Okay, I’ll admit I just made this salad as a vehicle for the lime crema. It’s all about the crema. This stuff is seriously life changing and I haven’t been able to stop making it since my first batch. So, I just threw together a bunch of my other favorite ingredients, all of which happened to make a beautiful natural rainbow of colors, and ended up with this Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad (…with lime crema).
Meal Prep Ready!
This salad is great for meal prepping for the week. Just mix together the salad ingredients, but add the dressing each day as needed. You can top it with some grilled or rotisserie chicken, maybe roll it all together inside a tortilla, and you’re good to go! Another fun add-in that I thought about (but opted out of in favor of keeping things simple) is crushed up tortilla chips or tortilla strips. I think that crunch would be a really fun addition. And of course you could always add a bit of avocado or sliced jalapeños if that’s your jam.
Use Roasted Frozen Corn for Even More Flavor
Oh, also, if you have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in your area, you can make this salad even easier. They both sell frozen roasted corn, which you can use instead of my skillet charred corn. I went the budget route and made my own this time, but the pre-roasted frozen corn is seriously awesome (I think it’s usually cheaper at TJ’s than WF).
How to Store Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad
The “rainbow” ingredients of this salad should store well, even once stirred together, but I suggest leaving the crema off until just before serving.
Goes great with: Baked Beef & Black Bean Tacos, Chipotle Portobello Oven Fajitas, Cilantro Lime Drumsticks, Weeknight Enchiladas.
Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad with Lime Crema
Servings 6 1.33 cups eachIngredients
LIME CREMA
- 8 oz. sour cream ($1.00)
- 1 fresh lime ($0.50)
- 1 small clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
ROASTED SWEET POTATOES
- 1.5 lb. sweet potatoes ($1.57)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- Salt to taste ($0.02)
BLACKENED CORN
- 1 lb. frozen corn kernels, thawed ($1.49)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.08)
- Salt to taste ($0.02)
SALAD
- 1 15oz. can black beans ( $0.99)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.50)
- 1/4 red onion* ($0.25)
- 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.23)
Instructions
- If you haven’t yet, take the corn out of the freezer and allow it to begin thawing. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- Peel the sweet potatoes, then cut them into a small dice (1/4-1/2 inch cubes). Place the cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with cooking oil, cumin, and a pinch or two of salt. Toss the sweet potato cubes until they are all coated in oil and spices. Roast the sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft and slightly browned on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
- While the sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare the lime crema. Use a small-holed cheese grater or a zester to remove the thin layer of green zest from the lime. Add about 1 tsp of the zest and 1 Tbsp of the lime juice to the sour cream, along with the minced clove of garlic and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust the lime juice as desired. Refrigerate the crema until ready to use.
- Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the thawed corn and let cook until the corn is blistered and charred on the edges. Avoid stirring too often to allow it to blacken a bit. Let the corn cool slightly.
- Finely dice the red bell pepper and red onion. Rinse and drain the black beans. Pull the cilantro leaves from their stems and then roughly chop.
- Combine the roasted sweet potatoes, blackened corn, black beans, red bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro in a large dish. Stir to combine. Add some of the lime crema and toss until the salad is lightly coated. Add a little more lime crema on top just before serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
How To Make Rainbow Sweet Potato Salad – Step by Step Photos
If you haven’t already, take one pound of frozen corn kernels out of the freezer to thaw. If you are planning on charring them in a skillet like I did, they need to be completely thawed. Also, preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Peel and dice about 1.5 lbs. sweet potatoes (that was two small sweet potatoes for me, or one really large one). Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 Tbsp of cooking oil. Sprinkle 1 tsp cumin on top and a pinch or two of salt. Toss until all the sweet potatoes are coating in oil and spices.
Roast the sweet potatoes in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until they are soft and slightly brown on the edges. Total cooking time will depend on how small you cut them, so be mindful. Let them cool slightly.
While the sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare the lime crema. Zest one fresh lime (I use a small-holed cheese grater). Add about 1 tsp of the zest and 1 Tbsp of the lime juice to an 8oz. tub of sour cream. Also add one small clove of garlic (minced) and about 1/4 tsp salt. Stir to combine, then taste and adjust the lime juice as you see fit. Refrigerate the crema until ready to use.
If you’re not using frozen corn that came pre-roasted, heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, add 2 Tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the thawed corn kernels and let them cook until browned and blistered on the edges. Avoid stirring too often as this won’t allow the corn time to blacken. Season with a pinch or two of salt and let the corn cool slightly.
