Roasted Sweet Potato Salad is a unique, colorful, healthy and best of all delicious alternative to mayonnaise-based potato or macaroni salad for your summer picnics!
It’s that time of year again to pull out the checkered tablecloth, fire up the grill and invite family and friends to come over to help celebrate America’s birthday! And this week I will be sharing the perfect tasty Fourth of July menu including this easy make-ahead side dish of Roasted Sweet Potato Salad, hot off the grill Beer Can Chicken and to round things out, a fantastic Frozen Lemonade Pie topped with fresh summer blueberries and raspberries. On July 4 families across the country will be commemorating the Continental Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, with picnics, trips to the beach, lake or pool, and my favorite tradition watching fireworks.
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad is a unique, colorful, healthy and best of all delicious alternative to traditional mayonnaise-based potato or macaroni salads for your Fourth of July festivities. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene). They are also an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. Additionally, they are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus.
Because I’m a blogger, we usually have our holiday meal a week early so I can share the recipes with you before the holiday and for the Fourth, this was my plan. However, sometimes the best-laid plans go awry, and we had a water pipe burst on Saturday, which meant we had no water at our house for the rest of the weekend. Thankfully we were able to get a plumber to our house first thing this morning, and I’m back in business! I can’t wait to share this scrumptious recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with you.
Be on the lookout for the rest of my recipes for the Fourth of July later this week, which includes my foolproof Grilled Beer Can Chicken, or regular Grilled Chicken and to cool things off an easy Frozen Lemonade Pie, or easy Mixed Berry Sherbet.
If you are looking for a little more traditional potato salad, also check out my recipe for Southern Potato Salad.
The ingredient list for Roasted Sweet Potato Salad may look a little daunting, but trust me everything comes together quickly, and you will not believe how flavorful it is. My husband loved it and said it’s his new favorite potato salad! The ingredients are sweet potatoes, olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper, ground cumin, ground ginger, roasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, scallions, roasted red pepper, balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, Dijon mustard and an unusual and “top-secret” ingredient-mango chutney. (You can find mango chutney in the Indian cuisine or international section of your grocery store.)
To make the salad, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Mix the sweet potatoes with the olive oil on a large baking pan or cookie sheet and toss to combine. Make sure that the sweet potatoes are evenly covered with olive oil.
In a small bowl, combine the rosemary, salt, pepper, cumin, and ginger. Stir to combine.
Sprinkle evenly over the sweet potatoes and toss to combine. Spread the sweet potatoes out in a single layer and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown, which should take about 20-25 minutes. Do not overcook the sweet potatoes; you want them to be still firm enough, so they will stand up in the salad.
Meanwhile, add the cranberries, scallions, and red pepper to a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
To make the dressing, combine the balsamic vinegar, mango chutney, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic and olive oil in a mason jar and shake well. Or you can combine everything in a small bowl and whisk until all the dressing ingredients are combined.
To assemble the salad, put the roasted sweet potatoes in a large bowl, add the cranberries, scallions, roasted red pepper and half of the dressing. Toss carefully and taste. Add additional salt and pepper if needed, and more salad dressing if you like. Sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
- 4 medium-size sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions green and white parts
- 1/2 cup jarred roasted sweet peppers chopped
- 1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds without the hulls
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Dressing
- 6 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup regular or sweet mango chutney not hot
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced or grated
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
- To make the salad, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Mix the sweet potatoes with the olive oil on a large baking pan or cookie sheet and toss to combine. Make sure that the sweet potatoes are evenly covered with olive oil.
- In a small bowl, combine the rosemary, salt, pepper, cumin, and ginger. Stir to combine.
- Sprinkle evenly over the sweet potatoes and toss to combine. Spread the sweet potatoes out in a single layer and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender and golden brown, which should take about 20-25 minutes. Do not overcook the sweet potatoes, you want them to be still firm enough so they will stand up in the salad.
- Meanwhile, add the cranberries, scallions, and red pepper to a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
Salad Dressing
- To make the dressing, combine the balsamic vinegar, mango chutney, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic and olive oil in a mason jar and shake well. Or you can combine everything in a small bowl and whisk until all the dressing ingredients are combined.
Assembly
- To assemble the salad, put the roasted sweet potatoes in a large bowl, add the cranberries, scallions, roasted red pepper and half of the dressing. Toss carefully and taste. Add additional salt and pepper if needed, and more salad dressing if you like. Sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Fred Christopherson says
December 29, 2016 at 3:24 pmHow big do you consider “medium” sweet potatoes to be. Can you give some indication of weight or volume?
Thanks!
Gritsandpinecones says
December 29, 2016 at 4:06 pmHi Fred,
I’m so sorry, but I don’t have a food scale to weigh one for you. But, I have what I consider several large ones and it seems they average 8-9 inches long. So I would probably consider a potato around 6 inches long medium. I wouldn’t worry too much about being exact in size, this recipe is very forgiving. If your potatoes are larger and you don’t think you have enough dressing, just add a little more chutney, vinegar, and honey and you should be fine. If your potatoes are smaller and you think you might have too much dressing, just add a little bit at a time until you think you have enough.
I hope you enjoy it!
Sharon