spiced chickpea and sweet potato kale salad with garlic tahini dressing

admittedly I don’t have a ton of recipes that i eat on repeat (some all time faves are this soup , taco pasta forever and ever, and a never-lets-you-down banana bread) but given that i’ve eaten this salad for 5/9 meals the last 3 days gives me the sneaking suspicion that it’s a new staple. a summery-ish salad made from goodies you probably already have on hand and is way too easy? we love to see it.

this salad also comes off the heels of me full-tilt panicking about eating animal protein after watching ‘game changers’ on netflix - has anyone watched this?? can we talk about it? i found it suuuuper interesting that no one in the documentary referred to themselves as ‘vegan’ or ‘vegetarian’ or anything other than plant-based, and i kind of like that approach. like hey, don’t silo me into this narrow lane of diet culture, i’m just out here eating plants and doing my thing.

before we start to side-eye this entire thing, i know that what we eat and how we eat and why we eat can be very polarizing convictions to cling to, so i want to preface that i’ve calmed down and am blank canvasing my food approach with a heavy emphasis on plants, and a curiousness about eating less and less meat. v glad i got that off my chest, and with that delicious salads are BORN.

spiced chickpea and sweet potato kale salad with garlic tahini dressing
makes: 4 servings
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 25 minutes

1 bushel (6 cups) or lacinato or dinosaur kale, removed from stems and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 large sweet potato, cubed
1 15oz. can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed, patted dry, and removed of ‘skins’ (these will naturally rub off when patting the chickpeas dry)
2c brussel sprouts, ends removed and sliced in half
pickled red onions, as many or as little as you like
2tbsp olive oil, divided + more for massaging the kale
1tsp garlic powder
1tsp cumin
1/2tsp paprika
1/2tsp turmeric
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper

for the dressing:
1/2c tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1/2tsp garlic powder
pinch of salt and pepper
water, to thin as needed

preheat the oven to 400.

toss the sweet potatoes and chickpeas in 1 tbsp olive oil and spices, and arrange on a baking sheet. roast for 25 minutes until the sweet potatoes begin to brown and the chickpeas crisp up.

meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium. add the remaining tbsp of olive oil and saute the brussel sprouts for 10(ish) minutes, depending on how done you like them. i like mine with a little more bite, so stick to 10.

whisk the ingredients for the dressing, adding water as needed.

to assemble the salad, massage the kale in olive oil, then assemble the rest of the ingredients on top. drizzle with the garlic tahini dressing, and dig in (you’ll love this one, promise.)