Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Arugula is a flavorful dish featuring roasted sweet potatoes, peppery arugula, crisp Romaine, basil, feta cheese, and almonds, all dressed in a garlic vinaigrette. This easy salad can be enjoyed on its own or topped with grilled chicken breast for a heartier meal.
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This Arugula Salad pairs with our recipe for Pan Seared Chicken Breasts. Chicken Breasts are marinated in oil and spices and "grilled" on the stovetop in a cast-iron grill pan. Just slice up the chicken and serve with your salad. It makes a great big bowl meal.
Arugula, also known as rocket, is popular in Italian dishes and has a peppery taste.
What You Need
Sweet potatoes take center stage in this dish. Unlike yams, which are lighter in color, sweet potatoes have a vibrant color and are available year-round, peaking in late summer through mid-fall.
When shopping for sweet potatoes, choose ones that are firm and feel heavy for their size. Avoid those that feel too light, as they may be old and dehydrated. Look for smooth skin without any dents or soft spots to ensure freshness and quality.
Fresh Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes (you can use cubed butternut or acorn squash. Or dice and apple and skip roasting!)
- Salad greens: Arugula, Romaine lettuce (inner light green leaves), fresh basil leaves
- Red onion
- Feta cheese (or fresh goat cheese)
- Sliced almonds (or crushed pecans, walnuts, or pine nuts)
Pantry Items
- Olive oil
- Raw garlic (or sub garlic powder)
- Apple cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
- Dijon mustard
- Lemon juice
- Honey
- Salt & black pepper
See recipe card for quantities.
Putting A Sweet Potato Salad Together
Sweet potatoes are one of our favorite vegetables. When you cube and roast sweet potatoes, they caramelize and get a little crispy. Use this foolproof method to get perfectly roasted sweet potatoes every time.
- Peel potatoes. Slice into 1" rounds. Cut each round into 4 pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Spread out potatoes on a foil or parchment-lined sheet pan. Roast in the center of the oven at 400°F (204° C) for 30 to 40 minutes until tender.
- Whisk together the vinaigrette. Toss salad greens, onions, roasted potatoes, and feta, with 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Toss and serve.
Cider Vinaigrette with Honey
To make the vinaigrette, whisk the apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add the oil in a steady stream and whisk until combined.
The dressing will last for a week in a covered container in the refrigerator.
Variations
To spice this recipe up a bit, you can add chopped jalapeno peppers or red pepper flakes.
For your kids, use all Romaine lettuce. You can even use iceberg lettuce. It is a lot more subtle than the peppery taste of arugula.
For the Kaufmann Phase One Diet, omit the feta cheese and the honey in the vinaigrette. The recipe, as is, is good for the Phase Two Diet.
How to Store Your Salad
This salad will keep in the fridge for about a day if you have dressed it. Without the dressing, you'll get about 2 days.
Like most things I make for dinner, my dinner becomes my breakfast or lunch the next day with a sunny-side egg, or two, on top.
Is Sweet Potato Salad Healthy?
Arugula is a leafy green cruciferous vegetable that's low in calories, fat, and sodium, and it could be a powerful antioxidant.
Roasted Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad is a nutritional powerhouse. Sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamin A, fiber, beta-carotene, and lycopene, making this salad as healthy as it is delicious.
The arugula plant is known to be an excellent source of anticancer phytochemicals that fight free radical damage and slow the aging process. Many of arugula's benefits are due to its generous portions of vital nutrients — such as vitamin K, vitamin A and folate.
DR. JOSH AXE
Frequently Asked Questions
No, one medium-sized sweet potato has about 20 carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber. If you're counting carbs, you can swap the sweet potato in this recipe with cauliflower, which has about 2 net carbs.
There are 450 calories in this Arugula Salad.
Arugula should be stored in the refrigerator. Keep it in a plastic bag or container with a damp paper towel to maintain freshness for up to a week.
"📖 Recipe"
Roasted Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE SWEET POTATOES
- 1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
FOR THE SALAD
- 3 cups baby arugula
- 3 cups Romaine lettuce ,tender inner leaves from 1 head, torn or cut into bite size pieces
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn into bite size pieces
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion, about one quarter of a big red onion
- ¼ cup feta cheese, look for organic cheese in a block, not pre-crumbled
- 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
FOR THE DRESSING
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 2-3 cloves
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
TO ROAST THE SWEET POTATOES
- Peel potatoes. Slice into 1" rounds. Cut each round into 4 pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Spread out potatoes on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Roast on the center rack of your oven at 400 degrees 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Remove pan from the oven to let cool.
FOR THE VINAIGRETTE
- While the potatoes are roasting, whisk the apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, honey and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add the oil in a steady stream and whisk until emulsified. Set aside until ready to use. (The dressing can be made a day in advance.)
FOR THE SALAD
- In a large salad bowl, toss arugula, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, feta cheese, and sliced almonds with 2 tablespoons of dressing. Finish with a flurry of freshly ground black pepper and salt.
- Serve and pass extra dressing at the table.