Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Spinach With Feta

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Spinach With Feta
Lennart Weibull for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Victoria Granof.
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4(2,089)
Notes
Read community notes

A ho-hum sheet-pan of potatoes and greens this is not. Caramelizing sweet potatoes and wilting soft greens on a sheet pan is a smart way to cook two vegetables at once in this efficient and exciting recipe. There are bolts of pickled jalapeño, salty feta and scallions, but the pickled jalapeño brine is the key. It’s used like a spicy vinegar, seeping into the sweet potatoes to complement their flavor. To make it a meal, top with a fried egg or roasted Mexican chorizo, swaddle in a pita or tortilla with tahini or sour cream, spoon onto grains or brothy beans, or into omelets or frittatas. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 2pounds sweet potatoes, peeled or unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 4tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2tablespoons sliced pickled jalapeños, plus 3 tablespoons brine
  • 10ounces baby spinach, kale, mustard greens or arugula
  • 3scallions, thinly sliced
  • 2 to 3ounces feta, sliced or crumbled
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

390 calories; 18 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 51 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 10 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 809 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 450 degrees. On a sheet pan, toss the sweet potatoes with 3 tablespoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread into an even layer and roast until fork-tender and browned in spots, 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Drizzle the sweet potatoes with the pickled jalapeño brine, then pile on the baby spinach. You may need to stir the spinach into the potatoes to help everything fit. Drizzle the greens with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring halfway through, until the spinach is wilted and the liquid on the sheet pan has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Sprinkle with the pickled jalapeños, scallions and feta. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ratings

4 out of 5
2,089 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

This is delicious! Perfect as written, but divine served over farro cooked partially in the feta brine, as well as with a simple yogurt sauce of one plain Greek yogurt cup, the juice from half a lemon, a chopped garlic clove, a drizzle of olive oil, and dried parsley and oregano. (Just whisk it all together!) Do the jalapeños exactly as written—this benefits from more acidity, rather than more sugar. Thank you to the recipe writer!

Good, but I think it could do without with actual pickled jalapeños. Most have sugar in the brine, which competes with the sweet potato. Double the amount of greens

I stead of pickled jalapeño and brine, I am thinking that kalamata olives and brine would be a good substitution.

We loved the picked jalapenos! If you like that flavor, definitely put those in, and some extra. Our peppers and the brine were really tangy and not sweet. We only used 5oz baby kale because that's what we had on hand, and it was good, but could have added more since those greens get so small once they're wilted. We had this with some grilled chicken thighs and it was a really yummy Sunday dinner:)

Mezzetta makes "Tamed" pickled jalepenos for those that like the pepper but not the heat. They are tangy but very mild.

This really is as good as everyone says! Because of an allergy to peppers, used capers and their brine. And a mix of spinach and arugula, doubled the quantity.

I thought this was going to be weird, but I had all the ingredients. It was good!! I made fast pickled jalapenos from some online site: 1 cup white vinegar 1 cup water 2 cloves garlic smashed 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon salt 7-8 jalapeno peppers thinly sliced Combine the vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, and salt in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Add jalapeno slices, stir, and remove from heat. Let sit for at least 8 min. Store in jar in fridge for 2 months.

Easy and delicious weeknight fare! Upped the greens and the pickled jalapeños (our brand had no added sugar...). Served w home made tortillas, black beans, and some gochugang. Next time, we'll try a bed of quinoa!

Just started to assemble which is a lot of chopping. I don’t mind, but don’t say this takes 20 minutes!

Vegetarians here so to give it some protein we added a can of rinsed garbanzo beans to the sweet potatoes about half way through their cooking time. We also increased the jalapeño brine by a Tablespoon or two. So good. This goes into our “favorites” file.

Agree with "Great!" that the pickled jalapenos were amazing and had zero sugar (not sure where people are buying the kind with sugar in them...). Overall a very elevated side dish that pairs well with most meats to make a complete meal -- made steak with ours and was perfect

sugar?!? I've never added sugar to pickled jalepenos-- just brought white vinegar to a boil and poured it over the pickles in a jar. (helps to slit them so they don't float) If I've wanted to get fancy I've added garlic...Done that way the pickles keep well in the fridge. Sugar would tend to tame the heat. I love the sound of this recipe.

If you are looking for something hearty and dynamic, try this dish. I recommend dressing with the pickling liquid upon plating and adding other dressings (squeeze of lemon, hot sauce, etc.) to taste. The novelty of pickled jalapeños, which I do not use often, is worth trying. As with other reviewers, simply modulate your choice of brand based on your taste: sweet and mild for those new to spice, tangy and medium for those who crave it.

No dear, sweet potatoes come in many colors including white, yellow and purple. Yams are a very starchy vegetable rarely used in this country.

Delicious and easy. I mistakenly bought white sweet potatoes, but I thought those were fine for a substitute, and I ended up being glad I'd made that mistake. I used kale for the greens and topped it with a fried egg, both of which were very tasty. HIghly recommend this dish.

looks a little weird, seems a little weird, but easy and tastes great. excellent lunch!

Made this but used broccoli for the greens and it was amazing. (I don’t love the texture of wilted spinach sometimes)

Used kale and brine from pepperoncinis instead of spinach. Also roasted the feta with the sweet potatoes. Delish! Next time I will massage the kale before it goes in the oven. It was a bit crispy and chewy but still tasted good!

I had a different recipe teed up for tonight but realized I’d forgotten to buy a key ingredient, so I gave this a spin instead. Didn’t have farro or quinoa on hand so I decided to put this over fettuccine and it was terrific! Like many, I was skeptical about using the jalapeño brine but it made the dish and balanced the sweetness of the potato and the saltiness of the feta.

Add can rinsed garbanzos

Super tasty

Don’t put the spinach in the oven. Roast the potatoes and then add them into a nice casserole dish, with chopped spinach, the jalapeños, the feta and the green onions and then you let the hot potatoes slightly wilt the spinach instead of desiccating the spinach in the oven.

This recipe is a mixed bag for me. The sweet potatoes with pickled jalapeno brine were excellent - the tanginess plays nicely off the sweet, and the heat was just a tiny note in the background. Unless you're really sensitive to heat, don't skip the brine. If you want a little more spice, add the sliced jalapenos. The saltiness and slight creaminess from the feta was very nice, too. The spinach part didn't work as well (and I love spinach). It just tasted bland.

This seemed like an unusual pairing of ingredients but it was SO good! We just loved it. Even better heated up the next day! The flavor of the feta and green onion with the tangy jalapeño-flavored sweet potatoes and kale, delicious!

Made with 2 sweet potatoes and 1 acorn squash, kale and quinoa. Delicious!

I recently did an Asian spin on this. Used rice vinegar instead of jalapeno brine and Chili Crisp instead of the final TBSP of neutral oil. Skipped the pickled jalapenos and feta altogether. Went great with a filet of Artic Char!

Delicious. Love it. Not quite sure what to serve it with though??

Amazing! I'd recommend adding calleni beans to the recipe for some protein at the same time as the spinach. Great results

I was skeptical about this recipe and the flavors working together but the comments recommending it inspired me and they were spot on! I served it on top of farro as one comment suggested and it made for a complete one dish meal. I’ll also add chickpeas next time as another commenter suggested. I’m the only vegetarian in my family and even the meat eaters loved this. Didn’t cook the sausage I had planned to!

This is delicious. It can be eaten at room temperature, but is so much better (re)heated. I use baby kale and top it with sauteed onions to add a sweet balance to the wonderful warmth of the jalapeno brined potatoes and kale.

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