Time to give your salad a makeover. This roasted sweet potato, wild rice, and arugula salad is bursting with fall flavor and some much-needed nutrition.
I’m a salad lover.
But it hasn’t always been that way. I used to turn my nose up at the word salad and would’ve skipped a meal before eating one. Now I eat salads regularly and look forward to trying new flavor combos. Like sweet potato, wild rice, and arugula (which is extremely delicious).
When we harvested a bunch of sweet potatoes the other day, I’ll be honest—I was super excited. I mean, who doesn’t love sweet potato pie, sweet potato fries, and every other way to prepare sweet potatoes?
So, let’s talk about this salad.
You start with two sweet potatoes. Make sure you wash them well, cause there’s nothing worse then sweet potatoes that taste like dirt. Nothin’.
Chop ‘em up into bite-size pieces. You don’t want them too small, but you don’t want them too big either. Half inch pieces are the perfect size, in my opinion.
I like to give them a light sprinkling of chili powder and salt, but you can use whatever spices you’d like, or leave them out completely.
While the sweet potatoes are roasting, cook the rice. Wild rice is probably my favorite type of rice because it’s got so much texture and a unique flavor.
Assembling the salad is easysauce. Just put a hefty amount of sweet potatoes, arugula (or greens of choice), and wild rice on a plate and toss to get everything combined. And that’s it! Simple enough, right?
I got the inspiration for this recipe from Pinch of Yum. Lindsay’s recipe calls for a lemon dressing, but I rarely ever put dressings on my salads. I also removed the cashews from the recipe because of a nut-allergy in my house (and because many of you have a tree-nut allergy!).
I also used a wild rice/orzo blend which took the whole recipe up a notch. Orzo=YUM!
During the holiday season, I’m not terrible strict about what I eat. I mean, I don’t go all out and eat food that’s crazy-processed or laden with MSG. But I do allow myself not to stress about everything I put in my mouth. It’s a nice break from policing everything I eat day in and day out.
I’d rather not stress than try to make everything we eat this holiday season uber-healthy. So I try to make up for what I know I’ll be consuming later on by eating plenty of salads and smoothies. Because I don’t plan on going up 4 pants sizes this winter.
This is NOT your average salad. It uses very little ingredients, but they’re supah healthy ingredients so you still get a wide spread of nutrition.
You are seriously going to love this salad. It’s incredibly versatile, delicious, and also pretty easy to make. And it’ll help you unlock your inner salad-lover for sure.
Here’s the recipe:
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1½ cups vegetable stock
- ½ cup wild rice (uncooked)
- 3 cups fresh baby arugula (or greens mix of choice)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Wash the sweet potatoes and peel them (peeling is totally optional). Cut the sweet potatoes into ½-inch cubes. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and drizzle on the melted coconut oil. Sprinkle on the chili powder and toss to combine.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.
- While the sweet potatoes are roasting, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Pour in the wild rice, give it a quick stir, and return it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
- Place some roasted sweet potatoes, wild rice, and arugula on a plate (or bowl) and give it a toss to combine. Serve.
Looking for a new and exciting pizza recipe to try out? Check out this Holy Basil Indian Veggie Pizza from Buddha Teas.
This looks so delicious Love sweet potato and looks great combined with wild rice too. Bon appetit! Saying bonjour via Inspire me Monday
This sounds amazing! The hubby and I have been trying new dishes, trying to eat healthier; we’ll definitely be fixing this sometime this week. Off to the store I go lol
I adore sweet potato, and I’m always looking for new ways to eat it. This salad looks delicious, I would definitely make it with arugula too (or rocket as we call it in the UK) it’s one of my favourite greens! I’ve never cooked wild rice before though
Thanks Michelle! I love arugula as well (I never knew it was called rocket in the UK!). Wild rice is super easy to make and is always delicious!
Love this recipe! Hello from Sweet Haute Hop!
Love roasted sweet potato and it sounds great with arugula salad! Can’t wait to try this out
Yum this looks lovely, just perfect for the summer weather! Thanks for linking up to #Stumbleintotheweekend!
This looks so perfect! I wish I could take a bite right now! It’s so nice to have you back! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party. I hope to see you on tonight at 7 pm. It wouldn’t be a party without you!
Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls
Wow, what a beautiful salad!
This looks amazing! I am a salad love and love anything with sweet potatoes. Thanks for linking up to On Display Thursday.
Mmm…. I love a salad recipe that manages to be kinda cozy. Cuz let’s be serious… it’s pretty hard to turn leafy greens cozy. This may be my new go-to winter salad! Dropping in from Create Link Inspire.
Not only does this look delicious, it is delicious. I made it for dinner tonight and it really is a wonderful entree or side dish. I substituted butternut squash for the sweet potatoes, toasted almonds for the cashews, and added cucumbers and pears. The dressing is light and tasty. Thanks for sharing this with us!
I am so glad you liked the salad, Doreen! I’m gonna have to try it with butternut squash, almonds, cucumbers, and pears—that sounds AWESOME!
Sounds wonderful! Love the combination of sweet potatoes and arugula. Visiting from Inspire Me Monday
Thanks Joy! And this salad is amazing—I hope you give it a try!