Today’s Southern-style chicken with mashed sweet potatoes is a “Write-home-to-mom”, “Look-at-what-I-made-tonight-honey!”, “I-can’t-believe-it’s-only-3-purple points” kind of a recipe. Sweet potatoes take a little while to cook, but I promise they are worth it. They are so good!

Notice anything different around here?

You may not actually notice that much has changed, because most of what is going on is behind the scenes. Little by little, we are updating our content to be consistent with the new MyWW program. I have enlisted the help of my darling daughter in updating some of our lists…more specifically, she has helped on the low point restaurant/fast food list (it is a long list, so this was a huge help), and she is in the process of updating the recipes on the blog. Plus, we updated the “smart snacks list” to include the green, blue, and purple points as well.

More updating…

Meanwhile, I am working on updating our ebooks. Yesterday I was able to update our “free with email” one week dinner meal planning ebook. If you are already getting the Meal Planning Mommies emails, be sure to check your inbox for that. If you aren’t getting them yet, you can sign up to get the Meal Planning Mommies emails here. The download button for the free ebook will be in your first email.

Are you on the purple plan?

If you are on the MyWW purple plan, then you probably know by now that sweet potatoes are zero points!! Yay! If you are on the purple plan, you are going to love today’s dinner recipe, because it includes two zero point foods, chicken and sweet potatoes, as the two main ingredients. For that reason, one serving of this deliciousness is only 3 Purple points!

We love you, sweet potatoes!

Not on the purple plan?

No problem! In fact, I created this recipe before I even knew that WW was going to be updating their program, so it was designed with the blue plan in mind. Regardless of what plan you are using, I am confident that you can fit this delicious dinner into your plan, so let’s get to this recipe…

Here is what you need:

1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 (4 ounce each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 tablespoons light syrup
2 tablespoons light butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Here is what you do:

Place sweet potatoes in a large stockpot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the the potatoes are soft.

While potatoes are cooking, start preparing the chicken. If the chicken pieces are thick, use a meat tenderizer to pound down the chicken until it is thin. I put my chicken in a zip-close bag before pounding down the chicken so I would not have a mess, but I have used clear plastic wrap before too, and that worked.

In a shallow container, mix the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, chili powder, and pepper.

Coat both sides of the chicken pieces with the cornmeal mixture.

Generously coat a large skillet with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Carefully place chicken in the skillet and spray the top of the chicken pieces generously with cooking spray; cook for 4-6 minutes on both sides, or until fully cooked and browned. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken if they do not all fit in the skillet at the same time. For thicker cuts of chicken, you may need to cover the skillet so the chicken can cook faster.

When sweet potatoes are cooked, drain the water and place the potatoes in a food processor, along with the milk, syrup, butter, and cinnamon. Blend ingredients until the sweet potatoes are smooth.

Serve 1/3 cup mashed potatoes with each Southern-style chicken breast and sprinkle with salt.

Makes 6 servings.
One serving is 1 Southern-Style chicken breast and 1/3 cup mashed sweet potatoes.
One serving is 7 Green, 6 Blue, or 3 Purple points.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Southern Style Chicken with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

7 Green, 6 Blue, or 3 Purple points per serving.

Makes: 6 servings

Calories: 256

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 (4 ounce each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons fat-free milk
• 2 tablespoons light syrup
• 2 tablespoons light butter
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

• Place sweet potatoes in a large stockpot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the the potatoes are soft.
• While potatoes are cooking, start preparing the chicken. If the chicken pieces are thick, use a meat tenderizer to pound down the chicken until it is thin. I put my chicken in a zip-close bag before pounding down the chicken so I would not have a mess, but I have used clear plastic wrap before too, and that worked.
• In a shallow container, mix the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, chili powder, and pepper.
• Coat both sides of the chicken pieces with the cornmeal mixture.
• Generously coat a large skillet with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Carefully place chicken in the skillet and spray the top of the chicken pieces generously with cooking spray; cook for 4-6 minutes on both sides, or until fully cooked and browned. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken if they do not all fit in the skillet at the same time. For thicker cuts of chicken, you may need to cover the skillet so the chicken can cook faster.
• When sweet potatoes are cooked, drain the water and place the potatoes in a food processor, along with the milk, syrup, butter, and cinnamon. Blend ingredients until the sweet potatoes are smooth.
• Serve 1/3 cup mashed potatoes with each Southern-style chicken breast and sprinkle with salt.