Sorghum Salads
I realize sorghum is not your every-day grain but I love showcasing recipes to try and get it used a little more in the kitchen. The flavor isn't big but it does provide a little warmth to a dish. I find, my usage of sorghum is more about texture. Sorghum has a similar texture to cooked wheat berries. Slightly chewy, far from mushy.
Sweet Potatoes
While I tend towards using roasted sweet potatoes in dishes like this, you could easily swap them for something similar. Roasted squash or rooted vegetables during the winter make a good 1:1. During the summer I like to use similar flavors with roasted sweet corn, tomatoes, and peppers.
Spices
Depending on the spice company, chipotle can get hot in fairly small quantities. However, this isn’t the easiest thing to tell. I like to take just a small taste of the powder and see how it reacts. If I find that my mouth is on fire, I might cut back a bit. If the opposite is true, I’ll usually bump the chipotle amount up to 1 teaspoon.
The other option is if you happen to have chipotle in adobo sauce, you can swap the powder for about ½ of a minced chipotle and a bit of the adobo sauce.
Garlic Oil
One of my favorite ways to have a bit of garlic flavor without being overpowering: garlic-infused oil. It’s as simple as smashing garlic, cooking it in a bit of oil, and letting it rest. Occasionally I’ll use nut-oils and infuse with garlic as well.
PrintRoasted Chipotle Sweet Potato and Sorghum Salad
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
- Yield: 2 to 4 servings 1x
- Category: side dish
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: international
Ingredients
Sorghum Salad Base
½ cup uncooked sorghum
½ cup chopped cilantro
3 scallions, minced
Sweet Potato
1 medium sweet potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon chipotle powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon sea salt
Finishing
2 tablespoons oil
1 smashed garlic clove
Juice from 1 lime
Instructions
- Heat a small pot over medium-low heat. Add the sorghum and let toast for a few minutes, shaking the pan as it toasts. The sorghum should have a slight nutty smell. Add in 1 ½ cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for about an hour. Start checking after 45 minutes. Sorghum should be tender but still chewy. Add more water as needed.
- Heat oven to 425˚F. Give the sweet potato a good scrub and cut into ½” cubes. Place on a sheet tray, optionally covered with parchment. Toss with the olive oil, spices, and salt. Roast until the sweet potato is tender and starting to brown; 30 to 40 minutes.
- While the sweet potatoes are cooking, combine the cooked sorghum with the chopped cilantro and minced scallions. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and let cook until the garlic is golden. Remove from heat and let sit until ready to use.
- Once the sweet potatoes are done, add to the bowl of sorghum. Remove and pitch the garlic from the oil, then drizzle the oil over the potatoes. Squeeze the juice from one lime on top and toss until everything is well combined.
Keywords: sorghum salad, roasted sweet potatoes
Shannon Yiv says
I have gotten sorghum in bulk online from Barry Farm, they have a lot of other uncommon things like blue cornmeal, too. This salad looks really yummy!
Maria Tadic says
This looks great! I love order from Bob's Red Mill online - so many more things on their store than in brick & mortar places! And thank you thank you thank for not posting a Thanksgiving Day leftover post!
Luci's Morsels says
I'm the same 20,000 questions girl on a road trip. So many fun things to learn! I've never tried sorghum but considering my love for everything grain-ular, I think I'll love it. Sweet Potatoes and smoked paprika is such a great combo too.
Luci’s Morsels – fashion. food. frivolity.
Kristin says
Beautiful! I'm game to try anything new! Esp GF & vegetarian!
Thank you for all that you do!
Pinned,
K-
Tess @ Tips on Healthy Living says
This looks amazing! What would you pair this with-- or is it enough to serve on its own?
Warm Vanilla Sugar says
These look totally perfect! Love this combination of flavours!
Dishing Up The Dirt says
I've never cooked with Sorghum before. Thanks for another lovely recipe. This sounds fantastic.
Gwen says
I have sorgum flour but I've never seen the whole grain before. Our Sprout's is pretty well stocked, I'll look for it next time I go. I actually have some chipotle roasted sweet potatoes leftover in the freezer from a lasagna I made recently! Score!!
Joanne (eats well with others) says
I wonder why sorghum is so hard to find around here! Definitely going to be ordering some. I've heard a ton about it recently and really want to try it!
Dearna @ tohercore says
I actually love different and hard-to-find ingredients (as long s they eventually can be found! 😉 I love cooking and experimenting with new things. Cant wait to try this out - once I get my hands on some sorghum grains!
Wendy Polisi says
I've never tried sorghum other than as a flour! This looks beautiful - can't wait to hunt for some sorghum and give it a try!
Deepa says
I love salads like this....full of filling ingredients and fabulous as a meal in themselves 🙂
Tom Quayle says
I made this last night using the recipe exactly. It was easy and fairly quick to make and in the end was worth the time investment. The taste and appearance were wonderful - great side dish or main course. Fits perfectly into the time of the year.
Sandra Miller says
Am eating this now and am really enjoying the flavors! I'm wondering if the sorghum is fully cooked though. What should the texture be like? Thanks!
erin says
Hi Sandra! The texture should be somewhat chewy (if you've ever cooked any of the wheat berry family- it would similar to that!)
Natalia says
I bought the sorghum through Amazon and made this dish and the texture of the sorghum took a little bit of getting used to, but then we inhaled it. I will definitely be trying more sorghum since I bought two bags of it. The chipotle sweet potato was delicious. Thank you for introducing me to these more obscure grains. Thanks to your blog I am trying many flavors that I either never tried or I was convinced I didn't like.
Vanessa L says
Question about your recipe as I'd like to make it tonight. The ingredients say 1 cup of cooked sorghum. The directions are given on how to cook, but not what quantity of sorghum to put in pot and boil. 1 cup of uncooked sorghum? And then take out 1 c cooked for the salad? I have a lil confusion. Thanks!
Erin Alderson says
Ah! Fixed- should be 1/2 cup uncooked.
Wendy says
This was delicious! I was looking for something to make to try the sorghum I had in the pantry and came across this recipe. So good!
★★★★★