This Roasted Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese Salad is the classic salad recipe that everyone needs. Whether you’re serving it at your next barbecue, popping it onto the holiday table along with a delightful spread of sides, or meal prepping it for boujie salads throughout the week, this delicious salad is just what you need.
With tender seasoned and roasted sweet potatoes, baby arugula, creamy goat cheese, a nutty flavor from the toasted pine nuts and pops of sweet juice from the pomegranate arils, all coated in a balsamic vinegar and seeded mustard salad dressing. It’s the perfect fall salad. And if you love this sweet potato salad recipe then you also need to try my Roasted Sweet Potato Avocado Salad recipe with apple cider vinegar dressing.
What’s to Love About This Salad
- allergy friendly – this salad is egg free and gluten free and can easily be made dairy free (by using vegan feta) and nut free (by using pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts).
- the perfect side dish – this salad makes for a delicious side salad for the holiday season. It can also be served as an entree salad.
- great to meal prep – this is another great salad to meal prep for yummy lunches throughout the week. Just leave the salad dressing off until you’re ready to serve to stop the fresh greens from going soggy! Serve alongside your favorite protein.
- hearty salad – this delicious recipe is so nourishing and filled with healthy, wholesome ingredients.
Ingredients Notes & Substitutions
Below is a list of the ingredients that you will need to make this recipe as well as any possible substitutions and notes. For the full ingredient list including quantities, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Salad Ingredients
- sweet potato – also known as kumara, the sweet potatoes are pealed and cut into cubes. If you don’t have sweet potato you can also use pumpkin or butternut squash, which you can cook in the oven or the air fryer.
- extra virgin olive oil – olive oil is used both to coat the sweet potato before roasting and in the salad dressing. You can use another mild flavoured oil like avocado oil for roasting the sweet potato in. Flaxseed oil can be used for the dressing but not for roasting.
- garlic powder – I love using garlic powder for some extra flavor on the sweet potato, however if you are on a low FODMAP diet you can leave it out or use garlic infused olive oil instead.
- sea salt flakes – if using finely ground sea salt then use less than what the recipe calls for.
- cracked black pepper – this is optional and you can add cracked black pepper to the sweet potato to your taste.
- fresh arugula – I’ve used baby arugula as it isn’t quite as peppery as arugula that’s been grown for longer. If you don’t have arugula then you can use baby spinach, baby kale or your favorite salad greens.
- red onions – make sure you slice the red onions really finely, I find a mandolin works best for this.
- pine nuts – you can also use flaked almonds or crunchy pecans. To make this recipe nut free, use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead of nuts.
- pomegranate – I’ve used the pomegranate arils (also known as pomegranate seeds) from fresh pomegranate. You can swap these for dried cranberries if you can’t source pomegranate.
- soft goat’s cheese – also known as chèvre, soft goat’s cheese is usually available in the deli. I’ve used a goat’s cheese marinated in oil.
Balsamic Vinaigrette
- balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- wholegrain mustard
- honey
How to Make Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Salad
Follow my step-by-step guide to make this delicious salad recipe.
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First, preheat the oven. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper or grease a large baking dish with a splash of olive oil.
Add the cubed sweet potato to the baking dish or prepared baking sheet. Top with garlic powder, salt, pepper and more olive oil. Toss to coat evenly and then spread out into a single layer. Place into the hot oven to bake for 1 hour or until the sweet potato cubes are tender on the inside and slightly crisp and golden brown on the outside.
While the sweet potato is roasting, make the dressing. Add the balsamic vinegar, seeded mustard and honey into a small bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly pour in the olive oil and continue whisking until smooth, glossy and well combined.
To toast the pine nuts, place them into a small tray and spread out into a single layer. Place into the oven to roast for 4-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn! Once they’re toasted, remove from the oven and straight away tip them into a small bowl to stop them from cooking any further in the pan.
Once the sweet potato is roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
To assemble the salad, add the rocket (baby arugula), finely sliced onions and sweet potato into a large salad bowl. Drizzle with the salad dressing and then toss until well combined. Transfer the salad to a serving platter and top with the toasted pine nuts, pomegranate arils and crumbled goats cheese.
Tip: Assemble the salad just before serving so that the leaves don’t go soggy from sitting in the salad dressing.
Storage
Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
If meal prepping:
- Assemble the salad by dividing the arugula, onion and sweet potato between four airtight containers.
- Top with the pomegranate, pine nuts and goats cheese.
- Divide the salad dressing between 4 smaller containers to place inside the larger containers of salad.
- Dress just before serving.
Roast Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Salad
Equipment
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knife
- Whisk
- Large baking tray or baking dish
- small baking tray
- Serving platter
- large bowl or salad bowl
Ingredients
- 750 grams sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Cracked black pepper , to taste
- 120 grams Baby arugula, or other green leafy vegetables like baby spinach or baby kale
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- ¼ cup pomegranate arils
- 120 grams soft goat cheese, goat’s chèvre
- ¼ cup red onion, very thinly sliced
Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 60 mL extra virgin olive oil
- 40 mL balsamic vinegar, aged
- 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Tip the sweet potato cubes out onto the parchment paper lined tray. Drizzle with olive oil and top with garlic powder, cracked black pepper and sea salt flakes. Toss to combine and then spread out into a single layer. Place the tray into the oven to roast for 50 minutes or until golden brown on the outside and tender.
- To make the dressing, add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, wholegrain mustard and honey to a small jar. Fix the lid on firmly and shake vigorously to combine. Set aside.
- Place the pine nuts into a small baking tin and into the oven on the top shelf for 4-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn. Once you remove them from the oven, tip them into a bowl straight away so that they don’t continue to cook in the hot pan.
- Once the sweet potato is roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
- To assemble the salad, add the washed and dried arugula into a large salad bowl. Top with the cubed sweet potato and thinly sliced red onion. Drizzle in the balsamic vinaigrette and toss to combine.
- Transfer to a serving platter and top with crumbled goats cheese, toasted pine nuts and pomegranate arils. Serve straight away.
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