Southwestern Kale Power Salad
Healthy kale and quinoa power salad with spicy sweet potato, black beans and creamy avocado sauce. This gluten-free salad packs well for lunch, too!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
This hearty salad features a few of my all-time favorite ingredients. Here we have massaged kale, quinoa, spiced sweet potatoes, and black beans served with a dollop of creamy avocado sauce. I added crumbled feta and toasted pepitas for good measure.
I’d cook with only these ingredients if it weren’t for diversity’s sake. This texture-rich vegetarian salad packs great for lunch. If you like to meal prep for the week, this is an excellent candidate. Given the number of components, this is not the quickest recipe around, but it’s absolutely work the effort.
This recipe has been a reader favorite since it was originally published in 2015 (really, nine years ago?). I developed it during a month-long stay in Austin, Texas with my friend Ali. You could probably say that the Southwestern vibes influenced the recipe.
Today, this salad is getting fresh photos and some slight revisions. Enjoy!
How to Make This Power Salad
You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s a brief rundown with notes and video.
- Cook the quinoa. The recipe uses my foolproof method of cooking quinoa, which will differ from the instructions on your bag. You can make the quinoa a day in advance, if you’d like.
- Cook the sweet potatoes in a skillet. I love roasted sweet potatoes, but these sweet potatoes are cut quite small, so the skillet method is ideal. We’ll add a little bit of water, cover and let them steam until tender, then uncover and cook them until they’re caramelized on the edges.
- Massage and dress the kale. Massaging the kale (literally just scrunching it in your hands until it’s darker and softer) removes all the poky edges and improves the flavor. Then we’ll whisk together a simple olive oil and lime dressing, and toss to coat.
- Make the avocado sauce. Combine the ingredients in a food processor and blend. Add more lime juice, if you’d like. The sauce should be nicely tart, but not overwhelmingly so.
- Toast the pepitas in a skillet. Freshly-toasted pepitas taste amazing and are totally worth the extra few minutes. Keep an eye on the skillet, as it’s easy to turn on the heat and forget until they’re too toasty.
- Assemble! Divide the components between bowls as shown, and enjoy.
Watch How to Make Southwestern Kale Power Salad
More Sweet Potato and Kale Recipes
- Coconut Curried Kale and Sweet Potato
- Quinoa Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Kale & Pesto Vinaigrette
- Spicy Sweet Potato and Green Rice Burrito Bowls
- Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos with Avocado Pepita Dip
- Sweet Potato, Kale and Chickpea Soup
Please let me know how this recipe turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Southwestern Kale Power Salad with Sweet Potato, Quinoa & Avocado Sauce
Healthy kale and quinoa power salad with spicy sweet potato, black beans and creamy avocado sauce. If your lime are particularly big, scale back. This gluten-free, vegetarian (easily vegan) salad packs well for lunch, too! Recipe yields 4 generous salads or 6 medium.
Ingredients
Quinoa and kale
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 bunch kale, ribs removed and chopped into very small, bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium lime, juiced
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Sweet potatoes
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 ½ pounds), sliced into small, ¼-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Avocado sauce
- 2 ripe avocados, sliced into long strips
- ¼ cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 1 medium jalapeño, deseeded, membranes removed and roughly chopped
- 1 handful cilantro leaves
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander, optional
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt, to taste
Everything else
- 1 can (14 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked black beans
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta
- ¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
Instructions
- To cook the quinoa: First, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water for a minute or two. In a medium-sized pot, combine the rinsed quinoa and 2 cups water. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then cover the pot, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the quinoa from heat and let it rest, still covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot, drain off any excess water and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool.
- To cook the sweet potatoes: In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped sweet potatoes and toss to coat, then add the cumin, smoked paprika and salt. Stir to combine. Once the pan is sizzling, add a scant ¼ cup water, then cover the pan and reduce heat to low to avoid burning the contents. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato is easily pierced through with a fork, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Uncover the pan, raise the heat back to medium and cook until the excess moisture has evaporated and the sweet potatoes are caramelizing on the edges, about 3 to 7 minutes (add another little splash of olive oil if the potatoes start sticking to the pan). Set aside to cool.
