Mexican Sweet Potato Salad
Switch out traditional potato salad for this flavorful Mexican Sweet Potato Salad! This easy gluten free and vegan recipe is filled with healthy and delicious ingredients like quinoa, avocado, black beans and peppers. Serve it as a side dish with carne asada, tacos or fajitas, or meal prep it for lunches throughout the week
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Ingredients
Sweet Potato Salad
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
- ½ cup quinoa, (uncooked) - or 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Avocado Salad Dressing
- 1 cup avocado, see notes below
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, or chili powder
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
- Add the diced sweet potatoes to a large pot of boiling water on the stove.
- Cook for 10-15 minutes or until fork tender (but not so tender they’re falling apart).
- Remove from the heat, drain and transfer to a large bowl.
- Place the bowl of sweet potatoes in the refrigerator to cool for at least 30 minutes while preparing the rest of the salad.
- While the sweet potatoes are cooling, cook the quinoa on the stove using the instructions below, or follow this link for instructions on how to cook to quinoa in an Instant Pot or rice cooker.
- Add the quinoa to a medium pot with 1 cup of water, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove the quinoa from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked quinoa to the bowl of sweet potatoes in the refrigerator to cool.
- Dice the red onion, red bell pepper and jalapeno.
- Add the diced veggies to the bowl of sweet potatoes and quinoa, along with the can of drained and rinsed black beans.
- To make the salad dressing, add the avocado, garlic, cumin, chipotle pepper powder, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil to a blender or food processor.
- Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the dressing over the sweet potato salad and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve the salad.
Notes
- Avocados – the avocados are the base of the salad dressing. Since avocados vary greatly in size, and the amount of flesh in each avocado varies depending on the size of the seed, I recommend measuring out the avocado after the skin and seed has been removed. You’ll need 1 cup of avocado for this recipe. Usually 2 small avocados, 1 1/2 large avocados or 1 extra-large avocado will equal 1 cup of avocado once the skin and seed has been removed.
- Be sure not to overcook the sweet potatoes! Because the potatoes are diced so small, they only need about 10 minutes to cook in boiling water. If you overcook the sweet potatoes, they will fall apart and your salad will be mushy.
- Always cool the sweet potatoes before mixing up the salad. If the sweet potatoes are still hot, they’re more likely to fall apart when you mix up the salad. I recommend at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. But you could also cook them up to 2 days ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator before making the salad.
- Store leftover sweet potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge. I do not recommend reheating the salad, as it’s best eaten cold. The salad should be eaten within 7 days.
Nutrition Facts
Serving 4servingCalories 336kcal (17%)Carbohydrates 45g (15%)Protein 7g (14%)Fat 15g (23%)Saturated Fat 2g (10%)Sodium 274mg (11%)Potassium 896mg (26%)Fiber 11g (44%)Sugar 6g (7%)Vitamin A 16520mg (330%)Vitamin C 26.4mg (32%)Calcium 70mg (7%)Iron 2.7mg (15%)
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