Herb Roasted Whole30 Sweet Potato Salad (Paleo, Vegan)

This herb roasted Whole30 sweet potato salad is perfection: crispy sweet potatoes coated in a rich and creamy herb mixture, topped with crunchy red onions. Perfect at a Whole30 picnic, alongside a Whole30 dinner recipe, or as a lunch side dish all week long, you’ll love how flavorful this roasted Whole30 sweet potato salad is. Elegant enough for company but easy enough for a weeknight! Vegan option to make this an herb roasted vegan sweet potato salad, too.

There are some restaurant dishes so good that you’ll send visitors there just for a taste: a side dish you absolutely must try, a cocktail you might actually kill for, an appetizer so good it made you hallucinate. For me? One of those life-changing dishes is the potato salad at McEwen’s in downtown Memphis.

Yes. I know. Potato salad.

I fell in love with this herb roasted potato salad about the same time I fell in love with my husband. We both lived in apartments downtown and spent our days and nights saturated in the area, absorbing the culture-packed neighborhood with dinners at new restaurants, chatting with the chefs from behind the kitchen; taking our rescue pup on walks along the River, referring to her as “our baby;” meeting for lunch near the courthouse when we could both break away from our fulfilling but admittedly less demanding jobs.

Now we live in the suburbs with a real baby and only lunch together on bank holidays; our work is more intense, more demanding, more stressful. Our time together is usually spent tag-teaming a wild toddler, preventing ad-hoc crayon murals in the sitting room, explaining that no, it’s not nice to hit your mommy, or hoping we can prevent him from diving to serious injury, which Leo seems to have his heart absolutely set on, day in and day out.

Or maybe we’re having a meeting as project managers. Did you call the plumber yet? We want to make sure we get in under that warranty.

Do you really think we should switch to DirectTV? It’s cheaper but what about the storms…

To minimize the interest accruing on the Delta card, let’s try to pay double the minimum for three months then taper off to focus on the business card.

It’s all babies and business these days, but it didn’t used to be. It used to be new and lighthearted, and when the stakes rose, it was always a thrill. And so when I think of the herb roasted potato salad at McEwen’s, I think of this time. The low-but-rising stakes, the minimal responsibility, the carefree nature of it all. I miss that time, sure, but I love this one even more. 

You see, I’d never been a major fan of traditional potato salad, with potatoes that end up a bit chalky and somehow effervescent, with its globs of mayonnaise and uniform pale yellow hue. No, I’d always opt for flavor-packed side dishes instead, never quite sold on the deli-style potato salad.

So when O started taking me to lunch at McEwen’s, I just trusted him when he raved about the potato salad. Maybe it was my heart eyes to blame, but I’m glad I did: I fell in love instantly with the rich and heady herb-roasted crusts, the crispy potatoes and the fresh herbs and onions to balance the dried thyme, basil, and oregano.

My obsession was swift and relentless; at one point I even bullied a friend of mine who did social media for the restaurant into giving me a loose idea of the recipe. She did, and I used it to develop my own interpretation of the recipe, of course. My version of this herb-roasted potato salad is a must make! It’s one of my very favorite recipes on the blog, and I’m pretty sure this summer is the perfect time to try it…

But this spring, I was inspired to swap out white potatoes for nutrient-dense sweet potatoes, creating a perfect Whole30 side dish you simply won’t tire of it. Coat the sweet potato cubes in a healthy, neutral oil like refined coconut oil or avocado oil then smother them in a rich blend of dried herbs and spices. Roast the herb-coated sweet potato until crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside, then coat them in a mixture of Whole30-compliant mayonnaise, fresh cilantro, and minced red onions. 

The cilantro doesn’t taste cilantro-y, I promise; it tastes more simply herbaceous. I was surprised, even, when my friend told me that was the only fresh herb used in the mixture! I hadn’t noticed it before.

To make this herb roasted Whole30 sweet potato salad, I used…

5 from 2 votes

Print

Herb Roasted Whole30 Sweet Potato Salad

This herb roasted Whole30 sweet potato salad is perfection: crispy sweet potatoes coated in a rich and creamy herb mixture, topped with crunchy red onions. Perfect at a Whole30 picnic, alongside a Whole30 dinner recipe, or as a lunch side dish all week long, you'll love how flavorful this roasted Whole30 sweet potato salad is. Elegant enough for company but easy enough for a weeknight! Vegan option to make this an herb roasted vegan sweet potato salad, too.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes , peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 cup avocado oil or refined coconut oil , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 tablespoon dried basil , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 tablespoon onion powder , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme , click to buy on Amazon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup Whole30-compliant mayonnaise (or vegan mayo for vegan option) , click to buy on Amazon
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro , chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh red onion , chopped fine

Special Equipment

• baking sheet , click to buy on Amazon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º. Toss the bite-sized potatoes in the oil until coated well and spread out on a baking sheet.
2. In a small bowl, mix together all spices. Add the spice mixture to the sweet potatoes, about 1/4 of the mixture at a time, until the sweet potatoes are coated liberally. You may not use ALL of the spices, but you do want the potatoes to be pretty coated.
3. Roast for 25 minutes then flip over with a spatula. Roast another 10-20 minutes, or until beautifully golden brown and beginning to crisp. As long as you don't actually burn the sweet potatoes, you'll be good.
4. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and into a large heatproof bowl. Let cool for about 3-5 minutes or until they're no longer piping hot but still very warm.
5. Meanwhile, mix together the mayonnaise, cilantro, and red onion. Scrape mayonnaise mixture on the potatoes once you've allowed them to cool briefly and stir, folding mayonnaise mixture into sweet potatoes until coated well.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature, but not cold.