Sweet Potato Salad

This sweet potato salad recipe is colorful and delicious! Roasted potatoes, greens, and cranberries make the ideal sweet and savory mix.

Looking for a delicious salad featuring everyone’s favorite root vegetable? Try this Sweet Potato Salad! You won’t be able to stop shoveling in bites of this healthy side dish (we couldn’t, at least). The contrast of garlic roasted sweet potato cubes, feathery baby arugula, cranberries and creamy goat cheese hit it out of the park. Top it with tangy honey mustard dressing and well, you’ll want to park yourself in front of the bowl.

Elements in this sweet potato salad recipe

There are many types of sweet potato salads. In fact, there’s a popular Arabic sweet potato salad with onion, cinnamon and raisins. This sweet potato salad recipe is one of our own creation, using our favorite roasted sweet potatoes with a mix of fall and wintery produce. But it works for any time of year! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Sweet potatoes
• Olive oil, garlic powder, and salt and pepper (for roasting)
• Honey Mustard Dressing (or Balsamic Dressing or Orange Vinaigrette for vegan)
• Baby arugula
• Shallot
• Dried cranberries or cheeries
• Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Feta cheese or goat cheese (optional)

Tips for making roasted sweet potatoes

The longest lead item in this sweet potato salad recipe is roasting the potatoes! This salad is built around these Roasted Sweet Potatoes: our master method for baking them until they’re caramelized and tender. Here are a few notes for that method:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Sweet potatoes are best roasted at very high heat, which gets the best caramelization (called the Maillard reaction).
• Dice the sweet potatoes into 3/4-inch chunks. This might sound oddly specific, but it’s the ideal size for bite-sized pieces. (Cut them too small and they shrivel up in the oven.)
• Season with olive oil, salt and garlic powder. See the recipe below for specifics.
• Roast on parchment-lined baking sheet for about 25 minutes, until tender. There’s no need to stir! Throw them in and they roast up like a charm.

Two variations: potato salad vs plated salad

You can serve this sweet potato salad one of two ways: from a bowl, or as a plated salad. Here are the differences:

• The main method is like a cross between potato salad and green salad. It’s mostly sweet potatoes, with a bit of baby arugula thrown in.
• Want more of a green salad? Do the plated salad variation. Add a few cups of mixed greens to the baby arugula. Place the greens on a plate, then add the sweet potatoes and drizzle over dressing.

Only use baby greens!

This sweet potato salad is contingent on using baby greens. Why? Baby arugula has a beautiful feathery texture and a mild flavor. Mature arugula is sold in bunches and the flavor is very spicy! Don’t use it as a substitute. If you need a substitute, use any type of baby green: spinach or mixed greens.

Baby arugula is sold in boxes or bags in the produce aisle. Just stay away from anything sold as a bunch!

Sweet potato salad dressings

This sweet potato salad recipe tastes good with lots of different salad dressing options. Our favorite is Honey Mustard Dressing, but there are lots to choose from. Here are some options:

• Honey Mustard Dressing (use maple syrup instead of honey for vegan)
• Balsamic Vinaigrette: another favorite!
• Citrus Salad Dressing: would add a zingy citrus flair
• Dijon Mustard Dressing or Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing: tangy and delicious

When to serve it

Let us know if you try this sweet potato salad: it’s one of our favorite new recipes and everyone goes crazy for it when we make it! It would be perfect for serving:

• With black bean chili
• For a healthy lunch idea
• As a Thanksgiving side dish

More sweet potato recipes

Love sweet potatoes? Here some favorite sweet potato recipes for any season:

• Try fan-favorite Sweet Potato Wedges
• Opt for a good old Baked Sweet Potato or Microwave Sweet Potato, or load it up for Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Try Best Ever Sweet Potato Fries or Sweet Potato Soup
• Make meals with Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas or Sweet Potato Curry
• Bake up Sweet Potato Muffins or Sweet Potato Bread
• Make delicious Mashed Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potato Puree

01

Easy Sweet Potato Wedges

02

Baked Sweet Potato

03

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

04

Sweet Potato Soup

Print

Sweet Potato Salad

---

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Sonja Overhiser
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

This sweet potato salad recipe is colorful and delicious! Roasted potatoes, greens, and cranberries make the ideal sweet and savory mix.

