Sweet Potato Salad

Autumn inspired Sweet Potato Salad. Made with peppery crisp arugula, tender roasted sweet potatoes, thin sliced tart granny smith apples, crunchy maple-ginger candied pecans, tangy feta, and sweetened dried cranberries. And it’s all blanketed in a bright orange-lemon dressing to highlight it.

There’s many reasons to love this beautifully colorful salad. It’s brimming layer after layer of flavor, it has an assortment of nutritious ingredients, and it’s such a pretty seasonal salad during fall and winter months.

It’s perfectly festive and I might even dare say it would be the best Thanksgiving salad you could prepare for the holiday!

Plus once you taste those maple ginger pecans crowning it, you are going to want them on everything. They are so easy to make so you may as well make two batches while you’re at it.

You can modify this sweet potato salad to make it a main dish for a lunch or dinner. Simply add a few cups chopped, pan seared or grilled chicken to the salad. Even a store-bought rotisserie chicken would do.

Sweet Potato Salad Recipe Ingredients

Sweet potatoes: The main ingredient of the salad. They are roasted for more depth of flavor and to bring out their natural sweetness.

Olive oil: This is used to roast the sweet potatoes and also for the dressing. Use standard refined olive oil not extra virgin olive oil unless you want a bolder flavor.

Salt and black pepper: Season ingredients to taste.

Arugula: Preferably use baby arugula which is a younger less boldly flavored option.

Granny Smith apple: I like to use a tart apple here to balance the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, pecans and cranberries.

Feta cheese: You can substitute goat cheese here if preferred.

Dried cranberries: I love the cherry flavored dried cranberries here if you can find them.

Lemon and orange: You’ll need 1 fresh lemon for the juice and 1 fresh navel orange for the zest. The combo makes an excellent dressing.

Maple syrup: Only use real maple syrup here not the imitation pancake syrup. The pecans wouldn’t caramelize properly unless real maple syrup is used.

Dijon mustard: This adds flavor and acts as an emulsifier in the dressing binding the oil and lemon juice together.

Pecans: To save time you can purchase pre-chopped pecans. Whole work great of course too, you’ll just need to chop them into small bits before using them in the recipe.

Ground ginger and cinnamon: These spices add warmth to the candied pecans. It makes them completely irresistible.

How to Roast Sweet Potatoes

Prepare oven and pan: Place oven rack in upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with a sheet of parchment paper.

Roast sweet potatoes: Place potatoes on baking sheet, drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss to evenly coat then spread into an even layer.

Bake sweet potatoes in oven until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes (note that if you didn’t use parchment paper you can broil them during the last few minutes for a more browning if desired).

Cool: Let sweet potatoes cool for at least 10 minutes once removed from the oven.

Prepare Orange Lemon Dressing

Make the dressing: While potatoes are roasting and cooling, prepare dressing. In a mixing bowl whisk together all the dressing ingredients including olive oil, lemon juice, orange zest, 1 tsp maple syrup, the dijon mustard. Season with salt to taste.

Transfer to fridge to chill.

Make Maple Ginger Candied Pecans

Toast pecans with syrup and spices: Heat a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add pecans, maple syrup and sprinkle over ginger, cinnamon and 2 pinches of salt.

Cook pecans, tossing almost constantly, until golden brown and maple syrup is no longer so sticky, about 5 to 6 minutes. If needed reduce heat to medium low during cooking so they don’t burn.

Transfer to a sheet of parchment paper to cool.

Assemble Sweet Potato Salad

Toss arugula with 1/2 of dressing: In a large salad bowl toss together arugula with half of the dressing.

Layer salad ingredients: Top with apple slices, sweet potatoes, maple pecans, feta and cranberries.

Finish with dressing: Drizzle over remaining dressing and serve right away.

Helpful Tips for Sweet Potato Salad

Chilled salad dressing: Just about any salad dressing will benefit from a quick chill in the fridge. It helps thicken the olive oil of the dressing so it’s not as runny. You can even do a quick chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Cut sweet potatoes uniformly: For even roasting work to cut the sweet potatoes into evenly sized cubes.

Browned sweet potatoes: If you want them to brown more you can either sprinkle them with just a few pinches of sugar before roasting, or broil them during the last few minutes of baking (just note you don’t want to use parchment paper for the broiling option).

Let ingredients cool: Let the sweet potatoes and pecans cool before adding them to the salad. For at least 10 minutes. Otherwise they will wilt the arugula and it will no longer have any crispness to it.

Serve salad promptly: After you add dressing to most green salads you’ll want to serve it right away for best results. The dressing begins to wilt the greens as it sits.

Possible Variations

Greens substitute: In place of arugula try baby spinach, baby kale, or a spring green blend.

Sweet potato substitute: This salad would also be tasty with butternut squash.

Nuts: Walnuts or pepitas could be used in place of pecans.

Fillers: For more heartiness add some cooked farro or quinoa.

Protein: Cooked chicken or cooked bacon are good additions for protein.

More Fall Salad Recipes to Try

• Apple Salad
• Kale Salad with Apples
• Pear Salad
• Spinach Salad with Cranberries and Almonds
• Winter Fruit Salad (it’s perfect for fall too!)