Black Eyed Peas Sweet Potato Salad | 2020 Juneteenth Cookout Takeover

Black Eyed Peas Sweet Potato Salad

Welcome to the 2020 Juneteenth Cookout Takeover! I’m participating with a group of fantastic Black Food Bloggers to bring you some delicious recipes to help you celebrate and amplify black culinary creatives. You’ll find a HUGE list of recipe links at the bottom of this post!

You need this Sweet Potato and Black Eyed Peas Salad recipe in your life! Mildly sweet and loaded with fiber, this delicious dish is perfect for your Juneteenth celebration.

I’m a newcomer to celebrating Juneteenth. It’s not a holiday my family celebrated when I was growing up. None of us had heard about the significance of Juneteenth until the last decade or so. We definitely weren’t taught about it in school. Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, commemorates the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African descendants in the United States more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation officially ended slavery.

So let’s celebrate Juneteenth with a cookout, albeit a virtual one, and I’m bringing my sweet potato and black-eyed peas salad. A big bowl of this healthy salad is PERFECT as a meatless meal but sometimes I top this with a few big chunks of sizzling, smokey bacon (here’s how to cure and smoke your own bacon at home).

WATCH THE STEP BY STEP VIDEO FOR Sweet Potato and Black Eyed Peas Salad  AND GET MORE HEALTHY SWEET POTATO RECIPES ON YouTube

While this salad is great to eat as soon as you make it this is also a fantastic make-ahead recipe. Make this a few days in advance and the flavors will really soak into the black eyed peas and sweet potatoes. Fresh herbs and scallions add a powerful flavor punch and brightness to this salad. It’s the perfect potluck barbecue side dish or Sunday dinner. Serve the salad at room temperature, hot or cold!

My Vidalia Onion Upside Down Cornbread recipe would be ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS with this salad.

How to make this healthy sweet potato recipe

First, cook the black eyed peas or buy a can of cooked black-eyed peas if you want to. Canned beans are a great time saver when you’re in a hurry. If you are cooking the black eyed peas yourself be careful not to over cook them. You don’t want mushy peas in this recipe.

Roasted sweet potato cubes

The next step in this recipe is to peel your sweet potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Roasting the sweet potato cubes instead of boiling them concentrates the flavor and sweetness of the sweet potato. You can even leave the skin on the sweet potato if you like, the skin has lots of nutrients.

Make a simple honey and vinegar salad dressing

Dress this salad with honey or agave nectar, rice wine vinegar, and vegetable oil then toss it with lots of FRESH HERBS. Serve as a main dish or as a side to a batch of crispy fried chicken!

Black Eyed Peas Sweet Potato Salad

Demetra Overton

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound of black eyed peas
• 1/2 an onion not chopped
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potato
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 3 Scallions chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped chives and parsley
• Dressing
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt adjust the salt to your taste
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons of honey or agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or avocado oil

Instructions

 

• To cook the black eyed peas~ Use a deep pot and make sure the Black Eyed peas are covered with about 4 inches of water. Add half an onion and salt. Bring to a boil and turn down to a low simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes until the peas are tender. Drain the beans, discard the onion and let cool.
• Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch dice. Toss with vegetable oil and bake at 350 Degrees for about 15 minutes until they are tender. Set aside to cool
• Toss the sweet potatoes, black eyed peas, scallions and herbs together
• For the dressing put salt, honey or agave nectar and rice vinegar in a bowl and whisk to combine. drizzle in oil while beating with a whisk. You can also shake it all up in a jar to blend the dressing.
• Pour the Dressing over the salad and stir gently. Refrigerate overnight. Stir gently again before serving. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.

Here’s a list of over 60 FANTASTIC Juneteenth recipes by Black food blogger.

