Sweet potatoes have become my second favorite thing in the world to spiralize, behind zucchini.

Previously, I’d bake several sweet potatoes for the week during meal prep on Sunday afternoon – because they take an hour in the oven, they’re almost always ruled out for cooking on a weeknight.

Maybe they’re not quite as easy as stab-with-knife-throw-in-oven, but they do only take minutes to prep and minutes to cook.

Prep work involves rinsing off the potatoes and a couple dozen cranks on the spiralizer (this is the model I have). Cooking takes 7 minutes and requires nothing more than a little olive oil, salt, pepper, chile powder, and lime. And then comes the hard part: eat them naked (the noodles, not you… but there’s no judging here) or top them with something. Anything. Nothing!

Last week at our fantasy football draft party, I put out 3 kinds of margaritas (grilled pineapple, classic, and grapefruit) and a nacho and guacamole bar. My friend Ana brought over a fabulous slow-cooker pulled pork, possibly one of the better ones I’ve ever had.

What starts out as your average pulled pork (unwrap pork butt, {snicker} throw in crockpot) gets coated with a chipotle-pineapple marinade-turned-reduction.

The tender meat is pulled and then dressed with a reduced sauce that gets a good kick from chipotle peppers, just a hint of sweetness from pineapple juice and brown sugar, and a tangy kick of lime juice squeezed over top.

The pulled pork stays fresh-from-the-crock tender and, as you can imagine, those flavors work absolutely perfectly over a bed of spiralized sweet potato noodles.

Semi-pro tip: When I make something in the slow cooker with plans to reuse the cooking liquid, I usually start it at night. (The downside is I wake up at 4am STARVING.) In the morning, I’ll transfer the meat to the fridge to deal with later and then I’ll pour the liquid into a large measuring cup and refrigerate.

When it’s time to cook dinner, all the fat in the sauce has separated and solidified into an easy-to-remove layer. I can lift it off with a fork and proceed.

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Spiralized Chipotle-Lime Sweet Potatoes with Sweet & Spicy Pulled Pork

Spiralized sweet potato noodles get a kick from chipotle chili powder and lime juice. Eat them alone or turn it into a full meal by topping them with a sweet and spicy slow-cooker pulled pork.

Ingredients

• For the Sweet Potato Noodles:
• 1 lb sweet potatoes
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chipotle chile powder
• 2 lime wedges
• For the Sweet & Spicy Pulled Pork:
• 3 lb pork butt
• 2 canned chipotles in adobo
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp Chipotle chile powder
• 6 oz pineapple juice (or, um, leftover grilled pineapple margarita also works fabulously)
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• Salt
• Pepper
• Lime wedges, for serving
• Cilantro, for serving
• Chopped red onion, for servinb

Instructions

1. To make the sweet potatoes: spiralize the potatoes. Heat olive oil over high heat and add the potatoes, a pinch of salt, several grinds of pepper, and a dusting of chipotle chile powder. Stir frequently, cooking for ~7 minutes until tender and starting to brown. Squeeze lime juice over top, toss, and serve. Let leftovers cool uncovered before storing in the fridge.
2. To make the pulled pork, place the pork roast in the slow cooker. In a blender, add the peppers, garlic, chili powder, pineapple juice, brown sugar, cumin, cloves, a pinch of salt, and several grinds black pepper. Blend until uniform. Pour over the roast, turning to coat, and cook for ~8 hours on low.
3. To serve: When the meat has cooled enough to handle (see my notes in the post above), shred and discard excess fat. Defat the cooking liquid (I prefer to let the fridge to this for me, but if you're pressed for time, you can pour or spoon it off the top) and transfer 1 cup to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce by half, about 10 minutes. Pour over shredded meat.
4. Serve the pulled pork as desired, recommended with lime wedges, chopped red onion, and cilantro (for the nonhaters).

Notes

Yields: 4 servings of sweet potatoes, 6-8 of pulled pork

Source: The Brewer and The Baker (Pulled Pork adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution)