This healthy and delicious sweet potato salad has ‘fall’ written all over it! Roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, peppers, celery, onions and wild rice are tossed in a chili-lime vinaigrette.
Well, hi!
Are you all recovering from Halloween? I hope there was lots of chocolate and cute trick-or-treaters, and maybe a celebratory glass of wine in your lives last night. We had two of the three…wine and chocolate, that is. We had only five trick-or-treaters! Sad.
And hand in hand with our chocolate and glass of wine was a verrrry scary movie. Skarknado!
Ben scrolled through the {actually} scary movies on Netflix, and I vetoed them all. Too scary for me {I’m still scared of the basement after watching a few episodes of American Horror Story}. Sharknado it was.
Well, this sweet potato salad recipe was originally slated for earlier in the week…until our house was struck down by the plague {flu}. But maybe the day after Halloween, after we have all eaten more than our share of mini-Snickers bars, is actually better timing for a healthy deeeelicious salad.
This sweet potato salad was inspired a corn/bean/rice salad that my mom always makes. The rice soaks up the amazing white wine/chili powder vinaigrette giving it the ultimate delicious texture, and mild, tangy flavor.
My own version started with roasted sweet potato and wild rice {actually I used a brown rice/wild rice combo}. Then I needed some crunch, so I added some celery. And I wanted more veggies so I added some peppers, carrots, and red onion. Finally the dressing: a white wine vinaigrette with lots of yummy additives: chili powder for that southwestern sorta flavor, honey {maple syrup if you are vegan} for a touch of sweetness {but it is still a savory dressing}, lime juice for some acid, and some garlic.
All together, this sweet potato salad has soft rice, crunchy veggies, sweet…sweet potato, balanced by a savory dressing.
This salad is a keeper. It can work for dinner {just add some grilled chicken}, and it keeps well in the fridge for a few days, making it perfect for lunches.
And it is packed with healthy sweet potato, wild rice, and all those other veggies.
Perfect Halloween detox food.
More fall salad recipes for us
- this Apple Bacon Spinach Salad with Spicy Maple Walnuts
- or this Winter Balsamic Kale Salad with Havarti Crisps
- or how about a Fennel & Pomegranate Quinoa Salad
Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad with a Chili-Lime Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Roasted Sweet Potato
- 1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Salad
- 3/4 cup uncooked wild rice blend
- 1 carrot peeled and grated
- 1 celery cut finely
- 1 red pepper seeded and diced
- 1 yellow pepper seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup red onion diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped
Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons honey {maple syrup to make it vegan}
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Roasted Sweet Potato
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Toss sweet potato in olive oil, ground cumin and chili powder. Arrange on a baking sheet or baking dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes, flip {or just give it a good stir}, and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes, until a fork goes into the sweet potatoes easily.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Salad
- Cook rice according to package directions. You should end up with just over 2 cups of cooked rice. Allow to cool completely before assembling the salad.
- Combine cooled sweet potato, cooled rice, and remaining salad ingredients.
- Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients and toss salad thoroughly.
Nutrition
Products used in this recipe:
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