A Girl Called Adri | Blackened Catfish   

Beautiful Eats & Things | Spiced Grilled Peaches

Black Girls Who Brunch | Brown Butter Sweet Potato Cake   

Brazilian Kitchen Abroad | Brazilian Collard Greens with Bacon    

Britney Breaks Bread    | Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Sour Cream and Honey Sauce    

Brownbelle | Watermelon Hibiscus Whiskey Smash   

Butter Be Ready | Chicken and Waffles   

Chef and Steward | Watermelon and Feta Salad   

Chef Curl Ardee | Honey and Butter Cornbread   

Chenée Today | Lemon Icebox Pie   

Christy Irene | Crawfish Etoufee    

Collards Are The Old Kale | Guaymas Shrimp   

Confessions of a clean foodie | Mint Peach Spritzer    

Cooking to a T    Jamaican | Beef Patties   

Cooks with Soul | BBQ in Jar   

Dash of Jazz | Golden Pineapple Pound Cake   

Dish It With Tisha | Honey Jerk Shrimp   

DMR Fine Foods | Blackberry Ginger Soda   

Dom N’ The City | Pound Cake   

Domestic Dee | Easy Berry Fruit Salad   

Dude That Cookz | Cajun White Beans   

Erique Berry Co | Three Green Summer Salad   

Ethically Living | Vegan Jackfruit Jamaican Patties   

Food Fidelity | Nigerian Beef Suya Skewers

Food Is Love Made Edible | Smothered Okra with Chicken & Sausage   

FoodLoveTog | Braised Cabbage & Johnny cakes    

Forks and Straws | Cassava Corn Waffles with Shrimp Creole   

Geo’s Table | Curried Potato Salad   

Gristle & Gossip | Sweet Potato Honey Cornbread Cake    

Heal Me Delicious | Trinidadian Callaloo   

Immaculate Ruému | Chin-Chin   

Jamieson Diaries | Crockpot Smoked Red Beans   

Kenneth Temple | Red Velvet Biscuit with BBQ Brisket    

Kenya Rae | Pork free baked beans   

Lenox Bakery | Sweet Potato Cheesecake    

Maple Points | Peas & Rice – Guyanese Style   

Marisa Moore Nutrition | Fresh Peach Iced Tea

Meiko and the Dish | Strawberry Cornbread Skillet Cobbler   

Murielle Banackissa | Vegan Saka Saka (Congolese Cassava Leaf & Spinach Stew)   

My Fabulous Food | Black eye peas with smoked turkey    

Nik Snacks | Easy BBQ Pork Ribs   

On Ty’s Plate | Watermelon Limeade   

Open Invitation Entertainment | Coconut Collard Greens   

Orchids + Sweet Tea | The Ultimate Vegan Mac + Cheese

Our Perfect Palette | Jollof Rice

Peaches 2 Peaches | Vanilla Cake With Caramel Poached Pears   

Pink Owl Kitchen | Strawberry Buttermilk Biscuits   

Razzle Dazzle Life | Southern Peach Cobbler   

Rosalynn Daniels | Southern Tomato Pie   

Savor and Sage | Black-Eyed Pea Salad   

Savory Thoughts | Jus Citron (Haitian Lemonade)   

Seasoned To Taste | Cajun Shrimp Deviled Eggs   

Sense & Edibility | Blackberry Cobbler   

Simply LaKita | Candied Yams   

Slice & Torte | Fried Softshell Crab   

Slight Kitchen Werk | Roasted Sweet Potato Salad   

Sweet & Sorrel | Baked Jerk Chicken   

Sweet Savant | Black Eyed Peas and Sweet Potato Salad   

That Green Lyfe | Vegan Red Red Stew (Spicy Ghanaian Black-Eyed Peas) and Plantain   

The Dana Renee Way | Sweet Potato Cornbread   

The Hangry Woman | Jamaican Jerk Wings   

The Hungry Hutch | Southern-Style Sweet Tea   

The Kitchenista Diaries | Grilled Lemon Pepper Wings   

The Vgn Way | Juneteenth Hibiscus Strawberry Vegan Ice Cream    

This Worthey Life | Strawberry Soda   

This African Cooks | Ghanaian kebabs Whole30 style    

Vegan With Curves | Slow Cooker Black Eyed Pea Sweet Potato Soup   

Whisk it Real Gud | Southern Sweet Potato Pie