Drain and rinse a 15oz. can of black beans. Finely dice one red bell pepper and 1/4 of a red onion. Pull the leaves from 1/4 bunch of cilantro, and give them a rough chop. Combine the roasted sweet potatoes, charred corn, black beans, red bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro in a large bowl or dish.
Stir the salad ingredients to combine. If you’re meal prepping this salad, refrigerate it just like this without the dressing. If you’re going to serve it, add some of the crema, then stir until there is a light coating over the whole salad. Add more crema to the top of each serving. That pop of tart lime is more noticeable when you have some drizzled on top in addition to the light coating.
And that’s it! This Roasted Sweet Potato Rainbow Salad is SUPER FRESH. 💯
This was absolutely amazing! I made it for a dinner potluck and it was such a hit. I preferred it warm, but I can also see how it would be good room temperature or slightly chilled. I kept the sauce on the side because of a few dairy free people eating and I left out the cilantro because I couldn’t find any that looked good at the store. I will definitely be making this again!
I made this last week and am already planning to make it again tonight. I LOVED it. It was great as a side dish to the Cilantro Lime Drumsticks. I also ate it a few times as just a snack to tide me over until dinner. Great job, as always!
I am making this for lunch this week. Any chance it would be okay to freeze, without the dressing?
I don’t think this one will hold up quite so well to freezing. The fresh bell pepper, onion, and cilantro will break down a bit and go limp after thawing.
This was amazing!! SO GOOD!!! Loved the lime crema!
We had this last night with poached eggs, avocado, and salsa. Delicious!
What a great idea. I think I will try it this way too.
You, Madame, are a genius. You weren’t lying about that crema. Not that you’ve ever steered me wrong before. But DANGIT I’d eat my own foot if it had this magical crema on it.
Right??! I can’t stop with that stuff.
I’m crushing an “eat more veggies” challenge thanks to this salad. ;o) I used 2% Greek yogurt and it worked great.
How many calories are in this? It looks delicious
Is it possible!? another hit recipe!!
Even my youngest who doesn’t like yams gobbled this one up ;o)
Keep up the great work!
Made this last night – so SO good. When I make this again I will use greek yogurt instead of sour cream and add more onion – for a bit more of a kick. My husband added jalepenos to his but I’m not good with spicy so that won’t work for me.
I ate this with some tortilla chips and it was yummy. I bet it would be even better in a taco – maybe a baked taco? So many possibilities.
This was absolutely amazing. I had it for dinner last night and just had some for breakfast. I roasted some chicken thighs with fajita seasoning, shredded it and then put it on top and it’s AMAZING. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes.
This is a really good combo of flavors but after a day in the fridge the sweet potatoes and corn end up making this a really mushy salad. Any tips for keeping them crisper? I was thinking of maybe sauteing the sweet potatoes like in the Sweet Potato Tacos with Lime Crema (https://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/07/sweet-potato-tacos-with-lime-crema/) recipe. Anyone else have other ideas?
Store the salad and crema separately, only adding the crema to individual portions as it is served and it holds up better. Also make sure you don’t use too much oil when roasting the sweet potato and don’t overcrowd the pan or else they will end up mushy…. it wasn’t until I read over the recipe as posted again before replying that I realized I use about half the oil indicated.
I enjoyed this recipe. I personally like a little spice, so next time I might add jalapenos or a chipotle in adobo to the crema. My question is how do you like to eat leftovers? Chilled or heated up? I a stored the crema separately.
Hi there. I just can’t stomach fresh cilantro. Any suggestions to what an alternative could be?
Although they’re not similar at all, I sometimes like to replace cilantro with a bit of sliced green onion. It adds a nice freshness and that pop of green color. You may want to reduce the red onion a bit, though.
I subbed in parsley and it worked well.
Cilantro lovers probably wouldn’t approve of the change in flavor but for those of us genetically predisposed for cilantro to taste vile (somewhere between soap and dirty grass) not tasting like cilantro is a very good thing.
My husband hates cilantro, so I left it out. It was still amazing!
After making this several more times, I have found I prefer to just leave out the cilantro, as Jennifer suggested, then serving the salad over some baby greens from the garden (arugula, chicory, chard and spinach are what I have growing). Very yummy and nobody is tired of it yet despite it being a regular in the meal planning rotation.
this is a keeper, I made a few changes, I used Olive oil instead of sour cream, added celery, and used lentils ( what I had around). Everyone in the family liked it. Healthy, tastey and easy.
Wow! Looks so good. If you add lightly crushed tortilla chips, this is basically a TexMex version of indian chaat!