- To prepare the kale: Transfer the kale to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the chopped kale with salt and use your hands to “massage” it, which improves the flavor. Just grab handfuls of kale in your hands and scrunch it up in your palms. Repeat until the kale is darker green in color and more fragrant. Whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil, the juice of 1 lime and ½ teaspoon salt. Drizzle over the kale and toss to coat.
- To make the avocado sauce: Combine the ingredients as listed in a food processor or blender. Blend well, add more lime juice if desired, and season with salt, to taste.
- To toast the pepitas: In a small skillet over medium-low heat, toast the pepitas, stirring frequently, until they are turning lightly golden on the edges and starting to make little popping noises, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Once the quinoa has cooled down a bit, pour it into the bowl of kale and toss to combine. Divide the kale and quinoa mixture into four large salad bowls. Top with sweet potatoes, black beans, a big dollop of avocado sauce, and a sprinkle of feta and pepitas.
Notes
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the feta.
Storage suggestions: This salad keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for a few days. To keep the avocado sauce from browning, store it separately in a small bowl—either press plastic wrap against the top surface or add a wedge of raw onion.
Change it up: Butternut squash or carrots would be good substitutions for the sweet potatoes.
Edits January 11, 2024: Adjusted avocado sauce by omitting 2 tablespoons olive oil (unnecessary), decreasing the salt for the sweet potatoes from 1 ½ teaspoons to ½ teaspoon, and specifying the amounts of lime juice and salt.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This looks soooo delicious!! I love bowls. I actually just made a really similar one last night with sweet potatoes and kale too! Can’t go wrong with a bowl and yours looks awesome!
Beautiful salad, Kate! And any night that starts with free dessert is bound to be good. Sounds like it was fun all around! Have a great weekend!
I levee any recipe that starts with “Southwestern”. I dunno… could be my Texas roots or something :). I always thought kale was a bitter green, and thus had to be cooked to minimize that. How do you balance it’s bitterness in it’s raw state? Is that where the other toppings play a role?
Hey Heather, kale is on the bitter side. My trick is to “massage” it with a dash of salt (see step 4). Massaging it improves the texture (makes it less poky) and brings out the sweeter flavors. Salt helps cut bitterness. It gets really good if you let it marinate in dressing for 10 minutes or longer.
Curly kale has a milder flavor than flat leaf
The salad looks amazing, but I think you might have to try to re-create that griddled cornbread with bourbon ice cream :)
This is my favorite way to eat! Build a bowl! Will have to try :-)
I could actually eat this everyday… I wasn’t a kale’s fan until i did the massage thing! It does wonders! Love all your recipes Xx
A lot of bourbon in your night :D By the way, these ingredients make a wonderful salad! I made a massaged lacinato kale salad for lunch today…my hands hurt :P
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Will make it next week. Only change I’ll make is use pintos instead of black beans. Not sure why but I think black beans taste terrible. Thanks for sharing! Thanks for helping me in transiting to vegan–who knew it could be so delicious! Have loved every recipe of yours I’ve made.
What a fun night!! Bourbon always helps to dance like no one’s watching ;-) Heheheh and this salad bowl sounds absolutely perfect. My Mexican-food-loving heart wishes I was in Austin (especially since it’s so cold here right now), and this dish sounds like a good way to pretend that I’m there.
This looks amazing! I LOVE all the flavors going on here. :)
Definitely going to make this for lunch next week! Also, I made a kale salad from Sprouted Kitchen this week that called for toasting the pepitas in the pan with muscovado sugar (I used coconut sugar), and a pinch of salt and cayenne. It only took a few extra minutes and really kicked the pepitas up to a whole other level. I’m pretty sure they would be AMAZING on this salad, too, given the flavors. Can’t wait to try it.
Oh, that is such a smart idea! Gonna try that ASAP. Thanks, Katie!
This looks so good!! I recently got diagnosed with celiac disease and I am looking for delicious gluten-free meals. Thanks!
