This asparagus, turkey and sweet potato skillet is a simple one-pan meal full of spring flavors, and topped with a herbaceous pesto. It’s paleo, whole30, and AIP.

asparagus, turkey & sweet potato skillet

Asparagus, Turkey & Sweet Potato Skillet

I love making one-pan meals on busy weeknights! They’re super convenient, and always welcome in my kitchen. It’s a huge added bonus if the meal is made with easy ground meat, and packed with veggies.

This one-pan meal is made with easy to cook ground turkey, along with sweet potato, asparagus, and my favorite homemade nut-free pesto. It’s the perfect spring meal or when you want something simple but delicious.

 

Why is this asparagus, turkey & sweet potato skillet awesome?

It’s a balanced, nourishing meal

It covers all of your bases in one meal, with turkey as your protein, and asparagus + sweet potato as nourishing veggies!

It’s made in one pan

It’s made easily in one pan, perfect for busy weeknights and convenient meals! One-pan meals like this are my absolute favorite because you get all of the flavor and nutrition without hours upon hours of labor!

 

How to Make This Asparagus, Turkey & Sweet Potato Skillet Recipe

  • Make the pesto: Combine all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until fully combined. Set aside in the fridge to chill.
  • Cook the ground turkey: Using a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of avocado oil over medium heat. Add the ground turkey and lightly season. Crumble with a wooden spoon and cook until browned. Set aside.
  • Cook the sweet potato: Add more oil to the pan along with the sweet potato. Lightly season and stir for 10-12 minutes or until the sweet potatoes and cooked to liking and lightly crisp. Set aside and lightly clean out the pan.
  • Cook the asparagus: Add more oil to the pan along with the garlic and asparagus. Lightly season and cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened and crisped.
  • Combine & serve: Reincorporate the turkey and sweet potato into the skillet and stir to combine and reheat for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and top with the desired amount of pesto to serve.

 

asparagus, turkey & sweet potato skillet

 

The Ingredients

For the Pesto

You’ll need arugula, fresh basil, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, cloves of garlic, onion powder & sea salt for this herbaceous pesto recipe!

Ground Turkey

Ground turkey provides the perfectly flavorful protein in this dish, while also being incredibly easy to cook for a quick one-pan meal, since there is no prep-work involved!

Sweet Potato

The starchy veggie of choice in this skillet.

Asparagus

Asparagus is really simple to prep and store. What I like to do to store it is to place the bottom of the spears in a mug or glass cup and fill it with about half an inch of water. This helps keep the asparagus fresh and crisp! I’ve had success with keeping it like this for 3-4 days. From there, you want to cut off about an inch of the thicker base of the spears. With this recipe, you’ll cut them in half, but you could easily roast them whole in other recipes like this.

Garlic, salt, and pepper

You can leave out the pepper if you’re AIP, but these flavors help round out the dish.

 

asparagus, turkey & sweet potato skillet

 

You’ll also love…

 

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Asparagus, Turkey & Sweet Potato Skillet

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review

Description

This asparagus, turkey and sweet potato skillet is a simple one-pan meal full of spring flavors, and topped with a herbaceous pesto. It’s paleo, whole30, and AIP.


Ingredients

Scale

For the pesto

  • 1 cup arugula
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt

For the skillet

  • 3 tbsp avocado oil, divided
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 tsp sea salt, divided
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP)
  • 2 medium sweet potato, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped

Instructions

  1. To make the pesto, combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender. Blend until fully combined. Set aside in the fridge to chill.
  2. Using a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of avocado oil over medium heat. Add the ground turkey and lightly season. Crumble with a wooden spoon and cook until browned. Set aside.
  3. Add more oil to the pan along with the sweet potato. Lightly season and stir for 10-12 minutes or until the sweet potatoes and cooked to liking and lightly crisp. Set aside and lightly clean out the pan.
  4. Add more oil to the pan along with the garlic and asparagus. Lightly season and cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened and crisped.
  5. Reincorporate the turkey and sweet potato into the skillet and stir to combine and reheat for 1-2 minutes.
  6. Remove from the heat and top with desired amount of pesto to serve.

Notes

All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 serving
  • Calories: 575
  • Fat: 47.4g
  • Carbohydrates: 17.1g
  • Fiber: 2.9g
  • Protein: 24.5g