Cranberry Sweet Potato Turkey Poppers (Paleo, AIP, Whole 30)
These Cranberry Sweet Potato Turkey Popper are the ultimate holiday appetizer! They’re paleo, whole30, gluten-free, and AIP compliant.
Looking for a new holiday appetizer? Yes, cheese boards and dips are great, but it’s fun to mix it up! That’s were the sweet potato cranberry turkey popper comes in! These little poppers are essentially chicken nuggets made with ground turkey, sweet potato, cranberries, and herbs.
Seriously, they’re perfect for getting all of the holidays in one bite at a holiday party, or for satiating hungry guests while Thanksgiving dinner is finishing. They’re made with simple, easy to find ingredients and won’t add tons of labor to your holiday food prep. Plus, they taste amazing dipped in cranberry sauce.
How to make the Sweet Potato Cranberry Turkey Poppers
- Prep and combine: Add the fresh cranberries to a food processor and set it to shred or chop for 10-15 seconds.
- Remove the cranberries and use a paper towel to clean up any excess juice. Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and thoroughly combine. Begin rolling the mixture into small, slightly flattened poppers about one inch in diameter (you’ll have about 25 poppers) and place them on the cooking sheet.
- Bake & serve: Place in the oven for 25-28 minutes, flipping halfway through Crisp further in a pan or place under the broiler if desired for 1-2 minutes to crisp further. Remove from the oven when thoroughly cooked through. Serve with cranberry sauce or by themselves.
How Do You Serve The Cranberry Sweet Potato Turkey Poppers?
Like the other poppers, these are super versatile! Here are some ideas for how to serve them…
- Serve as a holiday dinner appetizer with cranberry sauce for dipping
- Bring to an office or holiday party when you don’t want to cook a whole turkey
- Make throughout the holidays for fun, seasonal lunches and dinners
The Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cranberry Turkey Poppers
Ground turkey
Turkey obviously goes best with the holiday theme, but you can also use chicken. However, I find ground turkey to be easier to find!
Sweet potato
You’ll likely already have sweet potato on hand for the holidays, and all you’ll have to do is rice or shred it. I often use a cheese grater to shred it, but you can just as easily use a food processor.
Fresh cranberries
I was skeptical about using fresh cranberries in these and thought I would have more luck with dried… so wrong! The fresh cranberries are amazing and add so much holiday flare!
Rosemary, parsley & sage
You can easily mix up the herbs, but I find these to work best with the flavors.
Coconut flour and coconut oil
Coconut flour isn’t a necessity… they bind without it, but it helps make it more crispy! You can sub other flours are needed… there’s really only 2 tbsp for the whole recipe, so you won’t notice the flavor that much either way.
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Cranberry Sweet Potato Turkey Poppers (Paleo, AIP, Whole 30)
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Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 cup sweet potato, shredded or riced (using a grater or food processor)
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp rosemary
- 2 tsp sage
- 2 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the fresh cranberries to a food processor and set it to shred or chop for 10-15 seconds. Remove the cranberries and use a paper towel to clean up any excess juice
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well to combine.
- Begin rolling the mixture into small, slightly flattened poppers about one inch in diameter (you'll have about 20-22 poppers) and place them on the baking sheet.
- Bake in in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes, flipping half way through. The internal temperature should read 165 F. Crisp further under the broiler if desired for 1-2 minutes if desired.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving with cranberry sauce or by themselves.
Notes
I hope you love these as much as my husband and I do! Happy holidays, and happy eating 😉
This post first appeared on Unbound Wellness in Nov 2017 and was updated in 2019 with new photos and a video.
I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, so I’ve been on the hunt for good gluten free recipes. I can’t wait to try these and your other recipes!
Do you think these could be made with left over Turkey instead? Thanks
These work best with raw, ground turkey, BUT I have a leftover turkey recipe coming out this upcoming week!! Make sure you’re signed up for emails so you don’t miss it 🙂
We are trying to figure out which recipes we will be making for the holidays and we tried these today. They are really good! The only thing that was a bit different from the other chicken popper recipes that we’ve tried from Michelle is that these kinda blackened a bit, so I would vouch for less cooking time perhaps? It wasn’t horrible, but just not as pretty as they usually turn out. Maybe it’s because of more moisture from the cranberries? Next time I’ll need to keep a closer eye on them.
These would make great sliders! Thinking with cranberry sauce &/or mustard.
What can I sibstitute for sweet potato. We can’t take carbs now.
Butternut squash would be a good sub 🙂
Did you cook the Ground turkey before adding it in, or does it cook in the oven?
It’s raw 🙂
I made these for Thanksgiving! They are the best thing I’ve eaten in a long time!! Love!! I used all fresh herbs, not sure if that makes a difference.
Yay! So happy you liked it!! Thank you so much!
Cook turkey before or No?
Uncooked 🙂
Do you have a cranberry sauce recipe or have a store brand that is AIP friendly, my recipe is full of sugar.
I plan to share one this November 🙂
These made a great on-the-run breakfast during my Whole30. I would make a batch on Sunday and they would last me through the weekdays. I couldn’t find dried cranberries without added sugar so I made the first batch with dried cherries. They tasted good but looked blackened from the cherry juice. I used some dried apricots we had on hand for the second batch and they were really tasty!
Is the sweet potato pre-cooked?
It’s raw 🙂
Michelle, went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for Christmas brunch. Made the Cranberry Poppers and they were absolutely DELISH!!!! Have also made the bacon ranch poppers and love those too! Love your recipes!!!
Do these freeze well?
Yes, I batched cooked these and they froze and re-heated quite well
I have made her other poppers and they froze amazing. Great to freeze and bring for trips when you need protein.
yay so glad!!
fresh or dried herbs?
I use dried but you can get away with fresh too! It depends on flavor preference
Looks delicious! Is the amount for the herbs fresh or dried?
Thank you! I use dried but you can get away with fresh too!