Roasted sweet potato rounds with goat cheese and dried cranberries are an easy side dish with big flavor! Drizzle with hot honey and flaky sea salt and fall in love with this sweet and salty combination!
If you love goat cheese try this baked pumpkin goat cheese risotto and roasted butternut squash with goat cheese and pomegranate.
Looking for a new easy side dish to make this Thanksgiving or Christmas? Look no further than these sweet potatoes with goat cheese, cranberries, and pecans! Not only is it a beautiful and festive side dish that adds a pop of color to your holiday table, but there’s minimal prep work involved.
It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty flavors, plus a hint of spicy thanks to the hot honey! The textures are divine! Creamy sweet potatoes and goat cheese, crunchy pecans, and chewy dried cranberries.
This is also a side dish that isn’t as heavy as some holiday side dishes. It’s a wonderful healthy option to serve thanks to nutrient dense sweet potatoes. You really can’t go wrong making this one!
Ingredient Notes
Sweet potatoes – When picking out sweet potatoes look for smaller sized ones. They should be firm, without cracks or spots on them. Smaller sweet potatoes are sweeter and large ones are starchier. The varieties best for roasting are Jewel, Garnet, and Covington.
Goat cheese – Buy a log of goat cheesedon’t use pre-crumbled goat cheese. Goat cheese is creamy, tangy, and salty in flavor and pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.
Pecans – Toast the pecans for the best flavor.
Dried cranberries – Sweet, tart, chewy, and a perfect contrast of flavors and texture next to the goat cheese and pecans.
Thyme – Fresh thyme pairs perfectly with goat cheese. I use the combination often, like in these honey roasted carrots.
Hot honey – It’s sweet with a spicy kick! That hint of spice takes this side dish up a notch. I love Mike’s Hot Honey. If you don’t like spicy use regular honey.
Salt – Finish the sweet potatoes and goat cheese with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. The crunchy salt is a nice contrast with the sweet flavor. I love using Maldon Sea Salt as a finishing salt. I always add it on top of these oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars.
Tips for Making Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese
- Use similar sized, small sweet potatoes so that the sweet potato rounds are all approximately the same size.
- You don’t need to peel the sweet potatoes unless you don’t like the skin. Just be sure to scrub them clean of any dirt.
- Don’t use pre-crumbled goat cheese. It contains anti-caking agents and won’t melt in with the warm sweet potatoes. Buy a log and crumble it yourself. The flavor is 1000% better too.
Substitutions
- If you don’t like goat cheese you can substitute with crumbled feta cheese. It will be a little saltier, but will still work well with all the sweet flavors. Ricotta is another good option.
- Pecans can be swapped with walnuts or pistachios. For a nut-free variation use pepitas.
- Not a fan of thyme? Try using finely chopped rosemary instead.
- If you don’t want to cut the sweet potatoes into rounds, feel free to cut them into 1/2-1 inch cubes instead.
Thanksgiving Side Dishes to Serve with Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese
This is a side dish that I most often make as a side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. A few of my favorite side dishes to serve with it are pear and blue cheese salad, slow cooker mashed potatoes, whole wheat dinner rolls, and cranberry sauce.
Storage
The leftovers will keep for up to 3 days, although texture of all the ingredients is best the day you make it. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Reheat the leftovers in the microwave or in the oven at 350° F. until warm. The leftovers are also quite delicious cold or at room temperature.
More Sweet Potato Recipes
Sweet potatoes are a favorite of mine and I love to include them in salads, side dishes, and main dishes. They’re packed with nutrients and a great alternative to white potatoes. Try out some of my favorites, I know you’ll love them!
Preheat oven to 425° F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl toss together the sweet potato rounds, olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay the slices out on the baking sheet in a single layer then place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip them over and bake for another 8-12 minutes or until tender.
Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and arrange them on a serving platter. Top with crumbled goat cheese, dried cranberries, pecans and thyme leaves.
Drizzle with hot honey and sprinkle with flaky sea salt then serve.
Leftovers will keep for up to 3 days. Serve them warm or cold.
Calories: 151kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 4gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 70mgPotassium: 37mgFiber: 1gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 325IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 34mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you make this Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheeseplease leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love hearing from you and do my best to respond to your comments. And if you’re on Instagram tag @reciperunner so I can see your beautiful creations!
