Healthy, easy and delicious vegan Sweet Potato Noodle Salad with Chickpeas and Rocket recipe. It makes for a great nutritious lunch or a nice gluten free side dish!
This recipe was developed and written by Rhian from Rhian's Recipes, who is a new guest blogger on my blog! Check her bio and her delicious and healthy sweet potato noodle salad recipe below!
Hi! I'm Rhian, half-Japanese half-British Cambridge graduate interested in cinema, literature, travelling, art, languages, beauty and of course, food! The focus of my food blog Rhian's Recipes is Japanese cuisine-inspired recipes that are healthy and mostly vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Although I create my recipes with various dietary requirements in mind, my main aim is to create delicious dishes that can be enjoyed by conventional eaters too. The vast majority of my dessert recipes are free from refined sugar. Feel free to stop by to check my recipes!
Healthy Sweet Potato Noodle Salad with Chickpeas and Rocket
This Sweet Potato Noodle Salad is insanely delicious, surprisingly satisfying and super healthy. It's perfect for this time of year, especially if you're on a health kick after the over-indulgence of the festive period.
I absolutely love the combination of different flavours and textures too - the crispy, subtly spiced sweet potato noodles pair beautifully with the meaty chickpeas, tart-sweet pomegranate seeds, creamy avocado, crisp, peppery rocket and crunchy sunflower seeds.
This salad makes the perfect healthy yet filling lunch, but also works well as a side dish. It's great for feeding a crowd because its vegan and gluten-free, so caters for a wide range of dietary requirements.
This salad is so well balanced. Nutritiously speaking, it's packed full of plant-based protein, fibre, healthy fats, leafy greens, slow release energy-filled carbs, and beneficial spices.
How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Noodles
This salad starts with sweet potato noodles (aka swoodles!). You can either use a spiralizer to make these, or if you don't have one, you can use a knife to cut the sweet potato into thin strips.
Sweet potatoes are not only delicious but highly nutritious and packed with fiber. They are great both spiralized and blended (for example in this sweet potato lentil soup).
The trick to making the sweet potatoes taste delicious is to coat them in a mixture of spices and herbs (paprika, cumin, cinnamon and coriander). This gives them a wonderfully subtle aroma that doesn't overpower the other flavours in the salad.
I did try pan-frying the noodles, but it took quite a while for them to get soft and crispy, so I decided baking them was better both in terms of flavour and texture. It's also easier, as you can just throw them in the oven and momentarily forget about them while you prepare the rest of the salad.
How to Make Healthy Sweet Potato Noodle Salad with Chickpeas and Rocket
Instead of just adding whole chickpeas, I decided to make a delicious chickpea paste that's reminiscent of hummus, but much easier to make. All you need to do is add a little tahini, vinegar, salt and pepper and mash up your chickpeas with a fork. If you have leftovers, this paste is also great in a sandwich!
You can't have a salad without some greens, and I picked rocket because its peppery flavour perfectly compliments the sweetness of the pomegranate seeds and sweet potatoes. Little spoonfuls of avocado add a rich creaminess, whilst sunflower seeds add a lovely nutty crunch.
Because the sweet potato noodles and chickpea paste are so flavourful, I didn't feel the need to make a dressing - a little squeeze of lemon juice adds just the right amount of freshness and balances out all the other flavours.
Healthy Sweet Potato Noodle Salad
Ingredients
For the sweet potato noodles:
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the chickpea paste:
- 1 400 g (14 oz) tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the salad:
- 6 handfuls rocket
- 1 handful pomegranate seeds
- 1 avocado
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
MAKE THE SWEET POTATO NOODLES:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Peel the sweet potato and turn into noodles either by using a spiralizer or cutting into thin strips with a knife. Place the sweet potato noodles on a baking tray with the olive oil, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, dried coriander, salt and pepper. Mix well and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, until tender and a little crisp. Take them out halfway through to mix around so that they bake evenly.
MAKE THE CHICKPEA PASTE:
- Place the chickpeas and all other ingredients in a flat-bottomed bowl and mash with a fork. Leave the chickpeas a little chunky for texture.
MAKE THE SALAD:
- Once the sweet potato noodles are out of the oven, place them in a bowl with the rocket, pomegranate seeds and spoonfuls of the chickpea paste. Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone. Use a teaspoon to scoop out little spoonfuls and arrange on top of the salad. Top with sunflower seeds and squeeze over a little lemon juice. Best enjoyed immediately!
Notes
Nutrition
Cheryl A Knapp says
what is Rocket??
Elena Szeliga says
Arugula in British English 🙂
Sarah K says
Am I right I’m assuming 180 degrees is in Celsius? Thanks! Making this tonight!
Elena Szeliga says
Hi Sarah, yes! Or 350 F 🙂 Let me know how you like it!
elcitrakale says
beautiful pictures. Nothing goes wrong with anything you put in this salad..Yummy! gorgeous presentation as well. Love it!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Citra!
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen says
Those thin sweet potato noodles are absolutely GORGEOUS with this salad! Such a great flavor combo in this salad, and the colors are just lovely!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Ashley! I love the way Rhian makes the sweet potato noodles. So crispy and spiced!
Sharon Glascoe says
This salad is packed with good for you - sweet potatoes, chickpeas, avocado. Dig in!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Sharon!
Patti says
This is such a colorful meal, and since we're supposed to "eat a rainbow everyday" to ensure we get all of our nutrients, this recipe definitely fits the bill. I can't wait to try this.
Elena Szeliga says
All in one, right? 🙂 Thank you Patti!
Gloria @ Homemade & Yummy says
OMG there is so much going on here. Lots of colours. Great textures....and all those awesome flavours. This is such a great looking meal. Your photos are beautiful too.
Elena Szeliga says
What a lovely comment Gloria! Thank you!
Elaine @ Dishes Delish says
This salad is both beautiful and delicious! I love all the flavors you have combined!!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Elaine!
Analida's Ethnic Spoon says
I love the baked sweet potato in this! Thanks for sharing!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Analida!
Tina says
I love all of the colors in this salad, I can tell I should be eating this. Saving this, thank you for sharing your recipe!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Tina! Hope you enjoy it!
Becky says
I can't get over how good this looks. You seasoned your sweet potato noodles with all of my favorite spices. I'll have to try this!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Becky! I love the spices too!
Paige says
Looks really great - my kind of food!
Elena Szeliga says
You'll love it!
Dominique | Perchance to Cook says
OMG this salad is on point. The use of sweet potato noodles in this recipe is perfect. So many flavors and so healthy!
Elena Szeliga says
Love it too! Thank you!
passmesometasty says
I love everything about this salad! Beautiful photos and it looks absolutely delish. Love a solid heart healthy salad!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you so much Shannon! Glad you like it! 🙂
gingeredwhisk says
Wow! This salad is so gorgeous and packed with flavor!
Elena Szeliga says
Thank you Jenni! It was delicious 🙂
michele says
That is one beautiful salad! And its good for me too! Winning!