Sweet Potato Salad with Orange-Maple Dressing

I have made this a few times and it's a real crowd pleaser! I skip the raisins and oven roast the sweet potatoes (toss with olive oil, roast on baking sheet at 375 for 30 mins). I've roasted the potatoes the night before, and tossed with other ingredients and dressing earlier on the day of serving - works really well at room temp. Gotta love a great "make ahead" recipe!

• diverbeth

• Hoboken, NJ

• 4/21/2014

Whoops...wrong recipe. Sorry, guys!

• starshine93078

• 7/4/2013

Yum. I made this last night with white sweet potatoes, not yams. I doubled the spices, added 1 Tbs of maple syrup as recommended by another reviewer and I didn't measure the amount of citrus zest. I cooked the potatoes in a covered saucepan on the stove for about twenty minutes and all the sauce had evaporated already, so I added a little bit more water and let it cook into a syrup. And holy smokes, what flavors. I seriously think I could have eaten *all* of the sweet potatoes last night. It just merged into this amazing pile of yumminess. I will add the almonds before taking it to our Fourth of July party this afternoon. Will definitely be making this again.

• starshine93078

• the sunny Southwest

• 7/4/2013

I have mixed feelings about this salad. It was my first and last time steaming sweet potatoes. I would roast them in the future. I have made sweet potato salads in the past and they all had roasted sweet potatoes. Steaming them resulted in undercooked sweet potatoes. I did notice this and gave the first batch an extra 5 minutes. Then I turned up the heat (assuming more steam would result in faster cooking) for the second batch (I only had two batches because I halved the recipe). I tasted a couple pieces and they seemed OK, but in the end the cooking wasn't enough. We (four of us) did eat it right up though because the dressing was perfect despite the undercooked potatoes (and despite the fact that I substituted dried parsley for fresh, halving the amount). I used balsamic vinegar and grated (not minced) the ginger to avoid large pieces. I also substituted blanched almonds for the pecans. 3 forks because everything was perfect except the potatoes.

• BlueMona

• Montreal, Quebec, Canada

• 5/19/2013

Suggest using orange juice concentrate; toast pecans with shredded unsweetened coconut; garnish with edible flowers AND serve in a tall glass bowl Careful don't stir sweet potatoes too much, the recipe will turn into mashed potatoes

• Cricketeer

• North Florida

• 11/20/2012

What is it about Americans and their need for sugar in everything? I served this to my family and everyone agreed it was much too sweet. Will try it again without the maple syrup and raisins- the natural flavor of the potatoes don't need it. I thought someone's suggestion to roast the potatoes was excellent. I also used an organic variety and kept the skins on.

• Anonymous

• Charleston, SC

• 8/5/2012

Outstanding. Fresh and tasty. Omitted parsley and used dried ginger in the dressing. Threw in some dried orange peel in the dressing.

• sdale80

• Meadville PA

• 1/29/2011

I agree, this is not as good as it sounds. It has everything I love in it but the flavours just don't come together. I also dislike the presentation, it looks gross in the bowl and is off-putting to kids and many adults alike. It's an okay dish but not a replacement for traditional potato salad! Won't make it again.

• Erica_swanson

• Toronto, Canada

• 7/2/2010

Not as good as it sounds - I think the sweet potato preparation is critical.

• pranicd

• Sydney, Australia

• 12/23/2009

This is really gross.

• lbr5

• 10/10/2009

This is a great recipe! I made it for a Labor Day Weekend cookout. The biggest surprise was what a beautiful presentation it is! Serve it in a dark-colored bowl and you'll see what I mean. The flavors work so well together. The only adjustment I made was to use dried cranberries in place of any raisins. You must try this recipe!!

• Mary_Hicks

• Worcester, MA

• 9/8/2009

I served this at a party and was asked repeatedly for the recipe by all the husbands. I added a little extra maple syrup, ginger and orange zest. To the salad I added diced green and red apples as well as dried cherries and dried cranberries.

• lkessler321

• Scottsdale

• 5/25/2009

This was delicious. I used 2 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes and about half of the dressing, a combo of golden raisins and dried cranberries, and only 3 chopped scallions. Per other reviews, I added the zest of 1 orange and the zest of 1/2 lemon to enhance the citrus flavor, more ginger, and less cinnamon. I'll use the leftover dressing on a tossed salad tonight. It would also be good on a rice salad, I think.

• Anonymous

• Fayston, VT

• 3/26/2009

Made for Christmas buffet, this was a hit! Boiled the potatoes, made the dressing, and chopped items a day ahead, then just mixed together when I plated it. Used real maple syrup and substituted dried crans for the raisins. Didn't bother toasting the pecans. A keeper!

• Anonymous

• Philadelphia, PA

• 1/3/2009

I only gave it 3 forks because I thought this could use a few extra ingredients. So I added some cayenne pepper to the dressing and substituted apple cider vinegar and powdered ginger. To the salad ingredients I added some red onions for color, cilantro, shredded coconut and celery for more crunch.

• mhile

• Madison, WI

• 1/2/2009