This is a Sweet Potato Salad with oomph!
With roasted sweet potato, baby spinach, wild rice, feta and almonds drizzled with a honey lemon lemon sauce, there’s a great variety of textures and flavours. You’ll happily scoff down a giant bowl for dinner, take leftovers to work the next day, you’ll feel full, you’ll feel good, and you won’t miss meat!
Sweet Potato Salad
If the kaleidoscope of colour doesn’t get you, then ONE BITE is all it will take to convince you that this is a sweet potato salad to die for!!
It’s got it all – freshness from baby spinach, sweet cubes of sweet potato with caramelised edges. The nutty chewiness of wild rice, creamy sweet pops of feta, the soft crunch of almonds and chewy sweetness from cranberries, all topped off with a tangy honey lemon dressing…
Well, if that description didn’t convince YOU, it certainly convinced ME that I need to make this again ASAP!!
Make this sweet potato salad as an impressive side, or serve it as a meal!
What goes in Sweet Potato Salad
Here’s what you need:
Plenty of sub options – even for the sweet potato itself – I’ve listed suggestions below!
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Sweet potato – sub with pumpkin or butternut squash (we call them butternut pumpkin in Australia);
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Wild rice – I LOVE wild rice, it’s got a nutty flavour that makes it so much more interesting than normal white rice. To reduce the carb quota, you could leave it out (which is what I usually do for midweek), or try other options like: brown rice, quinoa, farro, barley or other grains (psst While warm, we toss with some dressing so it sucks up flavour. So really, you can use anything here!);
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Cranberries – sub with any dried fruit! If it’s large like apricots or apple, give it a rough chop;
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Feta – or goats cheese;
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Baby Spinach – Rocket / arugula is also terrific!
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Flaked almonds – flaked almonds is a good way to make less nuts go further! Love the way it disperses all throughout this salad. However, feel free to use any nuts you prefer!
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Lemon – sub with apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, champagne vinegar;
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Honey – sugar or maple syrup; and
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Mustard – I use this to thicken the dressing because I think this salad really benefits from everything being coated really nicely with dressing. If you’re a mustard hater, sub with mayo instead.
How to make Sweet Potato Salad
Nothing tricky here, it’s very straight forward! I like how this Sweet Potato Salad has a nice flow to it: get the Wild Rice simmering in water first, then get the potato in the oven while you prep the Dressing and other ingredients.
Then bring it all together and devour!
I chop the sweet potato into fairly small cubes to make it easier to eat (and also better dressing-to-potato ratio), so we can only roast them until the edges start caramelising – any longer, and they get overly soft and too delicate to handle.
A fabulous side dish – or a meal!
I say this is a fantastic side dish – and it is the sort of thing that I would take to gatherings as something a little different.
But truthfully, I make this more often as a meal than as a side. In fact, I can only ever recall serving it as a side dish once!
To me, this is the sort of salad that’s interesting and substantial enough to be served as a meal, even to self confessed Carnivores like myself! Plus, it would be a FABULOUS work lunch.
That’s Fabulous with a capital F!!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
Sweet potato:
- 1kg / 2 lb sweet potato , cut into 2cm / 4/5" cubes (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
Salad:
- 200g/ 7oz baby spinach (or rocket/arugula)
- 1/2 red onion , finely sliced
- 3/4 cup sliced almond , toasted
- 90g/ 3oz feta , crumbled
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups cooked wild rice , warm (Note 2)
Honey Lemon Mustard Dressing:
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 5 tbsp extra olive oil
- 1.5 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove , small, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F.
- Shake Dressing ingredients in a jar.
- Toss sweet potato with olive oil, salt and pepper, spread onto tray.
- Roast for 20 minutes, flip, then roast for a further 5 minutes until golden on edges.
- Place baby spinach, onion and half almonds in a bowl. Drizzle with 2 tbsp Dressing, toss.
- Drizzle warm rice with 1 tbsp Dressing, toss.
- Spread spinach on serving platter. Top with rice, then sweet potato and cranberries.
- Drizzle with remaining Dressing, then top with feta and remaining almonds. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More Fabulous, SUBSTANTIAL Meat Free Salads and Sides
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Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Rocket/Arugula – this one is made with larger pieces of sweet potato that are roasted until deep golden
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Fondant Sweet Potatoes – roasted with stock, this is a sweet n’ savoury side that’s perfect for Thanksgiving or anytime!
