This fantastic kale sweet potato salad with feta, chickpeas and dried cranberries is a tasty and filling salad for fall. Perfect as a light main course, or a hearty side dish.
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This salad is certainly dressed to impress, with beautiful autumnal colors and textures. With a taste and look of fall, it's the perfect main course or side dish salad for the season.
I love salads as main courses, particularly for lunch, and this kale and cranberry salad is one of my recent favorites. It's easy to make and stores really well, making it perfect as a meal prep dish.
If you love this recipe, make sure to check out my smoked salmon and quinoa salad, Lemon Kale Salad and kale salad with apples too!
🥗 More SALAD RECIPES from Hint of Healthy
Ingredients
To make this salad you will need kale, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, tahini, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, feta cheese.
The chickpeas and sweet potatoes are roasted in a spice mix consisting of turmeric, smoked paprika, garlic, cumin, coriander and garam masala.
💡 TIP! Feel free to add or substitute any of the ingredients. Salads are highly customizable, and you can easily edit the recipe to suit your preferences.
Instructions
Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, and place them on a sheet pan. Add drained and rinsed canned chickpeas, along with some olive oil and all the seasoning. Stir to coat the potatoes and chickpeas evenly with the spices and oil.
Roasted in an oven at 360 °F / 180 °C for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork.
Meanwhile, chop the kale and add it to a bowl. Add the juice from half a lemon and tahini, and use your hands to roughly massage the kale. This will coat the leaves in the dressing, but also break down the fibers in the kale, making it easier to chew and digest.
Add pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and feta cheese to the kale, along with the roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas as soon as they come out of the oven.
Store the salad in a refrigerator until it's ready to serve, or enjoy it immediately.
Top tips
- I love to add plenty of seasoning to the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. This gives the salad so much flavor!
- Make sure to roast the chickpeas and sweet potatoes thoroughly. The potatoes should be soft enough to easily pierce with a fork, and the chickpeas should be crispy.
- Massage the kale with your hands to break up the fibers. This makes the greens more appetizing, and easier to digest.
Serving suggestions
Here are some main courses I'd love to pair with the kale sweet potato salad for a more filling and complete meal:
- Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin - This easy tenderloin recipe is perfect for quick dinners.
- Honey Mustard Pork Chops - The honey mustard flavors are excellent paired with the sweet potatoes.
- Air Fryer Chicken Breast - Pair the salad with air fried chicken breasts.
- Balsamic Maple Glazed Salmon - This intricate salad goes so well with this simple glazed salmon recipe.
Dressing
You can use any dressing of your choice for this salad. Here are some of my favorites to pair it with:
Variations
If you're looking to change the recipe up, I suggest trying any of these variations:
Dairy free / vegan: Remove the feta cheese. The salad will still be lovely!
Add meat: Cooked chicken, leftover roast turkey or leftover ham would be fantastic additions to the salad.
Make it lighter: As this salad is very hearty and filling, you might want to lighten it up slightly to serve it as a side salad. Try replacing the kale with spinach, and reducing the amount of sweet potatoes.
Leftovers
Leftover sweet potato and kale salad can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 3 days. The individual ingredients can be stored separately for an additional couple of days, allowing you to assemble fresh salads through the week.
If you prefer to add the sweet potatoes and chickpeas to the salad while they are warm, you can store these separately and reheat them before adding them to the leftover salad later on.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely! Keep in mind that spinach should not be massaged in the same way as kale.
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Recipe
Kale and Sweet Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 handfuls kale
- 1 14 oz can of chickpeas (400 g, drained)
- ½ lemon (juice only)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- 1 small piece of feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
Instructions
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, and place them on a sheet pan. Add drained and rinsed canned chickpeas, along with some olive oil and all the seasoning. Stir to coat the potatoes and chickpeas evenly with the spices and oil.
- Roast the sweet potatoes and chickpeas in an oven at 360 °F / 180 °C for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork.
- Meanwhile, chop the kale and add it to a bowl. Add the juice from half a lemon and tahini, and use your hands to roughly massage the kale. This will coat the leaves in the dressing, but also break down the fibers in the kale, making it easier to chew and digest.
- Add pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and feta cheese to the kale, along with the roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Store the salad in a refrigerator until it’s ready to serve, or enjoy it immediately.
Video
Notes
- I love to add plenty of seasoning to the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. This gives the salad so much flavor!
- Make sure to roast the chickpeas and sweet potatoes thoroughly. The potatoes should be soft enough to easily pierce with a fork, and the chickpeas should be crispy.
- Massage the kale with your hands to break up the fibers. This makes the greens more appetizing, and easier to digest.
- Leftover sweet potato and kale salad can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Alison
This looks so healthy and delicious. The kale, sweet potatoes and walnuts are a perfect combination of fall flavors.
Tonje
Yes! This is a perfect salad for autumn 🙂
Tatiana
YUMMMM. I love the flavor combo in this hearty, satisfying salad! I’ll definitely make this.
Tonje
It's definitely very satiating 🙂
Jess
What a beautiful salad for autumn! This is one recipe I want to jump right in on. It's perfect for this time of year!
Tonje
I agree 🙂 The flavors are perfect for the colder weather!
Pam Greer
Such an amazing salad! We love it as a main dish salad and sometimes we have it as a side salad with some rotisserie chicken!
Tonje
That's great! I usually have this as an easy main for lunch, but I bet it's great with rotisserie chicken too!
Traci
I absolutely love sweet potato and chickpeas together. This recipe is winning all around! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Tonje
Me too, they are a great combo! Glad you like it 🙂
Teresa T McNeill
What about a dressing for the salad? Would Poppy Seed or Sweet Vadalia Onion Dressing be good on it or maybe a Raspberry Vinigrette?
Tonje
Great question! Any dressing or vinaigrette could work. I actually posted a maple vinaigrette yesterday which I think would be perfect with this salad. I've linked to it from this recipe now 🙂