This Sweet Potato Salad has all the best flavors and textures of Fall wrapped in one delicious salad. It’s loaded with roasted sweet potatoes, kale, crisp apple, and crunchy pecans with the best maple vinaigrette dressing. Watch the video tutorial, and you’ll be craving it.
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During the cooler months, I can’t get enough of sweet potatoes, especially for Sweet Potato Soup (my husband’s favorite soup!), and we couldn’t close out the year without making classic Sweet Potato Casserole. We also have Sweet Potatoes and Bacon on repeat this time of year.
Sweet Potato Salad Video Tutorial
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A platter of Kale Sweet Potato Salad looks stunning on the Thanksgiving table, but it’s also a satisfying dinner salad, and you can roast the sweet potatoes ahead for easy meal prep. The best part? Since kale doesn’t get soggy like other leafy greens, this leftover kale salad keeps really well in the refrigerator.
Why You’ll Love Kale Sweet Potato Salad
- Feel-good recipe – this salad is packed with many healthy greens and veggies. It’s a hearty and satisfying salad and feels like a meal in itself.
- Make-Ahead – you can roast the sweet potatoes a day ahead and pre-chop your kale (see make-ahead tips below).
- Leftovers keep well – don’t throw away any leftover salad! Unlike most leafy green salads, a kale salad doesn’t get soggy after adding the dressing. Refrigerated leftovers taste great the next day (see storage tips below).
- The best dressing – you’ll love the combination of flavors in this maple vinaigrette with just the right amount of sweetness. It’s simple to make; just whisk or shake it up in a mason jar.
Ingredients for Sweet Potato Salad
- Sweet Potatoes – You’ll need 1 1/2 lbs (about 2 medium or 3 smaller sized), tossed with oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. You can leave the skin on or peel it with a potato peeler.
- Kale – 1 bunch should yield 10 cups chopped. Be sure to strip the leaves and discard the tough stem.
- Apple – preferably a crisp and sweet-tart apple such as Honeycrisp, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious, but any variety will do.
- Pecans – lightly toasted (you can sub with walnuts, pine nuts, shaved almonds or even pumpkin seeds).
- Dried cranberries – add a sweet tanginess. We love to use pomegranate seeds when they are in season.
- Goat cheese – our favorite for sweet and savory salads like Berry Arugula Salad and Beet Salad.
Substitutions
- To Substitute Kale – try arugula, baby spinach, or mixed greens, and add the dressing to taste just before serving.
- Cheese – if you don’t love goat cheese, we can still be friends. Try crumbled feta cheese or shaved parmesan.
How to Strip and Prepare Kale for Salad
Kale leaves have a tough fibrous stem that needs to be removed before chopping the leaves for salad, but the process is quick and easy:
- Strip the leaves – hold the stem with one hand and pull the leaves right off.
- Rinse & spin dry – transfer kale leaves to a salad spinner (in 2 batches) to rinse and spin dry. A good salad spinner saves a ton of time and effort in making a kale salad!
- Chop – bunch or stack leaves together and slice into thin strips.
How to Make Sweet Potato Salad
- Roast Sweet potatoes – peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1/2″ thick pieces. Toss with olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Arrange on a lined baking sheet (I love my nonstick silpat) and bake until tender.
- Make Dressing – whisk together all of the dressing ingredients and set aside.
- Chop kale – strip kale leaves, then rinse, dry, and chop per the instructions above.
- Massage kale – place kale in a large salad bowl, drizzle with 3/4 of the dressing and toss with 2 forks until the kale volume has shrunk down by 1/4.
- Add toppings – add cooled sweet potatoes to the salad bowl then sprinkle in chopped apples, toasted pecans, dried cranberries and crumbled goat cheese. To serve, drizzle with remaining 1/4 dressing or add it to taste and enjoy.
