Air Fryer Breakfast Sweet Potato Skins are a healthy 30 minutes recipe perfect for brunch or dinner, with amazing flavors from crispy bacon, sharp cheddar and fluffy scrambled eggs!
Air fryer breakfast sweet potato skins combine the healthful nutrition of sweet potatoes, the ease of air frying, and the comfort of breakfast into a great meal to start the day.
With the Air Fryer, you get the benefit of lower fat cooking, but still enjoy crunchy skins, much like in one of my favorite recipes, these BBQ Sweet Potato Skins!
Filling those skins with bacon and eggs turns them into mini breakfast skillets. Perfect to fill you up but not be too filling!
You don’t have to just enjoy these for breakfast either. My Mexican Egg Casserole and Steak and Cheddar Toasts work similarly great as a brunch or dinner. You have gotta love breakfast ideas that work great for any meal
Air Fryer Sweet Potato Skins For Breakfast
A sweet potato offers plenty of great nutrition and the skin is the most nutritious part. High in fiber, packed with vitamins and minerals, sweet potatoes taste great too. So using them as a vehicle to pack full of traditional breakfast items showcases a new way to enjoy them.
For this recipe, feel free to get creative with your eggs. Any way you might prepare an omelette will work for the eggs. You can do Denver style by adding some grilled onions and green peppers. Or try it with chili and cheese over the eggs. Mushrooms and onions? Of course! Let your imagination carry you away.
Here are a few fresh and easy variations to consider mixing with your egg filling:
- Goat cheese, chives, and mildly hot marinated cherry peppers
- Avocado, grated Swiss cheese, and grilled onions
- Shredded chicken, chopped zucchini, and parsley
What To Do With The Hollowed Out Sweet Potatoes
You might want to incorporate the sweet potato back into your eggs.
It is already cooked, so you can easily blend it as well into your scrambled egg and bacon mixture for a heartier breakfast. The easy solution is to save it in the refrigerator for an easy side of mashed sweet potatoes at your next meal.
Be sure to save it though. You can have those leftover sweet potatoes insides for all sorts of things, like adding to a soup or a salad.
Make Sure The Air Fryer Crisps Your Sweet Potato Skins
Don’t overcrowd the air fryer with your chicken skins. Doing them in smaller batches will actually help them cook more quickly and allow them to crisp up much better. The number one mistake people make with their air fryers? Trying to pack everything in at once.
If you want to get as many skins, or Buffalo Chicken Tenders cooked at one time, I suggest investing in an Air Fryer Double Layer Rack. This allows you to stack food while still circulating hot air all around the food to crisp it up.
An air fryer uses hot air convection to “fry” the food. So the more air circulation each item gets the faster it cooks and the more it mimics the benefits of deep frying.
While those of you who don’t have an Air Fryer may be tempted to make these in your oven, just know that they won’t turn out as well. I have attempted it myself and they just don’t crisp up the same way they do in the Air Fryer.
If the oven is your only option, place them on a wire rack over a cookie sheet and crank up the oven to 450-500 degrees.
An Even Healthier Version Of Sweet Potato Breakfast Skins
This recipe is already pretty diet conscious. It is a convenient portion size to make sure you don’t over indulge.
However, if you are trying to watch the calories a bit more, or you want to keep the cholesterol down, then use egg whites for your eggs. You can buy pure egg whites or just remove the yolks before you cook the eggs.
While you may be inclined to swap out the regular bacon for turkey bacon, be sure to check out the nutrition labels. Most people will be surprised to find out that Turkey Bacon has a very similar nutrition profile as traditional pork bacon, with even higher sodium and cholesterol. For me, it’s not usually worth the sacrifice in texture and flavor to go the turkey route.
Can You Meal Prep Sweet Potato Breakfast Skins?
If you want to make the sweet potato skins ahead of time, then go for it. I personally recommend prepping up more skins than you plan to use.
They keep well in the fridge for a week or can keep for up to six months in the freezer. Just oil them and pop them in the Air Fryer for 10 minutes when you are ready to crisp them up.
The skins are the most labor intensive part so getting it out of the way is helpful for meal prep.
Yes, you can cook the eggs ahead of time too, but I don’t recommend that. Eggs are so easy and quick to cook you might as well do those to order based on how many skins you have handy.
Still Confusing Sweet Potatoes And Yams?
Yams and sweet potatoes and regular potatoes always sit in the same section of the store. So some folks still confuse the difference between sweet potatoes and yams. For the record, generally speaking, sweet potatoes have the lighter tan colored skin and Yams typically have a red or pinkish orange skin.
But that isn’t always the case; hence, the everlasting confusion. Sometimes sweet potatoes also have a pinkish brick colored skin and yams have a more tan skin similar to a sweet potato.
However, on the inside, the yam usually has an orange flesh whereas the sweet potato is more pale yellow or almost white like a regular potato.
Both are delicious and nutritious. Also, you can use yam skins just as well too. So don’t get twisted in a knot if you accidentally brought yams home instead of sweet potatoes!
More Breakfast Ideas (Great For Brunch Too!)
Hope you enjoy your sweet potato skins! If you need a few more breakfast or brunch ideas then I am happy to offer a few suggestions:
- Turkey bacon quesadilla
- Ham & Goat Cheese Quiche
- Overnight Sausage Egg Casserole
- Turkey sausage breakfast pizza
- Eggs Benedict enchiladas
Air Fryer Breakfast Sweet Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 c. whole milk
- salt and pepper
- 4 slices cooked bacon
- 2 green onions sliced
- 1 small tomato chopped
Instructions
- Wash the sweet potatoes and add 3-4 cuts to the potatoes. Microwave for 6-8 minutes, depending on their size, until they are soft.
- Using an oven mitt, slice the potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop out the potato flesh, leaving 1/4 inch around the edges. Save the scooped sweet potato for another use.
- Brush the potato skins with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Arrange the skins in your Air Fryer basket and cook at 400° (or the highest available temp) for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the eggs, milk, salt and pepper to a non-stick skillet. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until there are no longer any visible liquid eggs.
- Top each cooked potato skin with 1/4 of the scrambled eggs and 1 slice of crumbled bacon. Cover with shredded cheese. Return to the air fryer basket and cook for 3 minutes at 400°, or until the cheese is melted.
- Serve topped with green onion and tomato.
Cassie says
Can I use raw eggs to make kind of a quiche?
Danielle Green says
The eggs would most likely cook through, so it’s not a bad idea.
Maria-Lynn Okanlawon says
This recipe list is incomplete no? You mentioned egg in the steps but not in the ingredients list. Also, are those tomoatos on top of the skins? And what do you mean when you say “Cover with shredded cheese and cook for 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Cook how? By way of air fryer?
Danielle Green says
There are 4 eggs in the ingredient list. You should cover the eggs and bacon with cheese and cook in the Air Fryer for 3 minutes.
Malinda says
These were super delicious and filling! Great way to start off the day!
Alison LaFortune says
Sweet potatoes are a fave at my house so I knew we had to try these! Love all the toppings.
Julie says
These were a huge hit at our house! It was nice to try something completely different, we made them as sides for our supper. We’ll be making them again!
Megan says
We had company over the weekend and I made these for breakfast and everyone raved about them! Such a different option with ALL the flavor. We’ll definitely be making these on a regular basis.