This roasted sweet potato and feta salad is an easy, healthy jumble of roasted sweet potatoes and onions, tangy feta cheese, spinach, and a simple red wine and Dijon vinaigrette. So not one of those boring New Year’s resolutions you have to force yourself to eat.
Roasted Sweet Potato and Feta Salad
Ingredients
- For the roasted sweet potatoes
- For the honey dressing
- For the the roasted sweet potato and feta salad
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).
Place the sweet potatoes and red onions on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and gently toss to coat everything well, being careful to keep the onion wedges intact. Arrangee the vegetables in a single layer and roast for 30 minutes.
Turn the vegetables and continue to roast for 30 more minutes. The onions should be blissfully soft and caramelized and the sweet potatoes should be tender with tinges of brown at the edges.
While the vegetables are roasting, combine the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and process until combined.
Arrange the spinach in a shallow bowl or on a platter and scatter the warm onions and sweet potatoes over it. (If the spinach wilts a bit, all the better!) Drizzle with the dressing. Scatter the feta over the top. Grind some pepper over the salad and serve immediately. (If you don’t think you’ll consume all of it at once, don’t assemble all the parts and store them separately.) Originally published March 21, 2011.
Recipe Testers' Reviews
I’ve made this recipe three times since first trying it. The combination is just perfect. I love the colors—the red onion, orange sweet potatoes, the dark green spinach, and white cheese. With all of those colors, it has to be good for you. I made the recipe exactly as written the first time, and in the last two times, I added more honey to make more of a sweet and sour dressing. Loved it!
The simple act of writing this evaluation is making me drool! In classical mythology, the word “ambrosia” is defined as food or drink for the gods. To me, this lovely combination of ingredients qualifies as ambrosia. The three parts of this recipe each have their own layering of flavors, while an addition of ground or cracked pepper in each stage of the recipe greatly enhances the flavor.
I served this recipe as a combination salad/side dish with roasted chicken and French bread. Although best served right away, the small amount that was left over was wonderful the next day.
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I loved this recipe, and would definitely make it again with a few minor changes. I used half the amount of oil that the recipe called for (1/8 cup), and felt that was more than sufficient to prevent the diced sweet potato from sticking to the pan. I left the root in the red onion and cut my wedges into the root, which kept them nicely intact. I also felt the oven temperature should have been higher—I cooked the 1-inch dices at 375 on convection for 45 minutes, and that resulted in a delicious crisp exterior and soft inside, along with a nice caramelization of the onions. The dressing seemed a touch too heavy on the Dijon for me, so next time, I’d cut the mustard down to 1 tablespoon and add some fresh citrus for a lighter, cleaner flavor. Overall, I loved the presentation—the orange of the sweet potato, the bright green of the spinach, and the deep red of the onion were gorgeous on a white platter. I served it as an entrée, and my family definitely felt satisfied, so this salad would make a good vegetarian main course.
So glad you loved the recipe, Tania. And I love your tweaks.
This recipe is so short and simple that even the worst cook in the world could throw it together and impress the harshest of critics. The combination of sweet, warm potato with the feta was, as always with such a duo, absolutely delicious. The spinach provided a nice, green flavour to tone down the strong flavours of the potato and feta. As for the dressing, I found there to be a little too much honey for my taste, as the roasted potatoes provide more than enough sweetness for the dish. The next time I make it, I’ll use 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of honey, rather than 2 tablespoons. Also, a bit of crunch would have been welcome, so perhaps some toasted pumpkin seeds scattered over the top would be a nice addition. But overall, in what was a hectic week, I was glad for such a simple recipe—minimum effort with maximum taste!
Laughs. Like the way you see the world, Megan! Love your tweaks as well. Always like to hear how folks adapt a recipe to make it their own…
Tangy vinegrette, tender roasted onions, oven-caramelized sweet potatoes, and bitter greens make a nuanced dinner salad. Sweet potato hater really enjoyed this – a quite amazing turn of events. I’ll make it again.
I made with commercially available Red Dandelions (chicory), Belgian endive, spring onions, and green garlic, all thinly sliced. Because it was languishing in the refrigerator, I added a roasted beet; it was nice but not necessary. Feta adds a lot, as does the mustardy vinaigrette (there’ll be leftovers).
We had as a very filling main course salad and served it with crusty bread only. Eating it put us in a good mood all evening. Thanks for the recipe!
Wonderful, Laurie! You’re very welcome! I love that you used endive with this, it lends such a lovely, barely bitter note to anything with richness. And so very glad that you were able to woo the sweet potato hater over to the other side. Looking forward to hearing which recipe on the site you try next…
Love this recipe with 2 of my fave ingredients, spinach and sweet potato, and the fact that it is gluten free.
Gluten Freed, thanks so much for taking the time to let us know. We like it, too, for the fact that it’s gluten free as well as satiating and nutritious but in a really lovely way. Funny how healthful food can be enticing for so many reasons.
I like making a recipe after reading the comments. In this case, I picked up on the idea of adding something crunchy. I toasted a handful of walnuts and added them, still warm, on top of the salad. It made a great dish even better!
Love the collaborative crowdsourcing on this recipe! Many thanks, everyone. Not surprisingly, 12 minds are better than one…