My Go-To Spicy Sweet Potato Pomegranate Salad

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A wise woman once said, if you claim to not like salads, you just don’t know what to put in them, and I couldn’t agree more. For the longest time I thought salads were so boring because I didn’t realize that I could get creative or add to them like I do to sandwiches, layering flavors and textures to create something I crave. Now more than ever I’m realizing that my body relies on specific nutrients to give me the energy and mental clarity to perform at my highest potential each day, and I see huge differences when I’m not feeding it the nutrients - like lots of greens, healthy fats, and whole foods - that it needs. 

When creating new salads, I work with things that I know I like and avoid the things I don’t, which sounds obvious, but isn’t always with salads. In general I love cucumbers to snack on with hummus or in a smoothie, sometimes even for texture on a sandwich, but it’s not something I prefer in salads. Similarly, I love cooking with bell peppers and adding them as a veggie to a lot of meals, but in salads I think that they often overpower other flavors. Creating amazing salads is a work in progress but can be just as fun as putting flavors in together in other recipes, and once you get used to what you enjoy, you’ll find that it’s easy to swap things in and out and improvise as you go working with what you have in the fridge rather than giving up because you’re missing a single ingredient.

While I try to eat produce that is in season to get optimal nutrition, I have been hooked on this salad that I first made back in November when I got on a tahini kick, so while it isn’t fully in-season, it is easily adaptable for any time of the year. It’s worth noting that I realize that not everyone enjoys fruit in their salads, and while I think the pomegranate is one of the best parts of it, it can definitely be removed, or replaced with apple if you can’t get your hands on pomegranate.  Similarly, I add the sweet potatoes as a carb to help fill me up, but if you aren’t a sweet potato person, I recommend substituting with roasted carrots. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and/or what you are adding in or substituting to make it yours!


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Ingredients

  • 2 cups spinach or arugula (or 1 cup of each, mixed)

  • 1 cup  grilled chicken (I usually buy a rotisserie chicken each week and shred and keep in the fridge for salads)

  • ¼ cup roasted sweet potato (I prefer to cut it into cubes before roasting and keep in my fridge to reach for)

  • Pepperoncinis 

  • Pomegranate 

  • Homemade spicy garlic lime dressing

  • Salted sunflower seeds

Spicy Garlic Lime Dressing

  • 1/8 cup tahini or smooth peanut or almond butter

  • 2 tbsp cup Franks hot sauce

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

  • Juice of 1/2 a lime

  • 1 garlic clove 

Instructions

  1. Cut sweet potato into 1-inch cubes and roast at 350ºF for 30 minutes flipping halfway through

  2. In the meantime, put all dressing ingredients into a food processor or blender until fully mixed. If the mixture is too thick, add cold water and continue blending until preferred consistency.

  3. Once sweet potatoes are finished cooking, add spinach or arugula, chicken, sweet potato, pepproncinis, pomegranate, dressing, and sunflower seeds to a bowl. Mix and enjoy!

foodMorgan JonesComment