I love the Super Bowl. Which is a bold statement, considering I pay little attention to the actual game and commercials. Your quarterback is great and all, but I’m pretty focused on the fact that for one night at least, it’s acceptable to eat appetizers for dinner.

We stick to a pretty clean diet around my house and stay away from dairy as much as possible due to lactose intolerance. A cheeseless diet just isn’t right, you might even call it un-American, but sometimes you make sacrifices in relationships. I wasn’t about to forego nachos on Super Bowl Sunday, though, so I had to get creative. Because we had sweet potatoes that needed to be used, we wound up with a Paleo version of the fan favorite, and it was DELICIOUS.

Paleo Sweet Potato Nachos

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup marinade of your choice
• 1 lb chicken breasts or tenders
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• olive oil
• sea salt
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 medium red onion
• Toppings: fresh salsa, sliced jalapeño, homemade guacamole, crumbled bacon

Instructions:

1. Begin by marinading your chicken for at least 30 minutes. For these nachos, we used a cilantro-lime marinade from Wegmans, which added great flavor.
2. Preheat oven to 375
3. Using a sharp knife or mandolin (the kitchen type, not the instrument), thinly slice your sweet potatoes and line them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

1. Cook the “chips” until crispy, checking for doneness after the first 15 minutes and every 5 minutes after that. Keep in mind you may need to move the chips around to keep them from burning in one spot, depending on your oven. They will crisp a bit more once you pull them out of the even.
2. While the sweet potato is cooking, cut the bell peppers and onion into long strips and grill with the chicken until veggies are soft and chicken reaches 165 degrees.
3. Shred chicken on top of sweet potato chips. Top with grilled vegetables, guacamole, bacon, jalapeño salsa, and whatever toppings suit your fancy…and if you can, add cheese for me 🙂

Honestly, sweet potato chips instead of tortilla chips were a really tasty swap. If you choose a spicy salsa, the sweetness of the potatoes balances out the flavor. And if you take your chips out a bit early and they’re not as crispy as you’d like, just enjoy these with a fork! These nachos will disappear quickly, and they’ll feel a little less guilty than their queso smothered alternative.

Let me know what you think! Off to watch me some Bruno Mars for the halftime show 🙂