Make-Ahead & Storage
Whether you are prepping ahead for a dinner party or want to repurpose leftover sweet potato salad, here’s how to store it:
- Undressed Salad: you can store the salad separately from the dressing for up to 3 days. To avoid discoloration, it’s best to slice and add the apple and crumble in the cheese just before serving.
- Dressed Salad: Cover and refrigerate leftover salad for up to 24 hours
Are you craving Sweet Potato Salad yet? It really is as good as it looks, from the roasted sweet potatoes to the tasty vinaigrette. My whole family gets excited when I bring this to Fall gatherings at my parents’ house on Sunday afternoons. P.S. It’s also gluten-free and grain-free!
Complete your Thanksgiving Menu
We’ve made this salad a tradition for Thanksgiving, and based on your Instagram posts, many of you have adopted this salad for your holiday traditions as well, which makes me so happy.
If you need more recipes and ideas for the biggest cooking day of the year, check out our Thanksgiving Recipes, and don’t forget these holiday staples:
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the Roasted Sweet Potatoes:
For the Salad:
- 1 bunch kale, (10 cups chopped)
- 1 apple, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pecans, lightly toasted if desired
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries, or pomegranate seeds
- 2 oz goat cheese, (1/2 cup crumbled)
Dressing Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp dijon
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or pressed
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat oven to 425˚F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone liner. Toast pecans on a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently for a few minutes until golden and fragrant then transfer to a plate to cool.
How to Make Sweet Potato Salad:
- Roast Sweet Potatoes: Peel and dice sweet potatoes into 1/2” thick pieces and transfer them to a mixing bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper and toss to combine. Spread sweet potatoes out onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 425˚F for 30 minutes, flipping the sweet potatoes after 20 minutes to promote even roasting. Remove from the oven and let cool while preparing the salad.
- Make Salad Dressing: In a small bowl or mason jar, combine all of the ingredients for the salad dressing in the order they are listed and thoroughly whisk together until well combined. You may need to re-whisk before dressing the salad since the dressing can separate as it sits.
- Strip the kale leaves and discard the stems. Rinse and spin dry leaves then finely chop them into thin strips and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Massage kale with dressing: Drizzle with 3/4 of the dressing. Toss for a few minutes with two forks until kale is slightly softened, evenly coated in dressing, and reduced by about 1/4 in volume. Let the salad rest for 15 minutes while you add the remaining ingredients.
- Add Toppings: Scatter roasted and cooled sweet potatoes over the kale then sprinkle on remaining toppings: sliced apple, toasted and cooled pecans, dried cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle the top with the remaining 1/4 of the dressing or add to taste then enjoy.
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I was hungry for this recipe and let me tell you, “IT’S AMAZING”. I love it so much that I will make this often. I’ve made some ribs and for the side, it was your salad. Thank you Natasha for sharing your recipes 😃
Aaaw, love this! Thank you for sharing your experience trying this recipe, Danielle. We appreciate your comments!
Oh my goodness this salad is sooooooo amazingly delicious. Thank you so much for this for this recipe. Everyone at my diner party just loved it.
You are so welcome, glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my god. This salad sounded good- not sure about the kale, but I had no idea so we gave it a try. This was off the charts delicious. Used the pomegranate instead of the cranberry raisins and then we added shrimps (and then some spinach and a aragula) because we needed a bit of protein as this was meant to replace a meal. Not sure if that is what set it apart but this is one of the best salads I’ve had in a long time. A must, must try.
I’m so glad you loved it! Thank you for trying my recipe, Paul.
Absolutely delicious!!! I made it on a smaller scale for my husband and I as our side veggie dinner. Will make it again and again!
Hello Lindsay, I’m happy to know that you both enjoyed this recipe!
I hate mustard- can I skip the Dijon in the dressing? Or is there a suitable substitute? Thank you!
Hi Colleen, I have not tested any substitute ingredient to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!
We had a 12 pound sweet potato. Should we use 3 of those too?!
