This Paleo Ginger Cilantro Sweet Potato Salad may just rock your backyard barbecue’s world. It’s also vegan friendly and naturally gluten-free.

Paleo Sweet Potato Salad in a white dish on a blue surface

Why We Love This Recipe For Paleo Sweet Potato Salad

While this potato salad tastes so good, it also happens to be healthy. However, I wouldn’t want people to hold the fact that it is healthy and paleo against it. (You can read more about my journey to healthy eating below the recipe card.)

When I was deciding how to describe this potato salad I just kept thinking about how I wished the photos had been a little better, so that they could maybe inspire someone else who was skeptical and push them over the edge to try a try it… even though it is healthy. I do not doubt for a moment, that if a skeptic were to try this, they would love it.

This paleo potato salad is very different than your usual Classic Creamy Potato Salad with Hard Boiled Eggs. I used tons of refreshing and good-for-you ingredients like lime, cilantro, fresh ginger and scallions. In fact, I like to call this salad a ~superfood~.

The lime and salt balance the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, and the ginger, scallions and cilantro add lots of interesting flavors. The key is to not overcook or over-mix the potatoes. Since sweet potatoes get really soft when they’re cooked, they can easily fall apart and mush up too much. And you didn’t see mashed sweet potatoes in the title now did you.

Go ahead and make this potato salad and bring it to a barbecue or dinner party. Maybe a skeptic will taste it. Maybe that bite will be their gateway bite to healthy eating! And when they do they’ll be one step closer to discovering that healthy food like this Potato Salad with Cilantro can in fact taste amazing!

If you came here for the paleo recipe itself or are following a paleo diet and looking for alternatives to classic barbecue side dishes, this sweet potato salad is a great recipe to try out. OR, if you simply love sweet potatoes you can also check out my stuffed sweet potato recipe.

Paleo Ginger Cilantro Sweet Potato Salad

Key Ingredients to Make This Recipe

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are the best, but they can often be confused with yams, which are in fact still very similar. However, if you take a trip to the grocery store and get confused because they look almost identical, know that you’ll definitely want to pick the one with the sign that says “sweet potato”. Yams have flesh that is dryer and starchier, much like a regular potato. Sweet potatoes are softer and sweeter (hence the name). If for some reason you really can’t find sweet potatoes, then you can use yams instead.

Fresh ginger

Fresh ginger is the best and adds so much brightness and flavor to dishes. However, it can be really annoying to peel and grate. But don’t worry–I have a few ginger tips for you. The easiest way to peel fresh ginger is to use the sides of a spoon and sort if scrape it off. Once it’s peeled, place it in a sealable plastic bag and freeze for 30 minutes to an hour (or until solid, depending on how much time you have). Once frozen, finely grate the ginger on a microplane or grater. It’s so much easier! You won’t have to deal with all the ginger-stringiness.

Cilantro

When purchasing herbs like cilantro I prefer to buy them organic to avoid any harsh chemicals. This is just my preference, though, so it’s up to you. Look for cilantro that hasn’t wilted or started to brown. Sometimes it can be hard to find high quality pre-packaged cilantro so I recommend buying one of those mini-cilantro plants at the grocery store. That way you’ll have extra for any other recipes you want to use it for! If you don’t like cilantro (because I know it has an acquired taste), use flat-leaf parsley instead.

Additional Ingredients

  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • ¾ teaspoon salt or more to taste
  • ½ cup sliced scallions

Step by Step Instruction to Make This Paleo Potato Salad

This paleo sweet potato salad is insanely simple to make and only takes about 15 minutes of active prep work to whip up. The basic steps for this recipe are as follows: 

Step 1: Steam potatoes

Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a pot fitted with a steamer basket attachment. Add sweet potato and steam until tender when tested with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the steamer basket and spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet to cool quickly (about 15 minutes.)

Step 2: Assemble potato salad

Whisk oil, lime, ginger and salt in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, scallions and cilantro and toss to coat. Refrigerate to cool completely, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Paleo Sweet Potato Salad in a white dish on a blue surface

FAQs and Expert Tips

How to store this paleo potato salad:

Store in a resealable container or in a bowl, covered, for two days. Stir gently before serving.

How long does homemade potato salad last in the fridge?

Whether your potato salad is homemade or store-bought, it should last in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just make sure it’s stored properly in the fridge in an airtight container.

What goes with this recipe?

Pair this ginger cilantro sweet potato salad with Grilled Coconut Lime Skirt Steak and our Chicken Marinade has spices that would pair well with it too. To round out the menu make a batch of this Asian Sesame Coleslaw or our Cabbage and Ramen Salad.

Additional Healthy Side Dish Recipes to Try 

Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!

Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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Paleo Ginger Cilantro Sweet Potato Salad

Paleo Ginger Cilantro Sweet Potato Salad


  • Author: Katie Webster
  • Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
  • Yield: 6 cups 1x

Description

This ginger cilantro sweet potato salad is the perfect dish to serve at backyard barbecues. Bonus: it’s naturally gluten-free, paleo and vegan!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste
  • 1/2 cup sliced scallions
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

  1. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a pot fitted with a steamer basket attachment. Add sweet potato and steam until tender when tested with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove steamer basket and spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet to cool quickly, about 15 minutes.
  2. Whisk oil, lime, ginger and salt in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, scallions and cilantro and toss to coat. Refrigerate to cool completely, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Notes

Make Ahead Tips

Store in a resealable container or in a bowl, covered, for two days. Stir gently before serving.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 3/4 cup
  • Calories: 220
  • Sugar: 8 g
  • Sodium: 310 mg
  • Fat: 8 g
  • Saturated Fat: 1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 38 g
  • Fiber: 5 g
  • Protein: 3 g

Keywords: sweet potato salad, paleo potato salad,

What Healthy Eating Means to Me

By now you have heard me say that my sister, Jessie is the Editor in Chief of EatingWell Magazine. Well, every time an issue arrives, her letter from the Editor is the first thing I read. I well up with tears every time. Without fail. By now you also are aware of the fact that I am prone to weeping at the drop of a hat. That’s not to say her letters aren’t great, they really do strike a chord.

Lately I have been thinking about a particular editor’s letter about a reader letter she’d gotten. Did you read that one? Basically, this reader had written in to tell her weight loss success story. She had seen a photo of a recipe on Yahoo from EatingWell that looked so good, and she clicked through to print it out. She was skeptical and worried that it wouldn’t actually taste good because it was healthy, but the photograph just made it looks so yummy she tried it anyway. She and her husband absolutely loved it. It was like the gateway recipe!

They continued to print recipes and enjoy them. Before long she started researching about healthy eating and continued on a path to weight loss success. I am so glad they discovered the joys of healthy eating, and is healthier and slimmer as a result. That is worthy of a tear from me for sure.

Discovering that healthy food tastes good is a huge step towards health and weight-loss. Taking it a step further, I think one of the most important keys to sustaining a healthy diet is making sure healthy food taste good all the time. I think of the sustainability of a loveless snack made of diet cheese singles melted on rice cakes — I may or may not have seen such creations circa 1987. Or just trying to use fat-free mayonnaise in a potato salad. There is no satisfaction in that. It certainly doesn’t taste good. You can stick with that diet franken food stuff for only so long before you need flavor. Real food.

I guess this is something I take for granted a lot. That healthy food tastes good. My mom is an amazing cook and she put delicious healthy and gourmet meals on our table every night. This was the norm for me and my sister our whole lives. For me, healthy food has always tasted great and never had the stigma this reader had been living with. I am so grateful for my luck, and I want to help people have the same thing.