Kelly, I’m not sure if you found it, but here’s my recipe page for gluten-free recipes: https://sooka.info/gluten-free-recipes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Why do all cooks say to devein Kale and throw it awy? I devein and chop and add to steamed veggies or a chopped veggie salad. I was taught to use all parts and not throw away. You can chop and use or use to create veggie soup stock, added with carrot stems, outer onion skins, etc.
That’s a really good point, DS. The stems don’t do well in salads, but you’re right, they are great when they’re cooked.
I use my stems for juicing
MMMMM yes yes yes, this is my kind of lunch! I love Sweet Potato, Avocado (too much) and the beans too – so good
Oh my goodness, this sounds so delicious. I think these are my dessert-island ingredients too!
http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
DESERT. DESERT ISLAND. Ha!
There’s nothing worse for me than spending all weekend (my only days off) in the kitchen and coming up with nothing. Such a crappy feeling. I’ll have to remind myself to call a girlfriend next time and go out for bourbon, haha! I’m sure wiggling on the dance floor makes everything better. ;)
I love everything about this salad. The textures and that avocado sauce sound amazing!
Ugh, I hate it when that happens! Bourbon makes everything better. :)
I LOVE kale, sweet potatoes and quinoa! This sounds like my type of power macrobowl!
looks delicious!
Looove this <3
The Blacklist is a great show!! And the salad looks delicious too :)
Sounds like you had great fun and good memories.
The salad also sounds hearty and delicious. xo Catherine
That does sound like a night to remember, that’s for sure! And it sounds like you didn’t have too too much bourbon, as you seem to recall most of the night ;)
This salad is packed with so many of my fav things too…Mmmm!
This looks fantastic, and I will make it tonight! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I have to comment – I’ve been craving Mexican-esque food ALL DAY but didnt want to commit to enchiladas tonight. THIS is exactly what I’ve been craving. Making this tonight, can’t wait! Looks delish!
Thanks, Kristine! Hope it turned out great.
Ohhhh all my favorite things in one bowl. Looks magical! By the way if you finish Blacklist I recommend the Good Wife if you’ve never watched it. So good and so addicting.
Funny that you mention it—I’ve been alternating episodes of The Blacklist and The Good Wife!
This looks like salad heaven Kate!
I’m glad your kitchen slump turned around with a happy result like this! I have all these ingredients on hand (they’re favourites in my kitchen too) and I’ll definitely be making this for dinner soon!
These are some of my favorite ingredients, too! Thanks for the week-of-lunch idea.
Perfect! Hope you’re enjoying the salad, Courtney.
When a salad looks as beautiful as this, it’s so much easier to accept over pizza!
Firstly: Totally understand recipe fail frustration. I am working on a project for a company at the moment and let’s just say that those pumpkin muffins would have made better hockey pucks than edible snacks….
Secondly: that has to be one of the BEST Tuesday nights of ALL time! What a great night out to shake off recipe testing blues!
Thirdly: Wow yes to these power bowls! I can’t wait to make some for my lunchbox! And I have a massive sweet potato in the fridge just waiting for this to come along :)
Enjoy the rest of your time in Austin!
Uh oh, good luck with the muffins! Thank you, Amy!
*These are a few of my favourite things* :)
Such a hearty bowl! And it contains all my favorite ingredients!
This is SO beautiful! I cannot wait to try it!
Your photography is spectacular, by the way. I’m totally envious!
Made this for dinner tonight. Delicious!!! An awesome mix of SUPER FOODS
Thanks, Michelle! So glad you enjoyed it.
Aren’t recipe fails the WORST?! You know you can never go wrong with sweet potatoes and kale though…and freeform wiggling. I approve.
The worst!!!
I wanted something light and fresh for dinner tonight and remembered this post! Am I glad I did! This recipe was PERFECT! The flavors were perfect with just the right amount of everything!! Delicious dinner and definitely a keeper!
Hooray! Thank you, Ghenka! :)
What a terrific combination of ingredients for a healthy salad. I’ve linked to your recipe on my healthy recipes weekend roundup, and can’t wait to give it a try.
Thank you for the link love, Kristi! Hope you love this salad.
