This hearty, Moroccan-inspired sweet potato chickpea salad with kale is full of delicious flavor and incredibly simple and easy to make! With only 20 minutes of hands-on time, make it ahead for midweek lunches, or bring it to your next fall gathering or potluck. Vegan. Video.
Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes. ~Alan Watts
Here’s a simple, make-ahead, vegan salad that was inspired by our trip to Morocco last fall. Some of my favorite days there were spent in the spice markets, wandering down the narrow stone alleyways in the souks, getting wonderfully lost… it was a feast for the senses!
What makes this salad so delicious is that the sweet potatoes are diced and tossed with fragrant Moroccan spices before being roasted. We add chickpeas, lots of fresh herbs, and a flavorful Moroccan dressing. It’s served over a bed of shredded kale for an added burst of nutrients.
It’s a lovely salad-one that will transport you to the souks of Morocco. ✨
Sweet potato chickpea salad Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes (or American yams)- red fleshed.
- Cooked or canned chickpeas – add a bit pf protein to the salad.
- Kale– lacinato is nice!
- Herbs: scallions and cilantro ( or Italian parsley)
- Seasonings: olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, orange zest, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper
How to make Sweet Potato Salad
Toss small cubes of sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, and spices and roast until tender and crispy. Sweet potatoes, when roasted, are lovely in fall salads, keeping their shape well. Plus, they only take 15-20 minutes in the oven! And they are loaded with powerful antioxidants. And have I told you how much I love them? I do, I seriously do. And I feel like they love me back. It’s not my imagination. 😉
Create lacinato kale ribbons: remove any tough veins, stack 5–6 leaves, and finely slice across the grain into thin ribbons to create a “slaw.” Drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle a pinch of salt, and massage the oil into the kale ribbons with your fingers until the kale ribbons become tender and glossy. For an extra lovely touch, add 1–2 teaspoons of orange zest and massage this in too.
Place the dressed shredded kale in a serving bowl.
Place the chickpeas, scallions, cilantro, olive oil, vinegar, maple, orange zest, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne in a medium bowl and toss to combine. Sorry, I forgot to photograph this in my haste. 🙂
When the sweet potatoes are tender, let them cool for 10 minutes, add to the chickpea bowl and season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve this over massaged lacinato kale ribbons.
This salad will keep 3-4 days in the fridge.
The Moroccan Spices complement all the other ingredients well!
Hope you enjoy this roasted Sweet Potato Salad! Healthy, vegan and gluten-free, it is so EASY to make! I know you’ll love the flavors!
On the homefront: I’ve said it a million times. This is my favorite time of year. I love the breezy cool sunny days of early fall in the Northwest. The light shifts, the relaxed angle of the sun softens the hard edges of summer and I feel this sweet gentleness hover over me when I’m outside. I can’t get enough of it!
Ok- enjoy the salad, and have a great day!
xoxo
More Sweet Potato recipes you may like!
- Chickpea Avocado Salad
- Lemony Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas!
- Sweet Potato Fries with Harissa!
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Ginger
- Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Moroccan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Thai Sweet Potato Soup
- BBQ Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Oaxacan Baked Sweet Potatoes
- Kyoto Style Sweet Potatoes with Miso, Ginger and Scallions
Watch how to Make Sweet Potato chickpea Salad
Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 ½ cups
- Category: main, vega, salad
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: moroccan
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This hearty, Moroccan-inspired, Sweet Potato Salad with kale and chickpeas is full of delicious flavor and incredibly simple and easy to make – with only 20 minutes of actual hands-on time! Make it ahead for midweek lunches, or bring it to your next fall gathering or potluck!
Ingredients
- 2 sweet potatoes or American yams, diced into 1/2-inch cubes, skins OK (about 4 cups)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- generous pinch salt and pepper
- 14 ounce can of chickpeas, drained
- 2–3 scallions, sliced at a diagonal
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped, about 3/4 cup (or sub Italian Parsley)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or Aleppo chili flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 5–6 lacinato kale leaves, thick bottom stem removed.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F
Place the diced yams on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat well. Spread the yams out so they have lots of space to crisp. Place in the oven and roast 15 minutes, toss, and continue roasting until tender and slightly crispy, about 10 more minutes. You don’t want them overly soft.
Meanwhile, place the chickpeas, scallions, cilantro, olive oil, vinegar, maple, orange zest, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne in a medium bowl and toss to combine.
To create the lacinato kale ribbons, remove any tough veins, stack 5–6 leaves, and finely slice across the grain into thin ribbons to create a “slaw.” Drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle a pinch of salt, and massage the oil into the kale ribbons with your fingers until the kale ribbons become tender and glossy. For an extra lovely touch, add 1–2 teaspoons orange zest and massage this in too.
When the sweet potatoes are tender, let them cool for 10 minutes, then add to the bowl and season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve this over massaged lacinato kale ribbons.
Salad will keep 3-4 days in the fridge (keep the kale slaw separate).
Notes
If you like your chickpeas warm and crispy, feel free to roast at the same time (separate sheet pan) as the sweet potatoes, tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
- Calories: 360
- Sugar: 9.2 g
- Sodium: 684.6 mg
- Fat: 16.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.5 g
- Fiber: 9.9 g
- Protein: 8.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Delicious and fresh! Made a half batch and added 3/4 cup of cooked couscous to make it more substantial. Orange zest in kale a nice added touch.
Glad you enjoyed this Trixie!
Great easy salad. Loved by all
Great to hear Lyn!
Wow, this was soo good! I halved the cayenne as I’m super sensitive to heat/spice, LOL, it was still almost a bit spicy for me, but DEFINITELY going to make this again, thank you!
Glad you made it work Emily! Thanks for the review!
Wow, what a great salad. I did not have an orange so added three small mandarins chopped up, as well as one cup of Tri-coloured quinoa and 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds. Great for a vegetarian dinner! Will definitely make this again.
Great Jean! Thanks for taking the time to review.
Another exceptional recipe. I love the flavor blends. Thank you so much. We are not kale fans, so I subbed spinach and arugula. The spinach wilted, but not a disappointment. I didn’t have an orange on hand so added some blood orange olive oil to the mix. It worked really well in the dressing. I mixed the greens into the salad, but it worked. I think this will chill nicely as well.
Sounds great! Love how you adapted.
Delicious with lots of depth in flavor. I mistakenly added the massaged kale ribbons into the salad and it was wonderful. And it keeps in the refrigerator as well. A keeper recipe. Thank you!
Love those happy mistakes! Glad you enjoyed Joan.
I can’t wait to try this! Just to clarify, only can of garbanzos needed despite doubling the recipe? Thanks!
No, that is an error- everything should be doubled. I will work on this!
I can’t stop making this and we can’t stop eating it! Keeps really well in the fridge for a week, if it lasts that long.
Great to hear Annie!