Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Kale Salad

This hearty roasted sweet potato and quinoa kale salad pairs well with the balsamic miso vinaigrette. It is whole-food plant-based (although not fully oil-free) and is a delicious meal prep salad.

I am obsessed with this salad! It can be a side salad OR a complete meal in one bowl. It is so healthy and yummy!

I took it to a church women’s Christmas party and was thankful to have a nourishing option to fill up on, amid the cheesy appetizers and desserts. Always take a dish to social gatherings that YOU want to eat!

If you Struggle with Kale Salads….

I understand you if you struggle with kale salads. Kale takes a lot of chewing and can have a bitter flavor. However, with the right dressing and salad ingredients and proper preparation, it can be downright delicious along with super cancer-fighting and gut-healthy. 

A kale salad makes a great make-in-advance meal since kale is hardy and doesn’t wilt easily like lettuce does. There are so many benefits!

Tips to Make Kale Salads More Delicious (and why this one is!)

1. Strip the stems out and then massage the leaves by putting lemon juice or a little olive oil on them, and pressing them and rubbing them with your hands. In this recipe, I do it with the dressing itself. 
2. Balance the bitterness with acid, fat, and sweetness. Here, we’re using balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and olive oil. Tahini or avocado is what I use in other recipes. The sweetness can also come from non-dressing ingredients like chopped apple, etc. If you think about a kale salad you enjoyed, it likely had these elements. 
3. Add texture. Crunchy nuts or seeds, creamy avocado or dressing, quinoa or grains add chewiness and variety. 

Just look at that carmelized broccoli and the way the quinoa clings to the kale. YUM!

There are few things that can change your life as much as eating a TON of vegetables. Push yourself to make vegetable-based meals like this often and see how you feel!

More Salad Recipes

I’ll admit–these recipe titles don’t sound tantalizing to me. But once you make them, you’ll be like, “Oh! Ok! That was more normal than it sounded and this is easy and yummy!”

Winter Green Salad with Orange Tahini Dressing

Broccoli Salad with Orange-Almond-Miso Dressing

Six of my Favorite Oil-Free Salad Dressings

Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Kale Salad

This delicious salad with miso vinaigrette makes eating cruciferous vegetables SO easy and almost addicting! It's the perfect meal prep salad because it lasts a while in the fridge, and it is ideal for taking to potlucks or group dinners, too. See notes about oil-free.

5 from 2 votes

Author: Faith Ralphs

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Course dinner, Salad

Servings 5 large serving

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 2 medium sweet potatoes (yams), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 6 cups broccoli florets (or one 16-oz bag broccoli florets)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3-4 large handfuls chopped kale, stems removed
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
• salt
• garlic powder
• olive oil

Miso Vinaigrette

• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 1 TBSP miso paste
• 1 TBSP pure maple syrup
• 1/8 tsp black pepper

Instructions

 

• Start cooking quinoa on the stove by combining dry quiona with twice as much water as quinoa in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and set timer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat when timer beeps, and quinoa has absorbed the water and appears fluffy.
• Roast the broccoli, chickpeas, and sweet potatoes. Preheat oven to 425. Spread the broccoli and chickpeas on a baking sheet, and spray lightly with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and garlic powder.

  Spread sweet potato cubes onto another baking sheet. Spray with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt and pepper as well.

  Put the broccoli on the top rack and the sweet potatoes on the bottom. Broccoli will be done sooner than the sweet potatoes.

  Roast the broccoli for 20 minutes, and flip the sweet potatoes at this point. Continue baking the sweet potatoes another 5-10 minutes, until they are fork tender. Broccoli can blacken quickly, so watch it carefully.
• Make the vinaigrette by whisking all the ingredients together. Pour the dressing over the kale. Massage the kale and the dressing together in a large bowl by rubbing it between your finger and hands and breaking it down. It will decrease in volume by about half.
• Put it all together. Add the cooked quinoa, roasted vegetables and chickpeas, and massaged kale and toss together. Stir in the dried cranberries or raisins and optional pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper to taste.
• Salad can be enjoyed warm, room temp, or cold.

Notes

I haven't tried making this oil-free because I don't avoid small amounts of oil like this. However, you could try skipping the oil all together or using equal parts of tahini to replace the olive oil. To roast the vegetables without oil, use about a tablespoon of water instead of oil.

Keyword easy wfpb, kale salad, miso, quinoa, roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potato, wfpb

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Adapted from the amazing website, Nuts About Greens.