My colorful sweet potato salad is filled with lots of sweet, savory and crunchy morsels such as dried cranberries, blue cheese, crumbled bacon, and pecans, all tossed together with a warm bacon vinaigrette. It's a uniquely scrumptious side dish to offer up during the autumn season, and even a delicious addition to your holiday spread!
Sweet Potato Salad, a Sweet & Savory Side Dish
Hearty potato salads, loaded to the brim with tasty tidbits, have always been the type of side dish that I really enjoy preparing and tucking into.
During the fall, one of my favorite potato salad recipes to whip up is a sweet potato salad, one that makes use of freshly-roasted and tender sweet potatoes. They're the perfect spud to use when I really want to make a colorful impression for a light meal or even a holiday spread!
Warm out of the oven, the cubes of sweet potato take on a sweet and savory flair when I toss them together with some wonderful tidbits such as crumbles of blue cheese, sweet dried cranberries, crunchy pecans, smokey bits of crisp bacon, and a warm bacon vinaigrette for a little pop of savory tanginess.
Each bite of this unique and easy side dish has a hint of crunch, sweetness, saltiness and freshness, and it's a terrifically tasty way to dress up some roasted sweet potatoes.
How to Make a Flavorful Sweet Potato Salad
Roasting off peeled sweet potatoes that have been cut into small cubes is a great way to bring out their natural sweetness. That little hint of caramelization around the edges lends a bit of extra texture as well, of course, which is always good eats!
For this sweet potato salad recipe I chose ingredients that would provide a little surprise in each bite, both texturally and flavor-wise.
Dried cranberries tend to highlight the sweetness in this salad, and bring some tart chewiness; and the blue cheese crumbles add a touch of creamy, salty pungency which pairs delectably with the crispy bacon and the warm bacon vinaigrette.
I like to toss in some toasted pecans for nutty crunch as well, and the touch of chopped parsley brings some freshness and an extra pop of color.
Here's a peek at my sweet potato salad recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)
- To begin, I roast my cubed sweet potatoes until tender and caramelized, then add those to a large bowl.
- While the sweet potatoes roast, I add my bacon to a large pan, and cook until crisp. I reserve a couple of tablespoons of the bacon drippings from the pan, and allow the bacon to cool before chopping
- Next, I prepare my warm bacon vinaigrette to have on hand, ready to be gently heated.
- To prepare the sweet potato salad, I add the remainder of the ingredients to the roasted sweet potatoes in the bowl, gently heat my bacon vinaigrette in a small pan for about 30 seconds, then pour that over and toss everything together to coat.
- To serve, I spoon the salad into a serving bowl or onto a platter, garnish with chopped parsley and serve warm or room temp.
Recipe
Sweet Potato Salad
by Ingrid Beer
Category: Side
Cuisine: American
Yield: Serves 6
Nutrition Info: 542 calories
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Sweet Potato Salad Ingredients:
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- Olive or avocado oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 12 ounces (about 10 strips) apple-smoked bacon, cooked crisp and chopped, with 2 tablespoons of the drippings reserved
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup blue cheese crumbles
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Warm Bacon Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons, heaping, honey
- 2 tablespoons reserved bacon drippings
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup olive or avocado oil
- Preheat oven to 400°, and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Toss the cubed sweet potatoes with a couple of drizzles of the oil, plus a couple of pinches of salt and black pepper, and roast for about 20 minutes, or until tender; allow to cool slightly until warm.
- While the sweet potatoes roast, prepare the warm bacon vinaigrette: place a large skillet over high heat and add in the strips of bacon; once crisped, remove the bacon from the pan, reserving 2 tablespoons of the drippings, and allow the bacon to cool before chopping it.
- Add all of the ingredients up to and including the black pepper, along with the reserved bacon drippings, to the bowl of a food processor, and process until blended; with the processor running, drizzle in the olive or avocado oil until complete blended and emulsified.
- When ready to serve, pour the vinaigrette into a small sauce pan and very gently heat for about 30 seconds or so, just until warm.
- To assemble the salad, turn the roasted sweet potatoes out into a large bowl, and add in the chopped bacon, cranberries, blue cheese, pecans and parsley; drizzle in some of the warm bacon vinaigrette to taste (you will have some leftover), toss to coat, and check to see if any additional salt and pepper is needed.
- Serve warm or room temp.
Tips & Tidbits for My Sweet Potato Salad:
- Prepare ahead for easy sweet potato salad: Certain elements of this recipe can be prepped ahead of time to expedite the process. You can crisp up the bacon (reserving some of the bacon drippings), then chop that and prep the bacon vinaigrette. (Keep the vinaigrette in the fridge and then gently heat it before serving.) You can also prepare the cranberries, blue cheese and pecans, and have those portioned out. Then, simply roast the sweet potatoes and toss with the ingredients before serving.
- Tasty substitutions: You can sub dried cherries for the cranberries, walnuts for the pecans, goat cheese or feta for the blue cheese, and even omit the bacon if you desire. If you do this, then proceed with the vinaigrette without using the bacon drippings, substituting in extra olive oil instead.