We just used 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, (2 medium or 3 smaller sweet potatoes)
Just hosted a gathering of my son’s adult friends after his wedding and this salad was the highlight of the meal. Was asked for the recipe by quite a few people. ❤️
And they were so happy I was willing to give the recipe out. I just directed them to your website.
The only thing I do differently is massaging the dressing in the kale prior to adding the rest of the ingredients.
Wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Kathy. 🙂
Hi,
Can i replace goat cheese with feta cheese for this salad?
And is it ok to prepare beforehand or need to serve how sweet potatoes?
Yes, you can use goat cheese. You can roast the sweet potatoes a day ahead and pre-chop your lettuce. Store both in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Absolutely delicious. Can I dress the kale the day before putting the salad together- just to soften a bit more or will it wilt too much?
Thank you for the fantastic recipe
Hi Jeanette! The acidity from the dressing will help it soften after it sits for a little. I think that making it too far in advance would cause it to become wilted.
Hi Natasha. I just love your recipes! My stomach can’t handle kale. Would spinach be a good substitution?
Hi Natalie, I think that could work fine. The dressing would work well but you wouldn’t want it to sit or massage with spinach at all or it will get soggy much faster. I would suggest dressing just before serving if using spinach. I hope you love the salad!
I confess, I was a little skeptical but I served this at our holiday brunch and it was singled out several times for rave reviews and recipe requests. The only change I made (I couldn’t help myself) was to candy the pecans by roasting after tossing in an egg white, brown sugar, bourbon and vanilla with a touch of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Delicious!
Hello Connie, thanks for sharing that with us. I’m glad that the changes that you made worked well in this recipe me.too. It sounds delicious, I’ll try that too maybe next ti
My husband and I absolutely loved this salad! I used baby spinach instead of kale. Every recipe of yours that I have tried has always been delicious! Thank you Natasha!
That’s awesome, Mary! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipes that you tried.
This salad is delicious! Love! Love! Love it! It looks beautiful too. When I bring it to work, everyone wants the recipe! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. I always go to your website when I need dinner ideas.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Katie!
Oh my….this is amazing!! I am not a fan of kale but thought I would give it a try. I’m so glad that I did. The flavor combination is incredible. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Isn’t it amazing?! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Patty!
This is absolutely delicious!
And so healthy, well except for the syrup and goats cheese, but I can’t imagine not having those now!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this salad, Paul! That’s so great!
I learned a lot of recipes after reading your blog. I love to cook and your recipes are helping me to make delicious food for my family members. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us.
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m all smiles!
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad became one of my favorite salads. It tastes great, but it looks even better. It can be great addition to any meat. I served it with grilled pork, lamb. Got a lot of complaints! Thank you Natasha!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Nessy!
In our grocery stores in western WA, yams are very orange and sweet potatoes are a lighter yellow (inside). Just the opposite of what you said about yams being lighter, almost like a russet potato.
Love the salad!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this salad, Maureen! Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
Hi! I really want to make this salad but I have a couple of questions. Firstly, I love kale but it doesn’t like me. Can I replace with spinach? Lastly, it’s a big no on the goat cheese for me. What would be a good substitute for this recipe? Thank you. We enjoy your recipes!
Hi Kristen, If you prefer not to use kale, you can substitute with arugula, but add the dressing to taste just before serving. Baby spinach would be the next best option.
I have a question about the sodium content listed in the nutrition label.
Recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, which is about 936 gms of sodium.
The nutrition label says per serving is 519gms of sodium.
Sea salt isn’t the only source of sodium in this recipe, right??
I am on a low sodium diet, so I monitor sodium intake very carefully.
Thank you.
Hi Rochelle, great question, goat cheese also has sodium in it.
Goat cheese is listed as a cheese you can eat on a low sodium diet.
This has become one of our favourite side dishes
Thank you so much for sharing it with us Natasha
Great to hear that, Tess. Thanks a lot for the good feedback!