Crispy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Salads

As soon as the temperature dips below 50, I become obsessed with roasting vegetables.

Okay, that’s not completely true, because I roast vegetables all year long, summer, spring, winter, and fall. They just taste so good that way. I’ll manage with steamed vegetables, consume some if raw and chopped into a salad, but honestly, I’d rather always eat them roasted with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. They’re just better that way.

 I am a huge fan of salads in the summer, but once I gets cold I have a harder time feeling satisfied by a pile of greens with some protein (unless it’s those awesome steak, avocado, and hard goat cheese salads that we made for Ryan’s birthday, because I could live off those). Food temperature is big for me – warmer meals just offer more satisfaction in my book than cold meals. That’s why I almost always toast my peanut butter sandwiches – it makes it feel like an actual full-size meal.

Somehow over the years I’ve become a cold weather girl. Give me sweaters and hot apple cider and a warm bowl of soup after a shivery run in the cold and I’m a happy girl. I’d much rather run in 38 degree temperatures with sleet and wind than when it’s 80 degrees (and totally got to do that for 12 miles on Saturday, it was wonderful). It’s probably the fact that I’m turning slowly into a Northerner that I’ve become so obsessed with roasted vegetables and meals that warm you from the inside out.

That’s where this salad comes in: crispy chickpea and sweet potato salad, complete with roasted onions and cauliflower and a topping of feta cheese. This is a dinner party worthy salad, or at the very least a great salad to spice up the middle of a long and boring workday. It’s delicious, it’s warm, it’s filling, and – best of all – it’s a one pan meal. You simply chop everything up, toss them in a pan with some olive oil and spices, and pop in it the oven.

I found the secret recently to roasting vegetables really well – you crank the oven up hot. Like, 450* hot. Roasting takes less time and you get that beautiful crispiness on all the vegetables. No burnt, partially raw, or mushy cauliflower with this method.

Plus, you’re not going to get much healthier than this. Let’s check out what’s going on here: chickpeas, sweet potatoes, onion, cauliflower, olive oil, feta cheese. Protein, vegetables, fiber, dairy, and healthy fats are all present and accounted for in this salad. We’ve got all sorts of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories here, so it’s great for all you runners at the peak of training.  

Crispy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Salad

Laura Norris

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Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 1 large sweet potato cut into cubes
• 2 cups cauliflower chopped
• 1 sweet onion sliced
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoon ground sage
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoon feta

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Add the cut vegetables and chickpeas to a roasting pan and toss with olive oil.
• Season with sage, salt, and pepper.
• Cook for 25-30 minutes.
• After removing from oven, divide onto bowls and top each with one tablespoon of feta.