This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
If you need a healthy salad bowl recipe that feels like comfort food, make this spicy sweet potato chickpea salad bowl with creamy tahini dressing! Great as a lunch salad or for meal prep. Smoky bbq spiced baked veggies, leafy greens, nuts, seeds and a creamy vegan dressing!
Coming at you with a ridiculously delicious salad bowl recipe loaded with three kinds of bbq spiced roasted vegetables and a creamy tahini dressing you will want to put on everything!
Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad Bowls are here to make your lunches exciting again! Savory and sweet, subtly spiced, warming, comforting, wonderfully satisfying, and seriously flavorful while being super healthy! What’s not to love?
The spice mix for the roasted chickpeas and sweet potatoes is a fragrant blend of garlic powder, onion powder, coriander, paprika, cumin, black pepper, cardamom, cayenne (optional) and ground mustard! I love this blend so much as it is the perfect mix of warming, smokey, spicy, and cozy!
The chickpeas bake into crispy perfection and the sweet potatoes are crisp on the outside and pillowy on the inside. Bell peppers baked until soft and almost caramelized deliver the perfect sweetness! We add them to the chickpeas and potatoes later as they need less cooking time.
While the veggies bake away, we whisk together a creamy dreamy tahini dressing! It’s so good that I recommend you make a double batch!
MORE VEGAN BOWL RECIPES FROM THE BLOG:
- Chili garlic Tofu Bowl with noodles and chard
- Peanut Butter Roasted Cauliflower Bowl. GF
- Quinoa Cauliflower Bowl with almond Sriracha sauce GF
- Sprouted Lentil Bowl with Cajun Spied Sweet Potatoes GF
- Turmeric Cauliflower Rice Bowl with Moroccan spice chickpeas. GF
Spicy Chickpea Sweet Potato Salad Bowl with Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
For the chickpeas and sweet potatoes:
- 15 oz Can of chickpeas, or 1.5 cups cooked
- 2 cups cubed sweet potato
- 1 tablespoon barbeque sauce
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
For the salad bowl:
- 1 cup sliced bell pepper
- salt and black pepper for roasting the bell pepper
- 3-5 cups baby greens, or mixed spring greens
- 1 cup of juicy fruit such as apples or pear
- 1/4 cup of nuts or seeds of choice , such as pecans or pumpkin seeds or hemp seeds
For the Tahini Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup warm water
Instructions
- In a bowl, add in the chickpeas and sweet potatoes. Add in the barbeque sauce and oil and toss well to coat.
- Then add in all the spices and herbs and mix well to coat evenly.
- Spread this mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- In another bowl, add the the bell pepper, salt, and pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of oil and toss well. Then spread the bell pepper on the same baking sheet or a different sheet. Use separate parchment if using same baking sheet on one side so that you can remove it when the bell pepper gets done.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 c) for 25-30 minutes. Bell pepper might get roasted m by the 20-minute mark so you can remove the bell pepper from the baking sheet and move the sweet potatoes and chickpeas around for even baking
- Bake until the sweet potatoes are done to preference and chickpeas are slightly crispy to preference.
- To make the tahini dressing, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup water and mix. it will take a minute for the tahini to mix with the water.
- Once the mixture is well combined the tahini dressing will thicken a bit, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water as needed. Taste and adjust flavor if needed.
- To assemble, add a good helping of your salad greens to a bowl. Add a good helping of the chickpeas and sweet potatoes over the salad greens and bell peppers, fruit, nuts, or seeds, and a good helping of the tahini dressing all over and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- you can use squash instead of sweet potatoes
- if you have Cajun spice at home, you can use about 2 tbsp of that instead of the spice blend. If it contains salt already, you might not need to add any more salt.
- roasted beets would be another great addition to this salad. Roast them separately as they will color everything pink
- as for the fruit add pears, apples, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, blueberries or whatever is in season
- nuts and seeds that go great on salad are pepitas, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios. You can make this extra delicious by toasting the nuts before adding them. Candied and/or spiced nuts are also an amazing choice
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for making Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad Bowls:
- chickpeas – canned or cooked
- sweet potatoes, cut into equal-sized chunks.