---

Ingredients

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 medium)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons Honey Mustard Dressing (or Balsamic Dressing or Orange Vinaigrette for vegan)
• 2 cups baby arugula (not standard arugula*, plus 2 to 3 cups mixed greens for the plated salad variation)
• 1/2 medium shallot, thinly sliced into half moons
• ¼ cup dried cranberries or cherries
• ¼ cup pepitas
• ¼ cup feta or goat cheese crumbles (optional)

---

Instructions

1. Roast the sweet potatoes: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Dice the sweet potatoes into 3/4” cubes, leaving the skin on. In a large bowl, mix the sweet potatoes with the olive oil, garlic powder, and kosher salt.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the sweet potatoes on top in an even layer. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the cubes are tender and browned on the bottom. (You can make ahead the roasted sweet potatoes and refrigerate until serving: bring them to room temperature prior to making the salad, or reheat them in a 350 degree oven until slightly warmed.)
4. Meanwhile, make the Honey Mustard Dressing.
5. When ready to assemble the salad, in a bowl mix the roasted sweet potatoes with the baby arugula, shallot, cranberries, pepitas, feta or goat cheese crumbles, and 6 tablespoons of the dressing. Mix, then serve. (Plated salad variation: Add 2 to 3 additional cups mixed greens. Place the greens on plates, top with the potatoes, cranberries, shallot pepitas and cheese, and drizzle with dressing.)

Notes

*Make sure to buy baby arugula, which has a feathery texture. Mature arugula sold in bunches is much too spicy. For a substitute, use any baby green like baby spinach or mixed greens.

• Category: Salad
• Method: Roasted
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Sweet potato salad, sweet potato salad recipe

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @acouplecooks on Instagram and hashtag it #acouplecooks

A Couple Cooks - Recipes worth repeating.

from A Couple Cooks https://ift.tt/BX1y8U7

Banana Nut Muffins

This banana nut muffins recipe is outstanding: moist, nutty and perfectly sweet! It will become a family favorite.

Here’s an unexpected family favorite muffin: this Banana Nut Muffins recipe! They’re sweet and exceedingly moist, with an irresistibly nutty flavor from toasted walnuts in the batter and sprinkled on top. Add a little crunchy sugar to those muffin tops, and the sweet- salty-nutty flavor combination is out of this world. Our family went wild for these, and I dare say we love these even more than Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins…if that’s possible. Here are the tricks to this tasty muffin!

Ingredients in banana nut muffins

These banana nut muffins are moist and fluffy, with the best nutty flavor that’s infused into the entire muffin. But there’s no tricks here: they’ve got basic ingredients and follow the traditional muffin method. The only added bonus: toasted nuts. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• All-purpose flour
• Cinnamon and ginger: these spices make for just the right cozy, nuanced flavor
• Baking powder, baking soda and salt
• Bananas
• Egg
• Granulated sugar
• Vegetable oil: using oil instead of butter makes extremely moist muffins
• Vanilla extract
• Walnuts: you’ll toast the nuts to bring out the flavor: see below! You can also use pecans if you like.
• Turbinado sugar: this chunky sugar makes a lovely glittery topping

Toasting the nuts brings out the flavor

The key to this banana nut muffins recipe? Toasting the walnuts. Don’t be tempted to skip this step! Toasting nuts is like adding salt to savory food: it intensifies the nutty flavor. It takes just 5 minutes to toast walnuts on the stovetop. Here are the basic steps:

• Place the nuts in a dry skillet (no oil) over medium heat. Heat, shaking the pan and stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the nuts are fragrant and slightly darker brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Stay at the stove because the nuts can easily burn! Remove immediately from the heat and transfer to a plate to stop the cooking.

