Thai Mango-Avocado Salad with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Add some color and zest to your plate with this easy Thai Mango-Avocado Salad With Grilled Sweet Potatoes. It’s gluten-free, paleo, and Whole30-friendly!

Last weekend, I went out to lunch with a friend at a swanky, new restaurant. The kind that demands a reservation followed by weeks of waiting in hopeful anticipation.

When we arrived, the atmosphere was trendy, upscale, and very promising, but unfortunately, the menu simply missed the mark in terms of variety. Aside from the few grilled options and a very standard quinoa salad, healthy was clearly something they were not doing. We ordered grilled fish (it could have been better seasoned) and a side salad, which much to my horror was nothing more than some shriveled bits of green dotted with a few insipid cherry tomatoes. Seriously? We had waited FIVE weeks for this? I knew I could do so much better.

The next day, I decided to rectify the experience and invited my friend over to my place for lunch. No reservations and no disappointing salads. Instead, I came up with a beautifully refreshing Thai mango-avocado salad infused with loads of zesty flavor. Imagine sweet, juicy bursts of mango with smooth and creamy avocado, fresh cucumber and mint, tender and smoky sweet potato, and that salty-tangy lime juice/fish sauce combo that seals ALL the flavors profiles in such a perfect way. Now add anything you want (from fish to meat or even just a bowl of grains), and you have the perfect meal. Take that, fancy restaurant!

Is This Thai Mango-Avocado Salad Healthy?

It certainly is! Made with wholesome ingredients, like sweet potatoes and mangos which are a good source of fiber and beta-carotene, the salad is loaded with flavor yet relatively low in calories. The salad does not call for a rich or heavy dressing, and the creaminess comes from the avocados, which provide healthy fats. The salad is gluten-free, paleo, and Whole30-friendly. It can easily be made vegan/vegetarian by replacing the fish sauce with soy sauce.

How to cut a mango

Let’s talk about cutting mangoes for a moment. I used to be intimidated by it—until I met Mr. FFF. He spent part of his childhood in Nepal, where he became a pro at cutting mangos, and he showed me a very simple method.

Start by locating the “eye” of the mango, a small indentation on the fruit’s surface. Just behind this is the seed, so cut about a quarter of an inch to each side of the eye to get the two large slices, or “mango cheeks.”

Holding one of these slices in the palm of your hand, carefully make parallel cuts through the flesh without cutting through the skin. Then rotate the mango slice and make cuts in the other direction to create a grid of cubes.

Finally, use a large, sharp-edged spoon to scoop along the edges of the mango. The cubes should lift right out—perfect for adding to this Thai mango-avocado salad.

Serving Suggestions

Although it has some serious Thai flavors going on, this salad is one of those delicious side dishes that you could honestly have with many different meals. I served it with Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks, but it’s also great with this Easy Healthy Cashew Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner. Use it to add some volume to some Caribbean Chicken Bowls or alongside this Easy Jerk Chicken With Pineapple.

Recipe