This Fall Steak Salad with Sweet Potatoes is an easy one-skillet meal, topped with a vibrant chimichurri sauce.
Fall Salad with Steak
If you’re looking for a hearty yet fresh fall dinner idea, you’ll love this one-pan Fall Steak Salad. Sweet potatoes are at their peak right now, and I seriously can’t get enough of them! Tender steak bites and caramelized sweet potatoes cook together in the same pan for easy prep and easy cleanup. Served warm over baby arugula with a drizzle of bright chimichurri, this balanced meal delivers 33 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber, and plenty of fall flavor—all in a weeknight-friendly way.
Why You’ll Love This Fall Steak Salad
I love salad year-round, but when fall arrives, I crave more substantial options like this Autumn Kale Salad with Chicken and Turkey Harvest Cobb Salad. That’s exactly why this steak salad with sweet potatoes is a favorite. It’s filling, seasonal, and balanced. Here are more reasons you should try it:
- One-pan wonder – Steak and sweet potatoes cook in the same skillet for easy prep and easy cleanup.
- Nutrient-packed – It’s high in protein and a good source of fiber, this salad keeps you satisfied.
- Fall flavors – Sweet potatoes add a cozy, seasonal touch that balances beautifully with bright chimichurri.
- Diet-friendly – This dish is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, so it works for a variety of lifestyles.
- Anti-inflammatory boost – Arugula, olive oil, and chimichurri (with parsley + garlic) all bring naturally anti-inflammatory benefits.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Below are the ingredients for this easy fall steak salad with sweet potatoes. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Sweet Potatoes: Roast sweet potatoes to bring out their natural sweetness and texture. Peel and cut them into small cubes.
- Salt and Black Pepper season the sweet potatoes.
- Steak: The best cut of steak for this steak salad is sirloin because it’s lean, tender and affordable.
- Steak Rub: Season the meat with avocado oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin.
- Chimichurri is a zesty Argentinian herb sauce that’s delicious with steak. It contains grated garlic, parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- Arugula, a peppery green, serves as the base of the salad.
- Fall Steak Salad Dressing: Olive oil, lemon juice, and salt make a simple vinaigrette for the arugula.
How to Make Steak Salad with Sweet Potatoes
You can make the chimichurri, cut the sweet potatoes, and season the meat a day early, then cook and assemble when you’re ready to serve. See the recipe card at the bottom for printable directions.
- Make the chimichurri by mixing all the ingredients in a small bowl.
- Cook the sweet potatoes in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until they are browned and tender.
- Season the steak: Combine the oil and spices and rub them all over the sirloin.
- Cook the steak: Increase the heat to high and add the meat in a single layer. Sear for 2 minutes, then flip and cook all sides until medium rare. Return the sweet potatoes to the pan.
- Assemble the Salad: Toss the arugula with the vinaigrette ingredients, then top with sirloin, sweet potatoes, and chimichurri.
Variations
- Sweet Potatoes: Substitute butternut squash.
- Protein Options: Use skirt, hanger, or flank steak, or substitute chicken or salmon.
- Greens: Replace arugula with spinach or kale. If using kale, massage it with lemon juice and oil first until the leaves soften and darken in color.
- Herbs: Swap out half of the parsley in the chimichurri with equal parts cilantro.
- Acid: If you don’t have a lemon for the arugula, just use extra red wine vinegar.
- Add something extra, like red onions or creamy avocado
Serving Suggestions
Since this fall steak salad is packed with protein and vegetables, it’s a complete meal. If you’d like some crusty bread or a light soup to round out your dinner, below are some ideas.
Storage
- Refrigerate: Leftover tossed salad will last about 2 days.
- Meal Prep: Store the sweet potatoes and steak in one container, the chimichurri in another, and the arugula in a third. All the ingredients will stay fresh for up to 4 days.
- How to Serve: Eat everything cold or let the sirloin and sweet potatoes sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you prefer them warm, air fry at 350°F for 5 minutes. Then, dress the arugula and assemble the salad.
