Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad

This salad is, really, not a true salad.

It’s more like a pile of warm roasted sweet potatoes, caramelizy onions, and crisped chickpeas, all fragranced-up with some sprigs of fresh rosemary and speckled with toasty maple walnuts, piled on quinoa with fresh greens if your heart feels it, and eaten warm – or cold! – at your desk, in between morning and afternoon pumpkin lattes.

It is the food manifestation of cozy, with a healthy foot forward. It is ready for sweater weather. It is fall in a bowl.

Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad… Aka Throw All Things On A Sheet Pan!

Here’s the recipe: sheet pan. The end.

Diced sweet potatoes. Chickpeas. Rosemary. Shallots. Really, just DO IT FOR THE SMELLS. It is fall’s perfume.

Throw some mapled walnuts on there at the end of the roasting session and BAM. What is this, the hottest new vegan restaurant in town?

At this point you have a few options.

1. Mix right away. Toss everything together with some quinoa and greens (optional).
2. Prep for later. Divvy it up between lunch containers so you’re LUNCH GAME STRONG for the week.

Additional Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad Considerations:

The roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas, caramelizy shallots, maple walnuts, and quinoa all make a delicious and filling meal, period. But my favorite recipes are ones that kind of give you room to improv a bit depending on the mood of the day, and there’s definitely room for that here.

• Fried egg
• Soft boiled egg
• Goat cheese
• Roasted chicken
• Red pepper flakes
• Lemony herb dressing
• Honey mustard dressing
• Green tahini
• Just olive oil and lemon, because #easy.

I went with honey mustard dressing and a side of roasted chicken and holy moly. It did not disappoint.

Three Reasons To Love Walnuts Right Now

• Toasted with maple = magic. Fall’s nature candy.
• Keep you full. THANK YOU.
• Amazing source of Omega-3 fatty acids which are important for your body and your brain, and can help fight depression and anxiety, and inflammation, and a variety of other things. A true superfood.

In addition to walnuts being 💯 all on their own, we’re ALSO taking the pledge this month to #ChooseLunch. That means lot of meal prep recipes to keep that midday slump at bay and actually make us, well, want to eat lunch every day? YES.

Walnuts + Meal Prep = Match made in heaven. ♡