- bell peppers – any color works but red makes for a nice contrast in color.
- bbq sauce along with a blend of garlic and onion powder, coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom and ground mustard for that perfect smoky bbq seasoning we want for our oven-baked veggies
- For the tahini dressing, we mix tahini with lemon juice, parsley, garlic powder and some warm water to thin it out to preference
- the base of our salad bowls can be any store-bought spring mix, or any blend of leafy greens you like
- optional seasonal add-ons can be any of your favorite seeds, nuts, dried or fresh fruit
Tips & Substitutions:
- you can use squash instead of sweet potatoes
- if you have Cajun spice at home, you can use about 2 tbsp of that instead of the spice blend. If it contains salt already, you might not need to add any more salt.
- roasted beets would be another great addition to this salad. Roast them separately as they will color everything they touch pink
- as for the fruit you can add pears, apples, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, blueberries or whatever is in season
- nuts and seeds that go great on a salad are pepitas, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios. You can make this extra delicious by toasting the nuts before adding them to the salad
- Candied and/or spiced nuts are also an amazing choice
How to make Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad Bowls
In a bowl, add in the chickpeas and sweet potatoes. Add in the barbeque sauce and oil and toss well to coat.
Then add in all the spices and herbs and mix well to coat evenly.
Spread this mixture on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
In another bowl, add the the bell pepper, salt, and pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of oil and toss well. Then spread the bell pepper on the same baking sheet or a different sheet. Use separate parchment if using same baking sheet on one side so that you can remove it when the bell pepper gets done.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 c) for 25-30 minutes. Bell pepper will most likely be done by the 20-minute mark so you can remove the bell pepper from the baking sheet and move the sweet potatoes and chickpeas around for even baking
Bake until the sweet potatoes are done to preference and chickpeas are slightly crispy to preference.
To make the tahini dressing, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup water and mix. it will take a minute for the tahini to mix with the water.
Once the mixture is well combined the tahini dressing will thicken a bit, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water as needed. Taste and adjust flavor if needed.
To assemble, add a good helping of your salad greens to a bowl. Add a good helping of the chickpeas and sweet potatoes over the salad greens and bell peppers, fruit, nuts, or seeds, and a good helping of the tahini dressing all over and serve immediately.
Can you add any other sauce than barbecue
you could omit or use ketchup, chipotle sauce , hoisin, teriyaki
Delicious spices on the sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Love this dressing, too. Thanks Richa for another wonderful and filling lunch.
So happy that you liked them
How about dry mint or semi dried basil instead of parsley? Or fresh cilantro? I believe it might work but what do you think Richa?
Yes mint or cilantro will both work
Any other dressing recommendations? My son is allergic to sesame so we don’t keep tahini (or peanut butter) in the house
Use other nut butters like almond or cashew butter
This salad was amazing! A friend turned me on to your Instant Pot Lasagna Soup recipe last fall (also amazing), and I’m so glad she did. For sure this is a 5-star recipe I’ll make again. All of it was good, but the apple took it over the top. Do not leave it out! I used a Honeycrisp but next time I’d try a Granny Smith or even a pear. I also did not roast the bell pepper because (a) I chopped the sweet potato small and it was cooked in 20 min, and (b) I wanted more crunch. Overall, it was just outstanding. Thank goodness I doubled it!
Awesome!
This turned out perfectly. Even great for lunch at work the next day.
I will be making this with suggested variations many times.
Thank you, thank you.
This recipe was amazing! Another Vegan Richa hit!! Thanks Richa! Loved it! I took your recommendation to add Cajun seasoning, and we loved it!
Delicious! I used 2 tbsps of Cajun seasoning and it was definitely spicy, but the spice paired great with the apples and tahini. Thanks!
Awesome !!
We love all of your recipes and make a lot of them on repeat in our house!
We don’t cook with oil and all of your substitutions have been delicious! Just curious if you have a sub for oil for this recipe, or if you can omit? 🙂
Just omit.
I just tried this one… it’s so good that I can’t believe it! You’ve outdone yourself with this one, Richal!
❤️❤️