BBQed Chicken~Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, then lay them cute side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until soft. Once finished, let cool until you can handle them.
While potatoes are baking, heat a skillet over medium-low heat and add olive oil. Add sliced onions, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. sugar and cook until caramelized, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes. Add shredded chicken to a bowl and mix with 1/3 cup BBQ sauce. Set aside.

Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out sweet potato flesh, leaving just the slightest bit in the skin. Place half of the sweet potato flesh into a bowl. Save the other half for another use. (*Freezes well.) Mash the sweet potato flesh with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. (Or to taste.) Take the potato skins and place them back onto a baking sheet cut-side down, then brush or spray the skin with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Cook for 10 minutes, then flip and cook for 3-4 minutes more.

Remove skins from the oven and fill each with about 1-2 tablespoons of the cheddar sweet potato mash, some BBQ chicken, 1/2 of the bacon and caramelized red onions (I didn’t measure anything, just used my hands to stuff the stuff into each potato. You can’t go wrong here!). Top with remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and place on the baking sheet, repeating with remaining potatoes. Bake for 4-5 minutes more til cheese is melted. Remove from oven and drizzle each with 2 Tbl. warmed bbq sauce, rest of bacon, and sprinkle each with fresh chopped parsley to garnish. Serve hot! And enjoy!

*Note: If wanting to get these started a day ahead or early in the morning, bake ahead, make up the filling, and refrigerate the skins and filling. Crisp skins in the oven and warm filling in microwave. Fill and continue to end of steps/directions.