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Roasted Pumpkin with Yogurt Sauce and Pine Nuts – a quick and easy roast pumpkin side that’s endlessly adaptable
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Giant Couscous Salad – you’ll love how the couscous is cooked in an aromatic broth so it soaks up all that incredible flavour!
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Wild Rice Salad – regular readers know I’m mad for this salad 😇
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Sexy Lentil Salad – YES you read that right. I said SEXY!! 😂
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My Favourite Quinoa Salad – an Asian-style salad that’s full of interesting textures, and enough heft to make a meal
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A big, fat Caesar Salad
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Browse more Mighty Salads and more Side Salads
Life of Dozer
Then….
…and now!
Mary says
Made this salad as instructed, omitting the grain option. Took it for a gathering thinking it might be too much quantity for the small crowd. But the whole thing was wolfed down, scraping the salad bowl at the end. Thank you Nagi for another “super hit” recipe!!
Lauren says
Yum!! I made this for a family bbq tonight and it was a massive hit! I used mayo as suggested because I don’t really like mustard and it was delicious, a great combination of flavours and texture.
Tracey Lauer says
Soooo delicious — This is a keeper! Please tell Dozer hi!
Antoinette says
Unbelievably amazing & so healthy.🤩 Thank you Nagi for raising the bar with everything I’ve cooked from your site.
Jennifer Anne Ottinger says
Delish! Super easy to make and oh so tasty! I would have never put these ingredients together, but I’m so happy you did!
Nola says
Hi Nagi, Enjoying your blogs & recipes & love seeing what Dozer is up to!
Where do you get wild rice from? I’ve searched website of Coles & Woolies & neither of them offer just wild rice on it’s own, only microwaveable form mixed with brown & red rice and as you would know, healthfood shops are few & far between.
Nagi says
Harris Farm usually stock it Nola! N x
Leonie Meggitt says
Hi Nagi, I made this twice over Xmas, son and veg partner. What a HUGE hit. Have since made it another 3 times and we r not even out of January. Thank u Nagi, I’ve made lots of your fantastic recipes but this is my first comment. I don’t look anywhere else now. U r my first choice. Thank u so much.
El says
Delicious! There was a wonderful amount left over for the two of us that we even got lunches and an extra side serving for dinner the following day.
I’ll definitely be making this again.
Claire says
Beautiful salad! I get positive comments every time I try one of your recipes. Thank you!
Julia Walsh says
Gorgeous salad. So tasty.
Sari says
Dozer picture on this post put a smile on my face 🙂
Fiona says
This is the best salad I have ever eaten.
I scaled it down for four people, to do lunch for my husband (Scottish, salad = chips) and I today and tomorrow. There isn’t enough left for one person, it was so tasty!
Easy, quick, colourful, delicious and full of healthy goodness. This is a definite winner. Thank you, Nagi!
Tina says
BEST. SALAD. EVER. Was very glad to have leftovers and it was even more delicious the next day!
Sheila W Lytle says
Great recipes
Priyam says
I didn’t have wild rice so I added some leftover roast chicken instead. It was seriously wicked! Thanks Nagi. I love your recipes.
Catriona Lincoln says
I have made this a few times and made it for my son’s birthday bbq last night. He told his friends it was the best salad in the entire world lol…..I agree! Thank you 🙂
vikki says
yummy and nutritious salad.
and the dressing is finger licking.
Thank you
Nagi says
You’re so welcome Vikki!! N x
Linda says
Once again went straight to your website for a great salad to go with steak last night. We had 2 couples joining us for dinner and there was nothing left. I used Quinoa instead of rice and it was delicious, thanks again
Nagi says
Sounds perfect Linda, I’m so glad it was a hit! N x
Neilena says
Thank you soooo much for all your incredible recipes. I look forward to your every recipe via email as well as photos of Dozer. Offering up my gratitude .
Nagi says
Thanks so much Neilena, that’s so nice to hear!! ❤️
Lindy says
Just made this for dinner and it is DELISH! Thank you for another incredible recipe, Nagi 🙂
Nagi says
Thanks so much for letting me know what you think Lindy ❤️