Yesterday during our afternoon off from work, Tim and I got crafty in the kitchen. We received giant sweet potatoes in our CSA last week, and we also had a ton of pomegranate seeds left over from last week’s food prep, so we wanted to make a lunch for the week that used both. Here’s what we came up with!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Pomegranate Pumpkin Dressing

Serves 4-5 as a main meal or 6-8 as a side dish

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 6 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into one inch cubes
• Half a small red onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, diced (or a quart container of mini peppers)
• 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the dressing:

• 6 tbsp pomegranate juice
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seed oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• Salt and ground pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. In a bowl, toss the cut up sweet potatoes in 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer to two large baking sheets. Roast in the oven for around 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Make sure to check on them halfway through and flip so the sweet potato cooks evenly.
3. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, make your dressing. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the pomegranate juice, red wine vinegar, pumpkin seed oil, maple syrup, and salt and pepper.
4. When the sweet potatoes are done, transfer to a large bowl, and add the onion, pepper, pumpkin seeds, pomegranate seeds, and cilantro.
5. Pour the dressing mixture over the salad and mix well. Make sure to pour slowly and taste as you go to avoid over-dressing. I recommend pour and tasting about 2-3 different times.
6. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds, and enjoy!

You might be thinking that pomegranate and pumpkin aren’t flavors that go well together, but when you take one awesome flavor and combine it with another awesome flavor… yeah. Double awesomeness. Using pumpkin seed oil in the dressing provides a nice contrast against the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, pomegranate seeds, and pomegranate juice. The diced peppers, pomegranate seeds, and pumpkin seeds add a nice crunch, and of course, I like anything with cilantro in it. For those of you who don’t like cilantro, you could sub in parsley, and for those of you who might not have pumpkin seed oil at home, feel free to use olive oil instead (may have to add a little more).

I love how colorful and nutritious this dish is, and I can’t wait to have it for lunches this week! If you make this, snap some pretty pictures and post to social media. Would love to see your versions!

Readers, let’s chat! What’s your favorite flavor? A-sweet potato, B-pomegranate, or C-pumpkin?!

Luckily, this dish doesn’t make you decide. 😉