Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad

8 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad is the perfect side bursting with flavor from lime, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cilantro, and coriander.

This is a fun and flavorful spin on Classic Potato Salad. Not only does it exchange traditional potatoes for sweet potatoes, but the dressing is also made extra flavorful with amazing spices, cilantro, and lime. Enjoy this delicious Side at your next BBQ or potluck.

Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad in serving bowl with spoon and cilantro garnish

This Sweet Potato Salad recipe is sure to become a go-to dish for midweek meals, summer cookouts, and family reunions. The sweet potato base is super easy to make. Then you just whisk together the zesty dressing and toss it all together. It’s simple, flavorful, and goes great on the side of Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken, Hamburgers, and Pulled Pork

The only thing you really need to worry about with this recipe is making sure you start making it in advance. While it is pretty quick to assemble the salad, you also need to give it enough time to chill before serving. Letting the potatoes cool before mixing them with the other ingredients, and letting the combined salad chill in the fridge is all vital to make sure you don’t end up with runny potato salad. 

This recipe is also a great way to serve some healthy ingredients with a BBQ or at a weeknight dinner. Though, it’s just as creamy as typical potato salad, the sweet potatoes have a lot more vitamins and minerals. It’s a delicious Summer side that you can feel good about serving your whole family!

More Easy and Delicious Salad Recipes

Tips for Making Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad

  • Cook sweet potatoes: Start by adding the sweet potatoes to a large pot with cold water. Then bring it to a boil and cook for 10-12 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Pierce one of the potatoes with a fork to test if it’s done. Drain the water, and lay the potatoes out on a baking sheet to air dry for 10 minutes. Then slice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. 
  • Salad: Add the sweet potatoes, onion, celery, and fresh cilantro to a salad bowl. 
  • Dressing: Add the mayonnaise, lime juice, lime zest, chili powder, coriander, cayenne, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl. Whisk the mayonnaise mixture until well combined. 
  • Combine: Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss until it’s all coated in the spicy mayonnaise mixture. 
  • Chill: Put the recipe in the fridge to chill for about 1 hour before serving.
Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad Collage

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make this Sweet Potato Salad extra spicy?

If you want to add even more heat to the recipe, you can slice up some jalapeño pepper or chipotle pepper to toss in the salad. 

What other spices can I use for Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad?

Easily experiment with the flavor of this recipe by adding different spices like sweet paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt, or red pepper flakes. 

Can I add cheese to Potato Salad?

If you want cheese in the recipe, try tossing in some crumbly feta cheese, blue cheese, or creamy goat cheese.

What other vegetables can I add into Sweet Potato Salad?

You can also add different vegetables like corn kernels, sliced bell pepper, carrots, broccoli, or peas. They’ll add a lot of delicious color, texture, and flavor to the recipe.

Can I add chicken to Potato Salad?

To make this recipe more filling, you can add in some chicken. Slice up cooked boneless chicken breast and toss it with the potatoes and dressing. It turns this side dish into a great lunch. 

More BBQ Side Dishes

How to Store Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad

  • Serve: Potato Salads won’t stay good at room temperature for more than 2 hours. 
  • Store: If you have leftovers, you can just cover the dish in plastic wrap to store in the fridge for up to 5 days. 
  • Freeze: It is not recommended to freeze recipes containing mayonnaise, as it will separate and curdle when thawed.
Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad in serving bowl with spoon and cilantro garnish

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Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad

Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad is the perfect side bursting with flavor from lime, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cilantro, and coriander.
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes , peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
  • 1/2 yellow onion , minced
  • 1/2 cup celery , minced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro , minced
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 lime , juiced and zested
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Add sweet potatoes to a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil.
  • Cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender.
  • Drain carefully and let sweet potatoes air dry on a baking sheet for 10 minutes.
  • In a large bowl add the sweet potatoes, onion, celery, and cilantro.
  • In a medium bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, lime juice, lime zest, chili powder, coriander, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
  • Pour dressing over the potato mixture and toss gently to coat.
  • Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 221kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 457mg | Potassium: 628mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 24345IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 1mg
Creamy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad Collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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