How many times have you said to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
That’s what I said to myself when I saw this recipe. Duh… turn a classic potato salad into a sweet potato salad! Please tell me that I’m not the last person on Earth who knew about this. Please…
The sweet potatoes are coated in a simple oil and vinegar dressing. I love that there is no mayo in this salad, unlike many other cold salads that you notoriously see this time of the year. I’ll eat potato salad covered in mayonnaise and even enjoy it, but I’m really not a fan of cooking with mayo. That doesn’t even make sense and I have no idea why I’m like that. My husband laughs at me because I like mayonnaise and I also hate it. He says I’m not allowed to have it both ways, I say I am.
I’m also loving that this is a vegetarian dish. The pecans add a nice touch here. However, I have to admit that swapping out the pecans for bacon would be an awesome idea… if you are into that sort of thing. 😉
My husband said that he prefers this sweet potato salad over a regular potato salad. Wowie, I wasn’t expecting that kinda feedback. I feel like a classic potato salad is almost impossible to beat because, well, it’s a classic for a reason. I love them both for different reasons. For those that are taking notes, this is a little more like a German potato salad (mostly the mayo versus vinegar thing) except with sweet potatoes.
I added some of the sweet potato salad on top of lettuce and it also turned out to be a delicious salad topping.
Cold Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
(About 4 servings)
Ingredients:
- about 1 and 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
- 1/8 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar (See note below.)
- 1 tablespoon oil (See note below.)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, chopped
Directions:
- In a big pot, bring water to a boil.
- Boil the chunks of sweet potato for about 6 to 8 minutes, or until you stick a fork in and the sweet potatoes are tender.
- Strain the sweet potatoes and add them to a large bowl.
- Immediately add into the bowl the chopped red onion, chopped pecans, white vinegar, oil, and salt.
- Gently stir all of the ingredients together.
- Add in the chopped feta cheese when you are ready to serve.
Adapted from: Space Ships and Laser Beams
Note: The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons each of vinegar and oil. I do not like a lot of dressing on my salads so I reduced the amounts. I suggest you start with1 tablespoon of each ingredient, taste the salad and add more to your liking.
Here are some other other saucy salad recipes.
