Sausage, Sweet Potato Noodles and Broccoli Skillet

From Cheeseburger Fries to vegetable-packed skillets, because THAT’S HOW WE DO!

That is to say, lately I’ve been trying to achieve balance by enjoying comfort foods like Cheeseburger Fries AND light, healthy, and nutritious meals like my Sausage, Sweet Potato Noodles and Broccoli Skillet. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, right? Moderation is key!

Spiralized sweet potatoes are sauteed with broccoli or broccolini and fresh garlic then tossed with browned Italian sausage and freshly grated parmesan cheese. It’s packed to the max with nutritious ingredients, made in just one skillet and in under 30 minutes, and is a home run with all demographics.

• Ben = demolished two bowls. Hello healthier way to serve your meat and potato-loving man, well, meat and potatoes.
• Lincoln = requested to Facetime his grandparents to show them the “longest noodle he ever saw” then proceeded to eat an entire bowl whilst said grandparents watched.
• Me = couldn’t decide what was better – the light and fall-like taste of this simple dish, or the fact that both my boys were inhaling it with zero push back!

This skillet meal feels fancy, but is easy and uncomplicated, and clearly the whole family loves it. Ben’s and my eyes locked in a silent state of disbelief as Lincoln picked out pieces of broccoli to not put on the table in a pile of rejected food, like he’s known to do, but to actually put them in his mouth. Huzzah! What can I say, the combination of sausage, garlic, and sweet potato has that effect on people!

How to Make Sausage, Sweet Potato Noodles and Broccoli Skillet:

Start by peeling 2 medium sweet potatoes then slicing off the ends and cutting them in half. I find spiralizing a sweet potato half vs the whole thing produces longer noodles with less chance of the potato getting off center on the spiralizer which creates  “half moon” noodles. By the way, I recommend the Paderno Spiralizer >

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Pop the sweet potato half into the spiralizer fitted with the smallest blade, aka the “spaghetti” or “angel hair” blade, then spiral away!

Set the sweet potato noodles aside then heat 1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil in a large, 12″+ skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3/4lb ground Italian pork sausage (spicy or mild – your call!) then brown while breaking it up with a spatula as it cooks. Scoop the cooked sausage onto a plate then set aside.

Turn the heat down juuuust a touch then add 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, the sweet potato noodles and either 8oz small-cut broccoli florets (from one bunch of broccoli,) OR 8oz broccolette/broccolini that’s been trimmed and sliced into small florets. I’ve tried both and they both cook in the same amount of time.

Season the vegetables with lots of salt and pepper, and a dash of red chili pepper flakes if you like (I did!) then saute until the sweet potato noodles are almost al dente, about 5 minutes. In order to keep your sweet potato noodles from breaking up, gently toss them with tongs every so often.

Next add 2 minced garlic cloves and saute for 30 seconds, then add 1/4 cup gluten-free chicken broth and continue to saute until the sweet potato noodles are al dente (meaning they still have a little bit of a bite.) If you let the noodles cook any longer they’ll start to break up into softer, smaller pieces – which is TOTALLY fine – but if you want to try and keep the noodles intact, take the skillet off the heat while they’re still crisp-tender.

Last step is to remove the skillet from the heat then add 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (??) and the cooked sausage back into the skillet, then toss to combine.

Scoop onto plates then top with more parmesan cheese, and a ton of cracked black pepper, then dig in! I hope you love this healthy and nutritious, seriously easy dish! Enjoy!