These Sweet Potato Kale Bowls are a tasty and versatile way to add some extra veggies into to your day. Eat them as is or switch them up by incorporating different add-ins such as roasted chickpeas, chicken, nuts or seeds! And don’t forget to drizzle on that delicious creamy roasted garlic dressing! {Vegan, gluten-free, & paleo}
I’m always on the hunt for new ways to add dark green leafy vegetables, like kale, to our weekly menu.
Because of it’s tough texture and slightly bitter flavour, kale is not one of those vegetables that you can just chomp down on by itself like you would a carrot or a cucumber. I mean, you could, but it probably wouldn’t be all that enjoyable.
I find that kale requires a little extra pizzazz.
Over the past few months, this Roasted Beet & Carrot Kale Salad has been one of our favourite recipes using kale, since the sweetness of the roasted beets and carrots helps to offset the bitterness of the kale.
Because this recipe has been so popular both in our house and on the blog, I decided to do a spinoff of it, but this time incorporating sweet potato and a nice creamy sauce.
The end result?
This Sweet Potato Kale Bowl with Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing.
How to Make the Sweet Potato Kale Bowl
The beauty of this sweet potato kale bowl is that it’s pretty easy to make, but it does require a few steps. It’s totally worth the effort though because it lasts for a few days.
The first step is to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. While waiting for the oven to heat up, soak one cup of unsalted cashews in boiling water for about 20-30 minutes. The cashews will be required for the dressing in the next step.
Next, chop up some peeled sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes. It’s important that they’re all roughly the same size so that they cook evenly. You’re going to need about 4 cups of the diced sweet potato, which is equivalent to about two medium-sized sweet potatoes.
Once you’ve got your diced sweet potato, toss it with the olive oil, garlic powder, paprika and salt and pepper.
Place it on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place four garlic cloves on the same baking sheet drizzled with a little bit of olive oil. These garlic cloves will be used for the dressing in the next step.
Roast the sweet potatoes and garlic for 15 minutes. Once that time is up, take the garlic cloves out of the oven, flip the sweet potatoes and continue roasting the sweet potatoes for an additional 20-25 minutes.
While the sweet potato is roasting, you can get to work making the delicious dressing and getting the kale ready for the bowls.
How to Make the Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing
Now that you have the garlic all roasted and flavourful and your cashews softened up, you’re ready to make the dressing!
Drain the cashews and place in a blender (I love the Ninja) along with the roasted garlic cloves, water, lemon juice and salt. Blitz it until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
You may wish to add more water if you’d like it to be a thinner consistency.
I also recommend testing a bit and adjusting for salt depending on your personal taste preference.
Just FYI – this dressing recipe makes more than you’ll probably need for the salad, but you can always keep the extras on hand to make this salad again.
OR it also tastes really good on pasta, chicken or fish if you’re looking for a creamy sauce that also happens to be dairy-free.
How to Reduce the Toughness and Bitterness of Kale
At this point, the sweet potatoes will probably still be roasting, so it gives you a few extra minutes to get the kale all ready to go. First, you’re going to chop up the kale into smaller pieces, removing any tough stems, until you have about 8 cups. Place the kale pieces in a large bowl.
Now, one of the common issues with kale is the fact that it has a natural toughness and bitterness to it, which is why a lot of people tend to stray away from it especially when consumed raw.
The best way to combat this is to massage the kale.
Yes, that’s right.
You’re going to give that kale a nice little massage, oil and all. Simply drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil on the kale and massage the pieces with your fingers for about 5 minutes or so to soften it up.
Kinda makes you wish you were sitting in the bowl getting the massage, right?!
At this point, the kale should be all ready to go!
How to Serve the Sweet Potato Kale Bowl
Now that you have all of the separate components for the bowl done, it’s time to assemble.
I recommend adding some of the roasted garlic dressing to the kale first and giving it a good toss and even massaging it into the leaves to really infuse the flavour.
Next, add in the roasted sweet potato and give it another gentle toss, adding some additional dressing if needed.
Now, you can either stop here and serve it alone or along with your favourite source of protein OR you can add some extras to the bowl. This step is HIGHLY recommended since those add-ins take these bowls to a whole new level.
Here are some of my favourite additions for these sweet potato kale bowls:
- Dried cranberries
- Pumpkin or sunflower seeds
- Nuts like sliced almonds, chopped walnuts or pecans
- Grilled chicken (marinated in one of these healthy chicken marinades)
- Almond Coconut Chicken Tenders
- Salmon (try this Dijon Mustard Salmon)
- Roasted chickpeas
The beauty of these bowls is that they’re very flexible and you can add whatever your heart desires on any given day!
How Long Can the Sweet Potato Kale Bowl be Stored in the Fridge?
Another great thing about these bowls is that the mixture tends to last in the fridge longer than your typical salad.
In fact, I actually think it tastes better the next day when the kale has had a chance to absorb some of that extra flavour from the dressing.
I’ve kept the kale mixture in the fridge for three days and it still tasted great on the third day, making it perfect for meal prepping. You can either put the dressing on in advance or add the dressing right before you’re ready to serve. Keep in mind that the bowls tend to taste better the longer the kale sits in the dressing.
As you can see, these Sweet Potato Kale Bowls are very versatile and you can totally work them around whatever you plan on making that day.
Serve them up as a side for dinner, make them into a complete meal by adding some extra protein, or meal prep them for a quick and easy lunch!
How would you serve up these Sweet Potato Kale Bowls?
More salad recipes!
- Kale Salad with Cranberries
- Kale Avocado Salad with Blueberries and Feta
- Roasted Beet & Carrot Kale Salad
- Blueberry Mandarin Broccoli Salad
- Healthy Burger Bowls with Special Sauce
- Blueberry Walnut Salad with Lemon Dressing
- Creamy Cranberry & Walnut Coleslaw
- No-Mayo Broccoli Apple Salad
- Christmas Wreath Salad
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Sweet Potato Kale Bowl with Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing
Ingredients
For the sweet potatoes:
- 4 cups diced sweet potato diced into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
For Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing:
- 1 cup raw unsalted cashews
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic roasted
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
For kale:
- 8 cups chopped kale
- 1 tsp. olive oil
Additional optional add-ins:
- Pumpkin or sunflower seeds
- Sliced Almonds
- Chopped pecans or walnuts
- Sprinkle of dried cranberries optional
- Grilled Chicken
- Roasted Chickpeas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Soak one cup of cashews in a bowl with boiling water for at least 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toss all of the ingredients for the sweet potatoes together in a large bowl until the sweet potatoes are coated with the olive oil and spices.
- Place on a baking sheet in a single layer. At the same time, add four garlic cloves to the baking sheet and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
- Bake sweet potatoes and garlic for 15 minutes. Remove garlic cloves from the oven and continue baking the potatoes for 20-25 minutes, until softened.
- Meanwhile, drain the cashews and add all of the ingredients for the dressing to a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth. You may need to add more water to thin out to desired consistency.
- Place the kale pieces into a large bowl and massage the kale leaves with the olive oil for 5-10 minutes. Add the dressing and toss until the kale is coated in dressing.
- Toss the roasted sweet potatoes gently in with the kale (and any additional add-ins - see above for suggestions) Add more dressing if desired. Serve immediately or place in fridge for later use. For best results, put dressing on salad at least two hours before serving to allow the flavours to absorb into the leaves.
Nutrition
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My favourite salad! The sweet potatoes and garlic dressing are so tasty!
Yay!! Glad you enjoyed it! So many different things you can do with this salad!