Kale Sweet Potato Salad

5 from 5 votes

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You’ll need a sheet pan for this filling and tasty kale sweet potato salad. The sweet potatoes turn out soft in the middle and golden at the edges, and the chickpeas are crispy, giving you crunch and texture, all essential for a good salad. It also has crumbled feta and sunflower seeds and is tossed in a mustardy vinaigrette. Trust me, this is a fantastic big salad.

After eating it, you will be craving more greens and roasted veggies like this roasted corn salad, this roasted golden beet salad or this roasted chickpea greek salad.

Kale salad with roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas in a bowl.

Why You Need This Salad

It’s basically a sheet pan meal. Since the featured ingredients roast together in the oven on a baking sheet, I think it fits into that category. Yes, there are a couple other steps outside the pan, but it still has that simple prep.

Adding roasted ingredients does wonders to the usual kale salad. I know not everyone gets super excited about kale. As a big fan, I am biased, but trust me. This combination of roasted chickpeas and sweet potatoes balances out those sturdy leafy greens.

The feta and sunflower seed finish is so good. I don’t want to just call them garnish because they do way more. Salty crumbled feta and sunflower seeds add to the urge you will have to eat every single bite of this salad.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including sweet potatoes, chickpeas, kale, lemon, sunflower seeds, feta, olive oil, vinegar and scallions.

This is what you need:

  • Sweet potatoes: The recipe calls for 1 pound, which is about 2 medium sweet potatoes. Make sure to peel the potatoes before dicing them. You can substitute with butternut squash.
  • Chickpeas: Rinse a can of chickpeas and pat them off with a towel before tossing them with the sweet potatoes on the pan.
  • Kale: You can use curly green kale or dark green lacinato kale (also known as dino kale).
  • Feta: I love including crumbled feta in the salad, but goat cheese would be another great option.
  • Sunflower seeds add crunch. You can swap them out and use pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts or almonds instead.
  • Scallions give the salad a light oniony flavor. If you want something a little stronger, thinly slice half a small red onion.
  • Olive oil: Go with extra virgin olive oil for roasting the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. And also use it in the salad dressing.
  • Lemon juice gives the vinaigrette something bright and citrusy.
  • White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or sherry vinegar can all be used in the dressing.
  • Garlic: There is 1 minced clove in the vinaigrette.
  • Mustard: The recipe includes 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard to really thicken the dressing to take on the kale leaves.
  • Salt & pepper season both the sweet potatoes and chickpeas for roasting and season the vinaigrette too.

How To Make A Kale Sweet Potato Salad

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

1. Toss the sweet potatoes and chickpeas with olive oil, salt and pepper on a sheet pan.

2. Roast the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Give them 25-30 minutes in the oven. The potatoes should be lightly browned at the edges and tender in the middle. The chickpeas should be crispy.

Sweet potatoes and chickpeas on a sheet pan before and after roasting.

3. Combine the roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas, kale, scallions, feta cheese and sunflower seeds in a big bowl.

4. Make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas, feta, sunflower seeds, kale and other salad ingredients combined in a large bowl. The vinaigrette whisked in a small bowl.

5. Drizzle the vinaigrette into the salad. Toss to combine. The dressing does a good job coating the entire salad, so you don’t need to massage it into the kale.

6. Divide the salad into serving bowls or onto plates.

The salad tossed with the vinaigrette in a large bowl. The finished salad in a serving bowl.

Serving

Even though I eat this roasted sweet potato kale salad weekly, I still think it is worthy of a Thanksgiving side dish or another holiday meal. To turn it into an even heartier main dish salad, feel free to add a protein like roasted chicken or salmon, shrimp or even tofu.

Leftovers & Storage

The salad is best eaten right after it’s made. That’s because the chickpeas will lose their crispness. You can store the salad in an airtight container up to 3 days. Again, remember that the chickpeas will become soft.

With a salad, it’s always best if you can plan ahead. If you’re doing meal prep, wait to dress the salad until you are about to eat it. Keep the vinaigrette in a separate mason jar. Then your greens will stay more fresh.

Kale salad with roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas in a bowl.

Recipe Tips

Try to cut the sweet potato about the same size. This is so they cook evenly. I know this can be challenging because potatoes are an irregular shape. Do your best to dice them into 1/2 inch cubes.

As mentioned, you can make the vinaigrette in advance. Just remember to remove it from the fridge. The oil will harden in the cold temperatures, so it needs about 10 minutes to turn to liquid again. Then give it a good stir.

If you don’t like kale, you can substitute with another type of lettuce. Chopped romaine is my first choice for its crunch. Also, it will stand up to the weight of the sweet potatoes and chickpeas better than baby arugula.

Recipe FAQs

Is this a gluten-free salad?

Yes!

How do you make this recipe vegan?

Either leave out the feta or use a plant-based cheese as a substitute.

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Kale Sweet Potato Salad

5 from 5 votes
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Servings: 4
With sunflower seeds, feta and lemon mustard vinaigrette, if there is such a thing as a simple sheet pan salad, this sweet potato chickpea kale salad is it.

Ingredients 

For salad

  • 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2-inch (about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
  • 1-15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 large bunch curly kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

For vinaigrette

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  • On a sheet pan, toss the sweet potatoes and chickpeas with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Spread into a single layer. Roast for 25-30 minutes until the sweet potatoes are browned at the edges and the chickpeas are crisp.
  • Combine the sweet potatoes and chickpeas with the kale, scallions, feta and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
  • For the vinaigrette, whisk together the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl.
  • Drizzle the vinaigrette into the salad, tossing to combine.

Notes

Instead of sweet potatoes, you can substitute with butternut squash.
Pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts or almonds can be used instead of sunflower seeds.
The salad is best the day it is made. The chickpeas will lose their crispy bite the longer after you roast them.
Store leftover salad and vinaigrette in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Remember that the chickpeas will become soft.
You can make the vinaigrette up to 2 days in advance. Let it sit out at room temperature for 10 minutes before stirring it and tossing it into the salad.

Nutrition

Calories: 434kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 1721mg | Potassium: 704mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 17642IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 178mg | Iron: 3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
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Hi, I'm Paige.

Welcome to Last Ingredient where you will find simple seasonal recipes with plenty of fruits and vegetables, all for the home cook.

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