Regular potatoes might get all of the glory when it comes to salads, but sweet potatoes deserve just as much love and attention. This roasted sweet potato salad shows off the orange-hued root vegetable, setting off its naturally sweet flavor with chili powder.
With earthy black beans, pickled red onion, baby spinach, salty feta cheese crumbles, and a vibrant lime vinaigrette, this is a colorful, hearty vegetarian salad that can be enjoyed a number of ways. Showcase it as a main for a wholesome lunch or dinner or serve it as a side with chicken, sausages, or fish.
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
How to Perfectly Roast Sweet Potatoes
Roasting is my favorite way to enjoy sweet potatoes, not only because it’s a largely hands-off method, but because it results in ultra-creamy flesh with crispy, caramelized edges. There are a few essential tips for achieving these results in the oven:
- Pick the Right Temperature: 425°F is the perfect temperature to roast sweet potatoes to ensure the flesh becomes tender while the exterior browns. A lower oven temperature will inhibit browning and caramelization while a higher temperature can cause the natural sugars in the potatoes to burn before the flesh is cooked through.
- Season Well: Sweet potatoes are, well, naturally sweet, so generously seasoning them with salt and savory spices balances their flavor beautifully. Here, along with the usual salt and pepper, I’ve chosen to toss them with a full tablespoon of chili powder. The spice blend is a nice one-and-done ingredient because it contains a lightly spicy, smoky mix of chile powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, and coriander.
- Toss Only Once: It’s tempting to want to check on the sweet potatoes a few times while they’re roasting and give them a toss each time. Leave them be and toss them only once, halfway through, and they’ll brown and crisp significantly better than they would if you fiddle with them.
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
How to Meal Prep This Salad
Perhaps the best part about this salad is it stores exceptionally well, making it a great meal prep and make-ahead candidate. I love making it at the start of the week to enjoy for lunch throughout the week. Simply make the recipe in its entirety, transfer it to an airtight container, and refrigerate it for up to 5 days. The baby spinach will wilt slightly during storage, but I actually don’t mind that and think it makes for even more cohesive forkfuls. If you’d prefer perky spinach, store it separately and toss before serving.
Let the salad come back up to room temperature on the counter or warm individual servings in the microwave before serving. Refresh it with another squeeze of lime juice and a drizzle of olive oil and you’re good to go.
Simple Recipe Variations
There are a handful of easy ways to mix up this recipe, depending on what you might already have on hand in your kitchen. The results are sure to be equally delicious:
- Try another spice blend, such as garam masala, berbere, or baharat
- Swap the black beans for any other variety of canned beans, such as chickpeas, pinto beans, or navy beans
- Replace the feta cheese with crumbles of goat cheese, ricotta salata, queso fresco, or cotija cheese
- Use baby kale or arugula instead of baby spinach
- Add some crunch with pepitas, sunflower seeds, or toasted and chopped nuts
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe