Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potato Salad — Fall-inspired ingredients including tender sweet potatoes, juicy chicken, red onions, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds topped with a honey apple cider vinaigrette!! A HEARTY and COMFORTING salad that makes a big batch perfect for planned leftovers!!
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Chicken
This easy fall green salad is just what you need when you’re in the mood for something more comforting than a cold salad.
Warm juicy chicken, buttery tender sweet potatoes, and flavorful roasted red onions on top of a spring greens mix take this salad into comfort food territory.
I topped the chicken and sweet potato salad with dried cranberries and shelled pistachios. Pumpkin seeds would also be lovely here.
My Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette is what I used to dress the salad, although any store-bought light vinaigrette or dressing such as honey mustard, Italian, or what you have on hand is fine.
Ingredients in Chicken and Sweet Potato Salad
This chicken and sweet potato recipe is made with common fridge and pantry ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Sweet potatoes
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Chicken breasts
- Red onion
- Paprika
- Ground ginger
- Cardamom
- Lettuce mix such as a spring greens mix
- Honey
- Apple cider vinegar
- Mustard
- Dried cranberries
- Shelled pistachios or pumpkin seeds
How to Make Chicken and Sweet Potato Salad
The chicken and sweet potato salad recipe starts off as a sheet pan meal and anytime I can use one pan to make a meal, and have planned leftovers, I am very happy. This Sheet Pan Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chicken recipe was a jumping off point for this harvest salad recipe I’m sharing today.
Step 1: Start by lining a sheet pan with foil for easier cleanup, adding diced sweet potatoes, drizzling them with olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper, and roasting them for 15 to 20 minutes. This gives them a head start in the oven so that they’ll cook through and finish when the chicken and onions are done.
Step 2: Slide the potatoes to one side of the pan, add diced chicken breasts and red onion chunks to the other side, drizzle them with olive oil, and season them with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Sprinkle everything with paprika, ground ginger, and cardamon before returning the sheet pan to the oven.
Step 4: Roast for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is cooked through.
Step 5: While the sheet pan is in the oven and everything is roasting away, to a small glass jar with a lid, add olive oil, honey, apple cider vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Shake vigorously to create the honey apple cider vinaigrette that you can drizzle over your salad.
Step 6: Add your greens to a bowl, top with the juicy chicken, sweet potatoes, and red onions, sprinkle with the cranberries and nuts or seeds, add the vinaigrette, and dig in!
Can I Prep the Dressing in Advance?
Yes! You can shake up the dressing and store it in the fridge easily for 10 days. If the oil hardens somewhat in the fridge, let the dressing sit on your counter for 15 minutes before shaking it up and drizzling over your salads.
Can I Use a Store-Bought Dressing?
Of course! It’s not imperative you make your own dressing.
If you’re running short on time or energy, I recommend a light vinaigrette of some sort such as Italian. For instance, even a sweeter dressing like a poppyseed or honey mustard can work too.
Can I Use Another Leafy Green?
Of course! I had a big container of Costco’s spring greens mix on hand, but spinach, kale, lettuce, another leafy green, or lettuce mixture will be perfectly fine.
Can I Meal Prep This Salad?
Yes! This fall salad recipe makes a big batch of roasted sweet potatoes, chicken, and onions and is great for planned leftovers and meal prepping.
I divide the sweet potato, chicken, and red onion mixture to individual plastic storage containers with lids and refrigerate them, or you can freeze them. When you’re ready to have your salad, add in the greens and top with the cranberries and nuts.
If you don’t need a big batch, you can easily halve the recipe.
Tips for the Best Fall Salad
Mix and match the veggies. The great thing about sheet pan meals, and this salad starts off as a sheet pan meal, is that they’re really flexible.
In this particular sheet pan recipe I used sweet potatoes and red onions, but feel free to get creative with the vegetables you incorporate. Other vegetables that would be great include yellow squash, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, and broccoli and cauliflower always roast very well.
