I feel like sweet potatoes are often overlooked as a good vehicle for stuffing. You always hear about stuffed peppers and zucchini boats, but you don’t get a lot of stuffed sweet potatoes (or maybe I’m just living under a rock, another completely reasonable explanation).
Anyway, I decided that I wanted to give sweet potatoes the stuffing they deserved. And what better stuffing than a quinoa salad? It’s light and refreshing but also filled with protein and fiber so that it keeps you feeling full.
It’s also a fun way to get TONS of veggies all into one convenient little boat! I don’t know about you guys but eating salad out of a sweet potato just makes eating a salad way more interesting to me.
The crunch from the salad makes a perfect compliment to the soft sweet potato base so each forkful provides the best textures.
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 4 large handfuls of spinach
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup cucumbers, diced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 4 tablespoons walnuts
- 4 tablespoons dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/2 an avocado, diced
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, poke holes all around the sweet potatoes
- Microwave each on HIGH for 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side) - or until tender to the touch - the larger the sweet potato, the more time it will need to cook inside.
- Combine spinach, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, walnuts, dried cranberries and feta in a food processor and pulse a few times until all ingredients are chopped
- Place chopped salad ingredients into a bowl and fold in cooked quinoa and avocado
- Dress with olive oil and vinegar (or dressing of choice), salt and pepper to taste then toss to combine
- Slice each sweet potato in half, scoop 1-2 spoonfuls out then mash remaining insides down to make room for the salad
- Fill each sweet potato with 1/3 cup of the mixture and sprinkle with additional feta cheese as desired (note, you may have extra filling depending on the size of your sweet potatoes)
Notes
If you don't like mixing textures or hot and cold foods, nix the sweet potato and just serve the salad!
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