This was delicious (and so pretty too!). I’ve made a full recipe so that I’d have leftovers for work. Thanks for the suggestions on storing; it travels well!
Made this for supper tonight – yet another delicious recipe. The flavors and textures harmonized beautifully.
Thank you, Emily! Happy to hear it!
Is this meant to be eaten warm, room temp or cold? It seems with such a short cooling time the sweet potatoes and quinoa would still be quite hot…is that the intention? Is mixing the warm quinoa with the kale meant to soften it up a bit?
It’s good at any temperature! Massaging the kale also helps break it down.
This was delicious! I used pintos instead of black beans–I’m not sure why but I just hate black beans. It really is quite embarrassing. I also added some salsa because I’m weird. I almost wish my husband didn’t hear me raving about it so I didn’t have to share. Might have to make some more day after tomorrow. So yummmmmy!!
So glad you enjoyed the salad, Krista! Salsa sounds like a great idea to me. Black beans are my default beans. I should probably play around more with other varieties!
Kate, I knew this would be delicious looking at the recipe (how could you go wrong with those ingredients) but it exceeded my expectations! Loved the tip about kale — I’ve been making kale salads all week employing the “massaging” step and it really makes a difference. Loved loved loved the combo of flavors and quickly recommended my folks (also vegetarians) to make this asap! Cheers ~ Brittney
Thank you so much, Brittney! That massaging step really makes all the difference.
Hello! If you were to make this for the week ahead, would you store the potatoes, beans and kale/quinoa mixture together? Or separate them out into individual containers? I’m nervous about tossing them altogether! Thanks!!
I would, actually! They all hold up well together.
Made this the other night and, omg, it is awesome! The avocado crema really makes it, in my opinion. I used it on toast with eggs this morning, and it was perfect!
Thanks, Toby! Glad to hear it!
made this two nights ago for omnivore daughter when her husband was out of town. He’s back and she requested it again for today! Excellent!
Hooray! Thank you, Paula!
This looks beautiful, so excited to try it for my lunch tomorrow! I am allergic to avocado however, do you recommend any alternatives?
Hi Nico! I’m sorry for my delay. You can just skip the sauce, or maybe use some sour cream in place of the avocado? Not sure how that would turn out. If you skip the sauce, you might want to use this dressing instead of the basic lime/olive oil marinade listed under the kale. It has a more complex flavor.
Hi Kate!
My company has an employee lunch program with an awesome chef that takes requests. I requested this recipe and he made it today for all 60 people in our office. It was delicious :)
That is so awesome!!! Thanks for letting me know, BB, and for requesting my dish in the first place!
This recipe was so delicious!! I’ve never been a fan of sweet potatoes(had a bad experience with it when I was younger) but I decided to try this recipe out because it looked very promising. So glad I did!! I will definitely be making this again. God bless you for sharing these recipes :)
Thank you, Anita! I’m so glad this recipe convinced you to give sweet potatoes another shot. I love spicy/savory sweet potatoes, but I still can’t stand sweetened sweet potatoes!
hello! i just wanted to tell you how much i enjoyed this salad. it’s amazingly delicious and i can’t wait to make it again. so thank you!
i posted about it on my blog, if you’re interested in seeing it.
Thank you, Marla! Love your post!
Hello Kate!
I’m pretty new to your website but so far have love everything I have tried. My husband usually hates kale, but he has requested this salad again and again (we are having it tonight, too)! I also made your mango salsa for a potluck night and it was a HUGE hit. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes!
Yay! That’s so great to hear. Thank you, Madeline!
I’ve been following your website for awhile and last night made this bowl/salad. I wasn’t able to find any ripe avocados at the grocery store so I made it with a greek yogurt cilantro lime dressing (first result if you type into google) and oh my goodness it was so delicious! My bf also loved it. Also, thank you for teaching me how to soften kale without the stove. I made a different quinoa and kale bowl a few nights ago and cooked the kale way too much. Massaging it with salt and topping with the lime and olive oil resulted in a much better texture, and much fluffier salad! Thank you!
Thank you, Kiani! Your dressing sounds awesome. Glad you like that kale trick!