Sweet Potato Salad • Two Purple Figs

This Sweet Potato Salad is super nutritious , filling and loaded with textures! We love a good hearty salad recipe like this in the cold weather, so this is one you MUST try! Sweet Potatoes, greens, black rice, avocados, apples, and a sweet cranberry vinaigrette. SO GOOD!

We have a thing for sweet potatoes, and our pickiest eater loves this sweet potato gratin, which is also a cooking school favorite!  It’s like a dessert almost, not even a savory gratin, so make sure you TRY it too. We adore those Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries, which was how we assembled today’s sweet potato salad. 

Cooking the sweet potatoes in the air fryer has been a life saver. For the record, we used the strip shape sweet potatoes but you can cut them and use them in however way. You can even bake Hasselback Sweet Potatoes in your air fryer with SUCCESS!

So while you can be used to roasting, blanching or steaming, I invited you to Air Fryer your Sweet Potatoes! 

Salad Recipes are BIG for us, and especially nutritious and filling salads like this one. 

Why You’ll Love Sweet Potato Salad

• It’s comforting and hearty 💛
• There’s an immense flavor combo of sweet, salty, tangy, spicy, herby and peppery.
• Textures are also so rich! Soft, crunchy, chewy, hearty and just so good!
• The salad is SO nutritious!
• Absolutely Delicious!
• You can prepare most of it in advance and assemble only before serving. 
• Leftovers are AWESOME lunches the next day!
• The cranberry dressing is one you will be using on SO MANY other salads!

How to Make Sweet Potato Salad

Prepare Ingredients

1. You’ll start by cooking wild black rice. We love this for the salad recipe, however you can skip it or use black beans. The wild rice adds a wonderful filling and hearty texture to the salad. 
2. While the rice is cooking you’ll start to Air fry the sweet potatoes. 

Sweet Potato Salad Dressing

1. The salad dressing we love here is a sweet tangy cranberry dressing. You’ll LOVE this salad dressing and you’ll find yourself using it on other salads as well. 
2. Ingredients such as cranberry sauce, Dijon mustard, apple vinegar, balsamic syrup, olive oil, dried cranberries and cranberry juice.
   
3. To make the dressing, you’ll add all ingredients above into a bowl and whisk together until you have a smooth dressing. 

Assemble the Salad

1. To make the salad, you’ll start by spreading the greens at the bottom of your salad plate. We prefer the peppery arugula as it contrasts the sweetness of sweet potatoes so well. 
   
2. The cooked rice is then layered over the arugula on the plate. 
3. Then you’ll go ahead with the cooked sweet potatoes, sliced apples, sliced onions and avocados. 
   
4. Drizzle a generous amount of cranberry dressing over the salad and finish with some dried cranberries.
5. The salad is now ready to serve. 

Sweet Potato Salad Tips

1. The quickest and best way we found to cook Sweet potatoes is in the Air Fryer.
2. Be sure to let the sweet potatoes cool before tossing it in the salad so it doesn’t wilt the greens. 
3. Similarly with the wild rice, it’s an optional ingredient. If you’re using it, likewise make sure you cool it off before adding to the salad. 
4. Make the dressing up to 14 days in advance, as it stays tasty in the fridge. You’ll use this salad dressing on many other salads.
5. You can swap salad ingredients, add more or less ot your taste. 
6. Add some protein to this salad to make it a full meal if you’d like.
7. To brighten this salad, make it a Greek or Mediterranean one. Use Greek Salad Dressing adding Feta cheese, pomegranate and nuts. 
8. You can also make this salad similar to the Roasted Butternut Squash, and layer it over arugula.
9. Yams, purple sweet potatoes or any type would work in this recipe.

Salad Recipes

Peach Burrata Salad
Panzanella Salad
Taco Salad
Wedge Salad
Papaya Salad
Tuna Salad Recipe with Olive Oil Dressing
Fried Eggplant Salad
Halloumi Cheese Salad