More One-Skillet Recipes You’ll Love
Looking for more fall dinner ideas? Try one of my sweet potato recipes or these one-pan recipes to make clean up a breeze.
- Skillet Lasagna
- Ground Turkey Taco Skillet
- Skillet French Onion Chicken
- Leftover Turkey Enchiladas Skillet
- Skillet Lemon Chicken with Olives and Herbs
If you make this healthy steak and sweet potato salad recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook! And be sure to join the Skinnytaste Community to see what everyone’s cooking!
Fall Steak Salad with Sweet Potatoes
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Steak Bites and Sweet Potato:
- 1 large sweet potato, about 1 pound, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- olive oil spray
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 ¼ pounds sirloin steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
- ½ teaspoon avocado oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
For the Chimichurri:
- 5 cloves garlic
- ¾ cup packed parsley leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
For Serving:
- 4 ounces baby arugula
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- To make the chimichurri, add all of the ingredients to a small mixing bowl and stir to evenly combine. Set aside until ready to use.
- Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Spray the pan with the olive oil spray. Add the sweet potatoes and season with ½ teaspoon salt and the pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sweet potatoes are brown and are tender, about 15-18 minutes. If the pan starts to look too dry, add more spray as necessary. Use a spatula to remove the sweet potatoes to a plate.
- In the meantime, add the steak to a bowl and add the olive oil, chili powder, cumin, and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Turn the skillet up to high, add the seasoned steak and spread into an even layer. Let cook, undisturbed, for 2 minutes, until a nice crust has formed on one side of the steak. Continue to cook the steak on all sides until medium rare, an additional 2-4 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and add the sweet potatoes back to the pan. Stir to combine.
- Add the arugula to a mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Add the arugula to bowls and top with the steak, sweet potatoes, and chimichurri.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Notes
- Cooked steak and potato mixture makes about 4 cups (1 cup per serving)
- Chimichurri makes about ⅔ cup
Full of flavor and very filling we added butternut squash with the sweet potato. My family loved it and it has been added to our weekday recipes list.
I want to make this but I do not have a cast iron skillet. I have an induction stove top, and am afraid that cast iron might be too heavy. I do have a ceramic coated dutch oven and ceramic coated skillet, but not sure if that would work. What do you think?
I have never made chimichurri before and don’t know if the garlic should remain whole or not. The recipe doesn’t specify which intuitively, just doesn’t seem right. I am going to mince it, hope for the best. Perhaps a recipe clarification would help for the future? Or maybe someone can comment here. I came to the comments hoping for info.
Yes grated or minced!
Wow!! This salad was delicious! My meat and potatoes dad who says “salads are not dinner” absolutely devoured this! I was able to prep and cook while helping my kids with their math homework. Honestly my mouth is watering right now thinking about it and I’m already thinking about when I’m going to make this recipe again.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious! Easy to assemble and quick week night meal.
The flavors are excellent – 110% husband approved+
Simply for ease, we air fried the potato and grilled then cubed the steak. Freshly harvested young arrugula
This recipe was great! I used salmon and spinach and it was so very good.
I used a Flat Iron steak and grilled it on BBQ med. rare. It was perfect! This is one of my favorite salads you have and will definitely be making it again. The only other change I made was to add cilantro to the sauce.
Huge hit with my family of 7! I doubled the recipe and airfried the sweet potatoes so that they could cook faster. It was the perfect meal on a fall day with 83 degree temps!
Delicious! Such a unique combo of flavors and so filling
This was one of the most flavorful salads I’ve ever made. SO good! Will definitely be making this again really soon! The only change I made was I air fried the sweet potatoes.
You made my day!!
This was a hit with my boyfriend and me tonight. Followed directions as is except for making the sweet potato in the air fryer, 18-ish minutes at 190 C. The savoury, vinegary chinichurri was a great foil to the sweetness of the potatoes and the steak was juicy and flavourful. Thank you!!