Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Salad

This sweet potato goat cheese salad is a great salad recipe for the fall. It has enough filling, nutritious ingredients to be either a side salad or main dish.

After three drink recipes in a row, I’m back with something else – a salad!

I wish I had a Thanksgiving dessert to share today but I’m currently a bit sick of sweets. Go check out my other blog, Texanerin Baking, if you want some desserts. 😉

So here’s a healthy, fall salad that would be great if you want something other than a typical sweet potato dish for Thanksgiving.

I figure most people won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving as they usually do. So why not try something different.

And healthy! This salad is full of good-for-you ingredients. Obviously the sweet potatoes, but also salad greens, avocados and pecans.

I’ve got to say that it sounds like an odd combination but somehow it works!

A salad recipe that’s actually filling!

I often don’t find salads very filling unless there’s a chicken breast in there. This one is an exception!

The sweet potatoes help to satisfy as do the pecans, cheese and avocado. The protein and healthy fat do wonders for salads.

So you can have this salad as a great addition to your Thanksgiving dinner or as a filling main dish any other night of the week. Besides after the holidays, everyone needs a healthy green salad that will satisfy even the hungriest appetites. 

This great-looking Fall Harvest Salad would also do the job!

What type of goat cheese to use

In Germany, we have several types of cheese called goat cheese. So I’m always confused in US recipes when I see just “goat cheese” listed.

The kind of goat cheese you need for this recipe is plain chèvre – the kind that comes in a log. This recipe used the one from Roth, which in my hometown, can be found at Kroger and Wal-mart Supercenters. I’m sure you can find it in other stores, too.

You can also use their crumbled chèvre. Or any brand of chèvre!

If you like, you can omit the cheese altogether, but we love the special, unique flavor it adds to the salad.

What to prepare ahead of time

You can make the dressing a day in advance. If it thickens while in the fridge, stir in a little milk at a time until it’s thin enough for your liking.

If you don’t have buttermilk, regular milk works as well. I prefer buttermilk because of the tang that it adds.

I think this salad is best when you add the sweet potatoes when they’re still a little warm. That way, they help soften the lettuce just a bit.

But you can also use room-temperature sweet potatoes if you don’t want the lettuce softened.

Sweet potatoes are, in my opinion, pretty terrible when reheated. So I recommend roasting the sweet potatoes shortly before you want to serve this salad.

The croutons

I think croutons are always a tasty addition. They’re not mandatory, though. 

If you need this salad to be gluten-free, make sure to use gluten-free croutons. I haven’t tried these but here are the best-reviewed ones I could find, from New York Bakery. They seem to be available on the Target and Wal-mart websites but don’t appear on the brand’s own website, for whatever reason.

I also think these Roasted Squash Seeds would make a great addition to this salad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Still need some Thanksgiving recipe ideas? Try my Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cake, Hot Spiced Apple Cider or Naturally Gluten Free Quinoa Stuffing.

And these Red-skinned Mashed Potatoes are a must-make if you like mashed potatoes! They’re quicker to make than regular mashed potatoes. That post also has a ton of tips for avoiding gummy potatoes that result in creamy, smooth and delicious mashed potatoes.