- Reheat the leftovers: Any leftovers of this salad can very gently be reheated in a toaster oven for convenience. Just place onto a foil or parchment paper-lined tray, and heat at 350° for about 10-15 minutes.
Craving more delicious sweet potato recipes? Check out this Sweet Potato Hash, this Sweet Potato Skillet Chili, or this Breakfast Burrito!
Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2014, and has been updated with even more love!
Julie @ Lovely Little Kitchen
Ingrid, this recipe looks wonderful. Love all the toppings!
The Cozy Apron
Julie, thanks so much!
Melissa @ Bless this Mess
This looks so very perfect! I can't wait to try it!
The Cozy Apron
Thanks, Melissa!
Thalia @ butter and brioche
This is a definitely perfect thanksgiving side salad. Even though we don't celebrate thanksgiving here in Australia - I definitely will be making the recipe for myself. Thanks for sharing it.. looks delicious!
The Cozy Apron
I appreciate that, Thalia! (Enjoy your summer! 🙂 )
The Cozy Apron
Hi Amy! I am so glad that you've brought that to my attention, because it's a boo-boo! I forgot to remove that line out of the recipe (the addition of the Brussels sprouts), because I decided against adding them at the last minute and forgot to amend that. So no, you're not missing anything! There are no Brussels sprouts! 🙂 I'll be fixing that...
EDIT: And it's fixed!
Sherry
Can't wait to try this! What do you think about using butternut squash along with the sweet potatoes? I was planning on roasting squash tomorrow but now I might have to make this instead!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Sherry, thanks for your question! Honestly, I would keep it to just the sweet potatoes if you plan on making this salad, as to not have conflicting textures. Hope you enjoy if you prepare it! 🙂
Karen
Can I make it ahead and serve it cold? Would that work, or would the bacon drippings make it weird?
The Cozy Apron
HI Karen, that should be just fine! See, you'll use the drippings in the vinaigrette, and toss the salad with it; so once it's been incorporated, you can keep it in the fridge and enjoy it cold, as well.
carol
I have been making this salad for several years for the holidays, but I add spinach to mine. If time is short, I just grab a jar of the marzetti's spinach salad dressing and I am good to go.
Amber
I was wondering if it would be totally gross to take out the blue cheese and add a goat cheese instead. In addition, I wondered about adding some honey roasted beets?
The Cozy Apron
Amber, that wouldn't be "gross" at all, lol! Whatever your preference is, that's what you should go with. And the honey roasted beets would surely be very nice! Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Leesa
I'm so happy I saw this comment. I'm not a blue cheese fan and I immediatelythought of goat cheese as a possible idea. Cant wait to try it.
Cecilia Rawlins
This recipe looks amazing. I'd like to leave out the bacon. I eat no meat. It was actually easy to give up bacon since I am probably the only person on the face of the earth who does not like it.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Cecilia, by all means, leave out the bacon! 🙂
Lee
Ohmyword!! Loved this!! I did add leftover honey mustard chicken, honey crisp apples and homemade Boursin cheese!! Thanks so much for a new way to use sweet potatoes!
God Bless!!
The Cozy Apron
Lee, I'm thrilled you enjoyed this so much! Thank you for sharing your experience with it!
Adri
Thank you for this recipe do we cut the sweet potatoes into cubes raw and then roast them? Or do we boil then in water first and then roast? Thank you very much.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Adri! Yes, cube them raw and then roast them. Hope you enjoy!
Jamie Rosehart
This Warm Roasted Sweet Potato Salad was AMAZING! I can't thank you enough for sharing this as my husband was ha-ha-humming at the dinner table with this side dish. I did microwave the potatoes instead to cook and then just mixed everything together and it was still sooo good. This will now be cooked for potlucks and for my in-laws as it was so easy and makes me appear that I can cook! HAHA. I now trust that all your recipes are amazing and will be using many more. I will also be waiting for an Apple Crumb Cake 🙂 Thank you.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jamie, I’m so excited this recipe turned out to be such a hit for you! I love it! And yes—definitely go and check out some more of our recipes to prepare; I think you’ll find a lot more to make your hubby “ooh” and “ah” over, and impress your mother-in-law with!
Lorraine Boult
I would like to serve a meat barbecued........what would you recommend??
The Cozy Apron
Anything would pretty much go with this, Lorraine! Grilled chicken or even a good steak (flank steak is great cooked to medium-rare and sliced against the grain) would be tasty. Even burgers! Hope you enjoy.
Amy
Thank you! This recipe looks delicious, minus the bacon for me but I am sure it would still work fine. Cannot wait to try it out !
The Cozy Apron
Thanks Amy! Hope you give this a try!
Tiggie
Wondering if this could translate to sweet potato toast? Topping the "toast" with the bacon, cranberries, cheese and vinaigrette?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Tiggie, you sure could! I think this sweet potato salad would make a really tasty and colorful topping for toasted baguette/crostini.