This Roasted Sweet Potato Salad has all the best flavors of Fall wrapped in one delicious salad. It’s loaded with kale, creamy sweet potatoes, crisp apple, and crunchy pecans with the best maple vinaigrette dressing. Watch the video tutorial and you’ll be craving it.
We can’t get enough of sweet potatoes in Autumn, especially for Sweet Potato Soup and classic Sweet Potato Casserole. Also, we have Sweet Potatoes and Bacon on repeat this time of year.
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A platter of Kale Sweet Potato Salad looks stunning on the Thanksgiving table, but it’s also a satisfying dinner salad and you can roast the sweet potatoes ahead to meal prep. The best part? Leftover kale salad keeps really well.
Sweet Potato Salad Video Tutorial
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Why You’ll Love Kale Sweet Potato Salad
- Feel-good recipe – this salad is packed with so many healthy greens and veggies, plus sweet potatoes are high in fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. It’s a hearty and satisfying salad and feels like a meal in itself.
- Make-Ahead – you can roast the sweet potatoes a day ahead and pre-chop your lettuce. Store both in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Leftovers keep well – don’t toss the leftover salad. Unlike regular green leafy salads (like remain, spinach, or arugula), a kale salad doesn’t get soggy after adding the dressing. Refrigerated leftovers taste great the next day.
- The best dressing – you’ll love the combination of flavors in this maple vinaigrette. It has a short list of ingredients and is simple to make; just whisk or shake it up in a mason jar and you’re set.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Salad
- Sweet Potatoes – You’ll need 1 1/2 lbs (about 2 medium or 3 smaller sized), tossed with oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper.
- Kale – 1 bunch should yield 10 cups chopped. Be sure to strip the leaves and discard the tough stem.
- Apple – perferably crisp and sweet-tart, but any variety will do
- Pecans – lightly toasted (you can sub with walnuts, pine nuts, shaved almonds or even pumpkin seeds).
- Dried cranberries – add a sweet tanginess. We love to use Pomegranate seeds when in season.
- Goat cheese – our favorite for sweet and savory salads like Berry Arugula Salad and Beet Salad.
How to cut kale for salads
- Strip the leaves – hold the stem with one hand and pull the leaves right off.
- Rinse & spin dry – transfer kale leaves to a salad spinner (in 2 batches) to rinse and spin dry.
- Chop – bunch or stack leaves together and slice into thin strips.
The best tool for making Kale Salad: Besides a sharp knife and a cutting board, I find that having a good salad spinner saves a ton of time and effort in making a kales salad.
How to Make Sweet Potato Salad
- Roast Sweet potatoes – peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1/2″ thick pieces. Toss with olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Arrange on a lined baking sheet (I love my nonstick silpat) and bake until tender.
- Make Dressing – whisk together all of the dressing ingredients and set aside.
- Chop kale – strip kale leaves then rinse, dry and chop per instructions above.
- Toss kale – place kale in a large salad bowl, drizzle with 3/4 of the dressing and toss with 2 forks until the volume of kale has shrunk down by 1/4.
- Add toppings – add cooled sweet potatoes to the salad bowl then sprinkle in chopped apples, toasted pecans, dried cranberries and crumbled goat cheese.
- Serve – drizzle with remaining 1/4 dressing or add it to taste and enjoy.
Common Questions
Sweet potatoes have an orange or reddish peel with an orange center. Real yams are white in the center like a russet potato and yams are not typically sold in US Grocery stores. Even though people refer to sweet potatoes as yams, they are technically not yams.
If you prefer not to use, kale, you can substitute with arugula, but add the dressing to taste just before serving. Baby spinach would be the next best option.
This is personal preference and you can leave the skin on or peel it with a potato peeler.
Are you craving Sweet Potato Salad yet? It really is as good as it looks, from the roasted sweet potatoes to the tasty vinaigrette.
Complete your Thanksgiving Menu
We’ve made a tradition of this salad for Thanksgiving. If you need more recipes and ideas for the biggest cooking day of the year, check out our Thanksgiving Category. We have everything from Juicy Roasted Turkey to Turkey Gravy and all the fixings. The holiday menu isn’t complete without these staples:
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad has all the best flavors of Fall in one delicious salad. It’s loaded with kale, roasted sweet potatoes, apple, pecans and goat cheese, then topped with the best maple vinaigrette.
Servings: 6 as a side salad
For the Roasted Sweet Potatoes:
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Prep:
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Preheat oven to 425˚F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone liner. Toast pecans on a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently for a few minutes until golden and fragrant then transfer to a plate to cool.
How to Roast Sweet Potatoes:
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Peel and dice sweet potatoes into 1/2” thick pieces and transfer them to a mixing bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper and toss to combine.
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Spread sweet potatoes out onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 425˚F for 30 minutes, flipping the sweet potatoes after 20 minutes to promote even roasting. Remove from the oven and let cool while preparing the salad.
How to Make Salad Dressing:
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In a small bowl or mason jar, combine all of the ingredients for the salad dressing in the order they are listed and thoroughly whisk together until well combined. You may need to re-whisk before dressing the salad since the dressing can separate as it sits.
How to Make Kale Sweet Potato Salad:
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Strip the kale leaves and discard the stems. Rinse and spin dry leaves then finely chop them into thin strips and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with 3/4 of the dressing. Toss for a few minutes with two forks until kale is slightly softened, evenly coated in dressing, and reduced by about 1/4 in volume. Let salad rest for 15 minutes while you add the remaining ingredients.
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Scatter roasted and cooled sweet potatoes over the kale then sprinkle on remaining toppings: sliced apple, toasted and cooled pecans, dried cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle the top with the remaining 1/4 of the dressing or add to taste then enjoy.
376kcal Calories41g Carbs5g Protein23g Fat
Nutrition Facts
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Amount per Serving
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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