A vegan sweet potato salad recipe that is perfect for pre packed lunch or a vegan meal prep.
This sweet potato salad recipe is easy, healthy, and a delicious salad idea for lunches. This is one of my personal favourites. It can be easily modified with several ingredients that can be substituted if needed.
Vegan Sweet Potato Salad Recipe Ingredients
The ingredients required for the exact salad shown in the first photo of this blog post includes:
- sweet potato (gold / Australian sweet potato)
- chickpeas
- pickled red onions
- pickled red cabbage
- fresh mint leaves
- fresh parsley leaves
- broccoli florets
Mint Salad Dressing:
- raw cashews
- fresh mint leaves
- fresh parsley leaves
- juice of 1 lemon
- pink Himalayan salt
- cracked pepper
- 1 clove of garlic
- water
Substitutes / Essential Salad Ingredients
The above ingredients listed includes an array of fresh veggies. However, the main ingredients of this salad that can't skipped include:
- boiled sweet potato
- leafy greens (baby spinach is my preference but you can use any kind of lettuce leaf)
- pickled onion (refer below on how to pickle the onion)
- the Mint Salad Dressing
The photo below shows a vegan sweet potato salad made with these ingredients only (boiled sweet potato, baby spinach, pickled onion, and the mint salad dressing)
- For more substance to the salad add chickpeas!
- To make it extra healthy, add steamed broccoli florets!
- To enhance the flavour, add fresh mint and parsley leaves!
- Want more colour? Add pickled red cabbage or pickled red onions
How To Pickle Red Onion
Pickled red onion is staple that I love to keep in my fridge and add to salads. It's a game changer when it comes to salads or nourish bowls. Pickled onion transforms any ordinary salad, into an extraordinary salad. Follow these simple steps:
- Slice red onion into rings
- Add to glass jar; red onion rings, 1-2 teaspoon of high quality salt, 1-2 teaspoon of sugar
- Mix onion, salt, and sugar
- Add 1 part vinegar, 1 part water to the jar until the onion is complete submerged
- Keep in fridge for up to 2 weeks
You can read more about pickling onion in my blog post dedicated to making Pickled Red Onions
Further tips
- If you want to use the onion immediately, let it sit for approximately 10 minutes
- I use pink Himalayan salt (its the best!)
- I use coconut sugar (healthier alternative to white refined sugar)
The Creamy Mint Salad Dressing
The creamy mint salad dressing is what makes this salad. Watch this video below on how to make it. I like to make a large batch at a time so I can have it over several days.
Easy Vegan Sweet Potato Salad With A Creamy Mint Dressing
Ingredients
- 220 grams boiled sweet potato
- ½ cup canned chickpeas
- 1 small handful of fresh mint leaves
- 1 small handful of fresh parsley leaves
- 1 small handful of pickled red onion approx ¼ of a small red onion
- 4-6 small broccoli florets approx ¼ of a small Brocolli head
- 1 small handful of baby spinach leaves
Mint Salad Dressing (makes approx 3 servings)
- 75 grams raw cashews soaked in boiling water
- ½ cup of fresh parsley leaves
- ½ cup of fresh mint leaves
- 1 lemon, juice of
- 2-3 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt or any other high quality salt
- cracked pepper
- 1 clove of garlic
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potato and chop into 2-3cm sized pieces. Add to boiling water and boil for 10 minutes or until soft
- Whilst the sweet potato is boiling, prepare other salad ingredients
- If using canned chickpeas, rinse well
- Chop the broccoli head into florets. Add Brocolli florets to a bowl. Pour boiling water over the broccoli florets and leave submerged to 10-15 minutes. Drain the boiling water from the bowl and add broccoli florets to salad
- Add all ingredients to the salad bowl: baby spinach, mint leaves, parsley leaves, chickpeas, pickled red onion, steamed broccoli, boiled potato
- Drizzle the creamy mint salad dressing and stir through salad right before serving
Creamy Mint Salad Dressing
- Add all ingredients (cashews, parsley leaves, mint leaves, lemon juice, water, garlic, salt, pepper) to a blender and blend on high speed for 30 seconds
Video
Notes
- The quantities above makes a salad of 485 calories / serve. This includes the salad dressing
- Refer to the blog article on how to pickle the red onion
- Refer to blog article for substitute ingredients
- Soak the raw cashews in boiling water before blending for a smoother mint sauce
- Pickle the onion at least one day before for maximum flavour
Liz says
This was really nice and fresh, the pickled red onion makes the flavors pop and that dressing is so fresh and packs so much flavor!
I made it again and I took out the broccoli (it feels a bit out of place for me) and I air fried the sweet potato instead of boiled it - that was perfect for me!
Georgia Papas says
Thanks Liz! Great idea for air frying the sweet potato. I add the broccoli because I love broccoli and its so good for you, but totally agree its not for everyone. And yes the pickled onions make all the difference!