Keep the sweet potatoes at about 1 to 1.5-inch chunks so that they cook through in the same amount of time that the chicken needs, which is only about 15-20 minutes since the pieces are bite-sized and you’re roasting in quite a hot oven.
If you have a convection oven, use it. You don’t need to alter or reduce the temperature. If you don’t have a convection oven, no sweat. Roast until everything is done to your liking and cooked through.
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Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potato Harvest Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 2.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 to 1.5-inch chunks
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided; or as needed
- 1.50 to 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large red onion, cut into large chunks
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cardamom, or to taste
- 12 ounces spring greens or your favorite lettuce mixture
- ½ cup dried cranberries, or to taste
- ½ cup shelled pistachio or pumpkin seeds, or to taste
Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons mustard, I like either dijon or honey mustard
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
Salad:
- Preheat oven to 425F (use Convection if you have it, you don't have to reduce the temp) and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier cleanup (recommended).
- Add the sweet potatoes, drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, generously season with salt and pepper, and toss with your hands to coat evenly. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove sheet pan from the oven, flip and toss the sweet potatoes, and push them to one side of the sheet pan.
- To the other side of the sheet pan, add the chicken, red onion, evenly drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil, generously season with salt and pepper, and toss with your hands to coat evenly.
- Evenly season everything on the sheet pan with the paprika, ginger, cardamom, and return the sheet pan to the oven and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Cooking time will vary based on the thickness of the chicken, if you used 2 full pounds, the size of your sweet potato chunks, and being that this is quite a hot oven, check starting at 15 minutes and check often so you don’t overcook the chicken which can dry out quickly. I recommend rotating your baking sheet midway through roasting to ensure even cooking, especially if you're using a convection oven.
- Add the lettuce mixture to your bowl (either individual serving bowls or a very large family-style bowl, top with the roasted sweet potatoes, chicken, and red onions.
- Evenly sprinkle with the cranberries, nuts/seeds, and top with your favorite dressing or vinaigrette.
Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette:
- In a small glass jar or container with a lid, add all ingredients, put the lid on and shake vigorously until combined; taste vinaigrette and tweak as necessary to taste. Drizzle over the salad and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Fall Salad Ideas:
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad — This roasted sweet potato salad is tossed in a honey Dijon dressing. The sweet and savory flavors of this potato salad are to die for!
Chickpea and Sweet Potato Bowl — A big ole round bowl full of goodness just like Buddha!! The bowls are fast, EASY, naturally vegan and gluten-free! If you need a HEALTHY recipe that tastes like comfort food, this is it!!
Apple, White Cheddar, and Grilled Chicken Salad – All the flavors just POP in this fast, easy, and healthy salad!! The Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette doubles as marinade + salad dressing to save time!!
Apple Cranberry Salad with Blue Cheese — All the flavors of fall in one gorgeous, hearty, and healthy salad!! The easy, tart-and-sweet dressing is just bursting with flavor!!
Spinach Apple Salad with Cheddar & Cranberries — The flavors just POP in this fast, easy, and healthy spinach salad! There are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every bite you can’t help but like it!
Smoky Roasted Chickpea Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing — An EASY salad with smoky roasted chickpeas, vegetables, kale, and topped with homemade chive-infused buttermilk dressing!!
Kale Caesar Salad with Fried Chickpeas — This isn’t a traditional Caesar salad and that’s what I love about it. I used kale rather than romaine and fried chickpeas instead of croutons.
great
I have been anxious to make this fantastic salad….we both loved it! Hearty, tangy, sweet and nutty….perfect!
I have been anxious to make this fantastic salad….we both loved it! Hearty, tangy, sweet and nutty….perfect!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was fantastic! When I made it, I actually thought of you. I know we both like salads like this, as you said, hearty, tangy, sweet and nutty all in one! All those textures are what really MAKE the salad great for me!