More tips for banana nut muffins

Aside from toasting the nuts, there are a few basic tips for banana nut muffins that are important to keep in mind. Here’s what to know:

• Very ripe bananas are key. The riper and browner the better! Very ripe bananas make an intensely moist texture and sweet flavor: and there’s no faking it with a plain old ripe banana.
• Resist the urge to overmix. Overmixing muffin batter causes holes in the crumb and a denser texture. Mix just until the streaks of flour disappear.
• Baking at 400 degrees makes a taller muffin. Our favorite temperature for baking muffins is 400 degrees Fahrenheit (versus 350F, which you see more often). It makes a taller and fluffier muffin.

Variations and mix-ins

Of course, you can add even more mix-ins to this banana nut muffins recipe to customize it. It would be great with one of the following:

• Use pecans or macadamia nuts instead of walnuts
• Chocolate chips: add ½ cup bittersweet or semisweet chips
• White chocolate chips
• Butterscotch chips: butterscotch would go well with the nutty flavor

Storage info

What’s the best way to store these banana nut muffins? Here are the best practices for muffin storage:

• Room temperature up to 4 days: Store at room temperature in a sealed container. You can place a paper towel inside to absorb extra moisture and keep the tops crunchier.
• Refrigerated 1 week or more: These muffins store well in the refrigerator. (We kept ours almost 2 weeks and they still tasted great.)
• 3 months: Freeze in a sealable container and store up to 3 months.

More banana muffin recipes

There are lots of ways to make a banana muffin! Here are some of our top muffin recipes:

• Try classic Easy Banana Muffins
• Go for Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Grab our fan-favorite Healthy Banana Muffins
• Try Banana Oatmeal Muffins or Banana Blueberry Muffins

01

Easy Banana Muffins

02

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

03

Healthy Banana Muffins

04

Banana Blueberry Muffins

This banana nut muffins recipe is…

Vegetarian.

Print

Banana Nut Muffins

---

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: Sonja Overhiser
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 12

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

This banana nut muffins recipe is outstanding: moist, nutty and perfectly sweet! It will become a family favorite.

---

Ingredients

• ¾ cup chopped walnuts (or substitute pecans)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ½ cups mashed banana (about 3 large or 4 medium)
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Turbinado sugar, for topping

---

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add 12 muffin cups to a muffin tin.
2. Toast the walnuts: Chop the nuts. Place the nuts in a dry skillet (no oil) over medium heat. Heat, shaking the pan and stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the nuts are fragrant and slightly darker brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stay at the stove because the nuts can easily burn! Remove immediately from the heat and transfer to a plate to stop the cooking.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt.
4. In another medium bowl, mash the banana. Whisk in the egg, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a spatula, and stir until a smooth batter forms. Avoid the urge to overmix. Gently fold in ½ cup of the walnuts. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with the reserved ¼ cup walnuts (split between all) and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
6. Bake the muffins for 15 minutes, until puffed and golden on top. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool fully, about 1 hour. Store up to 4 days in a sealed container at room temperature, refrigerated up to 1 week or more (allow to come to room temperature before serving), or frozen up to 3 months.

• Category: Muffin
• Method: Baked
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Banana nut muffins, banana nut muffin, banana nut muffin recipe, banana nut muffins recipe

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @acouplecooks on Instagram and hashtag it #acouplecooks

A Couple Cooks - Recipes worth repeating.

from A Couple Cooks https://ift.tt/8AudXI4

Ricotta Pancakes

This ricotta pancakes recipe is light and fluffy: perfect for weekend breakfasts! Adding cheese makes the best texture for pancakes.

There are so many ways to make a pancake, and we’ve tried almost every which way: like classic, buttermilk, blueberry, almond flour, oatmeal, and banana pancakes. But at the very top in our favorite methods for this tasty breakfast are Ricotta Pancakes! Adding ricotta cheese to pancakes makes a lusciously fluffy texture and rich flavor. It also packs the breakfast cake with protein, making them more filling than the standard flapjack. Taste it once and you won’t want to go back!

Ingredients in ricotta pancakes

Ricotta cheese is a creamy Italian cheese with a mild flavor. It’s most famously used in lasagna recipes: but add it to pancakes and it makes them extra fluffy! This ricotta pancakes recipe is simple, and the only special ingredient you need is the cheese. Everything else you likely already have on hand in your pantry and fridge. Here’s what you’ll need for ricotta pancakes:

• Eggs
• Ricotta cheese
• Maple syrup
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Kosher salt
• Butter, for cooking

Want to mix it up? Try our Lemon Ricotta Pancakes for a tangy spin on the classic. Adding lemon zest is a natural way to heighten the flavors and bring a citrusy brightness to the dish.

