepper instead.
I used lacinato kale (sometimes called dino kale) in this recipe because it's so simple to chop and easily wilts into any recipe. Instead of lacinato kale, you could use regular curly kale (green or red), spinach, shredded brussels sprouts, green peas, shredded cabbage, or even green beans (although this might take a little more time to cook).
If you loved this recipe, check out these other healthy breakfast ideas:
- Smoked salmon frittata (Whole30, paleo)
- Parnsip waffles (grain free, Whole30, paleo)
- Sweet potato waffles (grain free, Whole30, paleo)
- Savory low carb cauliflower waffles
- High protein oatmeal 4 ways
- Peach overnight oats with yogurt
- Quinoa breakfast bowl
Easy Ground Beef Sweet Potato Rice Breakfast Skillet Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound grass fed ground beef
- 1.5 pounds sweet potatoes
- 1 bunch lacinato kale
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika - see post for substitutions
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder - optional
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook on medium heat for 5-6 minutes, breaking up the beef and allowing it to brown.
- While the ground beef is cooking, peel the sweet potatoes.
- Once the sweet potatoes are peeled, spiralize them with your spiralizer.
- Place the spiralized sweet potatoes in a food processor and pulse until rice is formed
- Add the riced sweet potatoes to the ground beef mixture once it's cooked through. Add a cover to the pan and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.
- While the sweet potato rice is cooking, finely chop the kale.
- Add the chopped kale to the ground beef and sweet potato rice along with the spices. Stir well.
- Return the lid and allow the kale to wilt.
- Serve hot.
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