This Weight Watchers Pasta Salad with Sweet Potatoes is the perfect fall salad. It uses some colorful and in season produce to make a delightful and good-for-you salad. At just 3 points per serving, this makes an excellent side dish or enjoy a larger serving as a meal. This is great when you are having a craving for pasta salad or potato salad. For more yummy Weight Watchers friendly salads check out our Weight Watchers 3 Bean Salad.
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Why you love this Weight Watchers Pasta Salad
- Just 3 points per serving
- Very filling
- A great way to eat your veggies
Ingredients
- sweet potato
- salt and black pepper
- tri-colored pasta
- broccoli
- dried cranberries
- pine nuts toasted
- red onion thinly sliced
- non-fat Greek yogurt
- cup water
- maple syrup
- apple cider
- Dijon mustard
- poppy seeds
- onion powder
How to make this pasta salad
You will need to roast sweet potatoes for this salad, so preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This just makes clean up so much easier. Peel the sweet potatoes and place the cut up sweet potato pieces on the baking pan.
Spray cooking oil over the sweet potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Toss to make sure potatoes are evenly coated, and roast for 25-30 minutes. When they are tender, remove them from the oven and set the sweet potatoes aside to cool.
Next, you will need to cook pasta. Cook it according to package directions for al dente pasta. Drain and rinse the pasta and set it aside to cool.
Once cool, pour the pasta into a large bowl. Add the roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, dried cranberries, pine nuts, and red onions and combine with a fork.
Now it is time to make the poppy seed dressing. In this recipe we will be using fat free Greek yogurt to take the place of mayo. No mayonnaise keeps this salad low in points. In a small bowl, add yogurt, water, maple syrup, vinegar, mustard, poppy seeds, onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix well with a whisk to combine.
Add the poppy seed dressing to the Weight Watchers pasta salad with sweet potatoes.
Toss until evenly coated. Once salad is assembled, cover it and refrigerate it for at least an hour.
After an hour, this salad is ready to serve. This recipe makes 12 servings and each serving is 3 points. Some days I like to double the serving for 6 points. It is filling and so worth it!
I love all the flavors in this salad. The broccoli gives it a great crunch and keeps you chewing, which means the salad takes longer to eat. The sweet potatoes help to make this salad filling and satisfying.
Weight Watchers Pasta Salad with Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
- Salad Ingredients:
- 1 medium peeled sweet potato cut into ½-inch pieces
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 3 cups tri-colored pasta uncooked
- 3 cups broccoli chopped to about 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 3 tablespoon pine nuts toasted
- ¼ cup red onion thinly sliced
- Poppy Seed Dressing Ingredients:
- ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt plain
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon apple cider
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put the sweet potato pieces on the prepped baking sheet.
- Spray the sweet potatoes pieces with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 25-30 minutes and them remove from oven and set aside to cool.
- Follow the pasta package directions and cook the pasta until it is al dente. Drain the pasta and set it aside to cool.
- Pour the pasta into a large bowl. Add the roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, dried cranberries, pine nuts, and red onions to the bowl of pasta.
- To make the poppy seed dressing, in a small bowl, add yogurt, water, maple syrup, vinegar, mustard, poppy seeds, onion powder, salt and pepper; stir well with a whisk to combine.
- Pour in the poppy seed dressing and stir until ingredients are evenly coated.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Video
Nutrition
This nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using online calculators. Your nutritional information may vary depending on numerous factors.
Frequently asked questions
While you don't need to use tri colored pasta for this dish, I find it just adds some more fall colors. I like a corkscrew or rotini pasta as I find it holds the dressing better.
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Sure, you can add chopped, cooked chicken breast. Just make sure to adjust points accordingly.
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Danielle
A pasta salad is a must at a bbq. I love the idea of adding some sweet potato.
Jenni LeBaron
I love the addition of sweet potatoes to this pasta salad for some excellent sweetness and texture!
Cindy Gordon
I love pasta salad! It is a weakness! ha! I love to make it for lunches all week! Love the addition of sweet potatoes!
Chef Markus Mueller
Great looking salad! I love using roasted sweet potato in salads. While i usually add it to kale salads or other leafy salads, using it in a pasta salad with broccoli makes perfect sense!
Emily Hill
I love a healthy pasta salad and this one sounds yummy!
Scarlet
I have never had pasta salad with sweet potatoes but it sounds like something fun and new to try. I love sweet potato with dried cranberries too so I can't wait to try it.