Ricotta makes high protein pancakes

Ricotta cheese makes an impossibly fluffy, delightful texture to a pancake. At the same time, it adds a significant boost of protein. This makes these flapjacks much more satisfying than a classic pancake, and helps them keep you full for hours. Here’s a comparison of the protein levels in ricotta pancakes vs the standard all-purpose flour flapjack:

• 1 ricotta pancake has 9.6 grams protein! That’s 20% of your daily protein: in one pancake.
• 1 standard pancake has approximately 4 grams protein. So the cheese version has almost double the protein!

Tips on cooking ricotta pancakes

Cooking ricotta pancakes is similar to the traditional flapjack method. But keep in mind, the texture is slightly different because of the eggs and cheese. Here’s what to note when cooking:

• Use a large griddle: non-stick is helpful. Some griddles are uneven with their heating, so find a quality pan. Non-stick is helpful and you don’t have to grease it.
• Experiment to find the right heat level. Medium low heat is ideal, but it’s different on every stovetop. It should take a few minutes to get the pan up to heat.
• When you flip, the pancake may ooze at the edges. The batter may ooze out a bit at the sides, which is expected. Just keep cooking until it is fully cooked, adjusting the heat as necessary so it doesn’t brown too fast.

Pancake topping ideas

This ricotta pancakes recipe is so light and fluffy, you barely need any toppings to make it taste good! Just a drizzle of maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar are perfect. However, if you’d like to get fancier, you can dress up your ricotta pancakes: and it’s fun to bring in seasonal elements! Here are a few ideas:

• Fresh berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries
• Bananas, either sliced fresh or caramelized bananas
• Chopped apples or apple compote
• Fruit sauce like Blueberry Sauce, Raspberry Sauce or Strawberry Sauce
• Compote like Blueberry Compote, Raspberry Compote, Rhubarb Compote or Peach Compote
• Whipped cream or crème fraiche: try homemade whipped cream, crème fraiche, crème anglaise, or Greek yogurt sweetened with a bit of maple syrup
• Chopped nuts: pecans, walnuts, or sliced almonds

And that’s it! Let us know what you think of this recipe in the comments below. It’s one of our favorite ways to enjoy a lazy morning breakfast.

More ricotta recipes

Love this Italian cheese? Here are a few more great ways to enjoy ricotta; some traditional and some more unique:

• Try Lemon Ricotta Pasta
• Go for simple Ricotta Toast or Whipped Ricotta
• Make Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
• Bake up Vegetarian Lasagna with Ricotta or Ricotta Pizza

01

Lemon Ricotta Pasta

02

Ricotta Toast

03

Vegetarian Lasagna with Ricotta

04

Ricotta Pizza

This ricotta pancakes recipe is…

Vegetarian.

Print

Ricotta Pancakes

---

• Author: Sonja Overhiser
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 8 to 9 medium pancakes

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

This ricotta pancakes recipe is light and fluffy: perfect for weekend breakfasts! Adding cheese makes the best texture for pancakes.

---

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Butter, for cooking

---

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, ricotta, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until a smooth batter forms.
3. Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium low heat, then add a bit of butter to coat. Scoop out ¼ cup portions of batter and cook the pancakes until golden brown on one side, adjusting the heat so it doesn’t brown too fast. Flip and cook until cooked through and no longer gooey at the edges (the batter may ooze out a bit at the sides; just keep cooking until it is fully cooked, adjusting the heat as necessary so it doesn’t brown too fast). Place the pancakes in a stack under an overturned bowl, and cook the second batch of pancakes.

• Category: Breakfast
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Ricotta pancakes, Ricotta pancake, ricotta pancake recipe

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @acouplecooks on Instagram and hashtag it #acouplecooks

A Couple Cooks - Recipes worth repeating.

from A Couple Cooks https://ift.tt/PyJlUHr