This Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad features crisp romaine lettuce, Tuscan kale, red bell pepper, Medjool dates, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds together with roasted or air fried sweet potatoes, all tossed in a tangy dressing.
This salad offers a vibrant balance of sweetness, savory notes, and crunch, making it a wholesome choice for any meal.
Kale salads are a powerhouse of nutrition. In the winter months, I make this Kale and Cara Cara Orange Salad, Winter Persimmon Kale Salad, Tuscan Kale Salad with Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing, or Butternut Squash Salad with Cranberries and Feta.
When strawberries are available in late spring, this Strawberry Kale Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing is often on my table!
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🛒 Ingredients for kale sweet potato salad
- kale: I prefer Tuscan Kale, also known as Black Kale or Dinosaur Kale or Lacinato Kale for salads.
- romaine: adding crisp romaine brings a contrast in color and texture to this salad
- sweet potato: chopped and roasted or air fried
- red bell pepper: seeded and diced
- Medjool dates: pitted and finely chopped
- roasted sunflower seeds
- feta cheese
- Hollyhock Nutritional Yeast ("Nooch") dressing
See the recipe card below for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
- Prepare the sweet potatoes: Either roast the sweet potato cubes in the oven or air fry them.
- Prepare the kale: Finely chop the kale and massage it with olive oil and a pinch of salt with your fingertips until slightly softened and tenderized.
- Assemble: Add the chopped romaine, diced red pepper, chopped dates, and crumbled feta cheese to a bowl along with the kale.
- Serve: add the roasted sweet potato cubes and sunflower seeds and toss with dressing just before serving.
Peel and chop a sweet potato. Either roast in the oven or air fry.
Finely chop kale and massage it with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.
🔁 Substitutions
- Greens - use your favorite lettuce along with the kale.
- Dates - feel free to substitute other dried fruit like dried cranberries, raisins, or dried apricots.
- Feta cheese - substitute goat cheese.
- Vegan - omit the feta cheese to make this a vegan salad recipe.
🔁 Variations
- Add a protein: Make it a Sweet Potato Chicken Kale Salad by adding cooked or shredded chicken, or add cooked shrimp, crabmeat, salmon or tuna.
- Change the dressing: Use Honey-Dijon Dressing as in I did in this Sweet Potato Spinach Salad with Maple Walnuts and Bacon here on my site.
🕑 Storage
Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two. If you're making this ahead of time, add the sunflower seeds and the dressing just before serving.
👍🏼 Top tip
When roasting or air frying sweet potato cubes, be sure to lay them spaced out in a single layer. Spacing them allows the air to flow around them, resulting in crisp, caramelized edges.
Winter Salads
What to serve with sweet potato kale salad
These are my favorite dishes to serve with this kale salad:
📖 Recipe
Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad with Nutritional Yeast Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into ½-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, extra virgin
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 bunch Tuscan kale, stems removed and finely chopped
- 1 small head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 4 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- ¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup Hollyhock nutritional yeast dressing, recipe below
Nutritional Yeast Dressing
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast, (not Brewer's yeast or baker's yeast)
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup tamari, gluten-free if necessary
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 large clove garlic, or 2 small cloves
- 1 cup neutral vegetable oil, live avocado oil, sunflower or grape seed oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) or preheat your air fryer to 400°F. for 3 minutes.
- Roast the sweet potatoes: Place the diced sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Roast in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and slightly caramelized. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Alternatively, air fry the sweet potatoes for 12 minutes, turning part way through cooking time.
- Massage the kale: In a mixing bowl, add the finely chopped kale. Drizzle with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt. Massage the kale with your hands for a few minutes until it becomes tender and dark green.
- Prepare the dressing: In a blender, whisk blend the nutritional yeast, water, apple cider vinegar, tamari, garlic cloves until well combined. Add the oil gradually until emulsified.
- Assemble the salad: In a large salad bowl, combine the massaged kale, chopped romaine lettuce, diced red bell pepper, chopped Medjool dates, crumbled feta cheese, and sunflower seeds.
- Add the roasted sweet potatoes: Once the sweet potatoes have cooled slightly, add them to the salad bowl.
- Toss with dressing: Drizzle the Hollyhock Nutritional Yeast Dressing. Toss the salad gently until everything is well coated with the dressing.
- Serve: Transfer the salad to serving plates or bowls and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Marj
A delicious salad with a stellar dressing!