This ravioli salad with broccolini, sweet potatoes, feta, and harissa is sweet, spicy, savory and makes for an easy weeknight pasta salad.
ravioli salad with broccolini, sweet potatoes, feta and harissa

Today is the beginning of the end.

The end of me even having a modicum of control over our primetime television watching (although, the fact that we have continued to watch Breaking Bad against my protestations is a testament to the fact that I never had much to begin with).

The end of any dinnertime conversation that doesn’t involve the phrases “home runs”, “strikeouts”, “RBIs”, “ERAs”, “Tommy John surgery”, “David Wright”, and “Matt Harvey”.

Which also, not surprisingly, correlates with the end of me not falling asleep mid-bite because, SHEER BOREDOM.

Today, my friends. Is Mets Opening Day.

Let’s play ball.

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Baseball season and I have gotten off to a bit of a pessimistic start.

But there is a silver lining.

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And that is hot summer days with a cold beer and a bowl of pasta salad that I snuck into the stadium because hot dogs, peanuts and cracker jacks that cost $20 a pop just don’t float my boat.

Yes, I’m THAT girl.

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So while the.boy pretends he doesn’t know the girl sitting next to him who’s chowing down on something that has a few too many vegetables to be consumed at a sporting event and trying to cuddle him as much as one can in those uncomfortable metal seats.

My belly will be happy with this sweet spicy savory pasta salad inside of it.

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At least someone at the game will be winning.

Because we all know it won’t be the Mets.

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Ravioli Salad with Broccolini, Sweet Potatoes, Feta, and Harissa
 
This ravioli salad with broccolini, sweet potatoes, feta and harissa is sweet, spicy, savory and makes for an easy weeknight pasta salad.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 large garlic clove, smashed and minced
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp harissa
  • ¼ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes
  • 1 bunch broccolini, coarsely chopped
  • 1 lb ravioli
  • ¼ lb feta cheese, crumbled
  • ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, ¼ tsp salt, lemon juice, harissa, and ¼ cup olive oil. Set aside so flavors can meld.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  3. While water is coming to a boil, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add sweet potato cubes to the pan and season with a pinch of salt. Saute over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until sweet potato is cooked through and starting to brown. Add the broccolini to the pan and saute for another 3-4 minutes, or until bright green and crisp-tender. Set aside.
  4. Cook ravioli according to package directions. Drain.
  5. Toss ravioli with harissa oil, feta, sweet potato/broccolini mix, and almonds. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: ¼ of recipe

For more ravioli salads, check out these:

Ravioli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Arugula and Hazelnuts – Cookin’ Canuck

Ravioli with Creamy Pesto and Tomato Sauce – Bell’Alimento

Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Asparagus, String Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, and Olives – Eats Well With Others

Tomato Ravioli – Eats Well With Others

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80 Responses to Ravioli Salad with Broccolini, Sweet Potatoes, Feta, and Harissa

  1. Kathryn says:

    This sounds super delicious! Sometimes I find pasta salads a bit bland but this has such a great mix of flavours and textures. Love it.

  2. Monica says:

    What a creative pasta salad, Joanne. I really want to try harissa; I’ve never cooked with it and I have a feeling it’s delicious.

  3. Well HELLO gorgeous! I want this in my belly ASAP.

  4. Loool! Still laughing about your last comment about the Mets. 😉

    And I’m with you – I’m a huge smuggler of healthier items (that I didn’t pay 5X their normal price for!) into sporting goods, movie theaters, etc.

    Love the balance of flavors and use of harissa here!

  5. What a great easy salad and I love how you snuck it into the stadium – so funny!

  6. Luckily Josh doesn’t really like sports, so I’ve never found myself being forced to watch them (unless I visit my sister during baseball season — learned my lesson!). However, the Tiger’s games are just a short walk from Greektown, so I never pass up going to a game, because moussaka. But if I wasn’t already stuffing my face full of eggplant, you bet I’d smuggle in this pasta salad! Sounds delicious, especially with an overpriced beer.

  7. That looks like an awesome dish. I still haven’t try broccolini yet. What am I waiting for?

  8. This looks awesome & ehem I’m totally that girl too ; ) Thanks for including us in your links!

  9. Somehow you picked all my favorite ingredients and put them together as I never would have thought too (as you often do…which is why I adore you and your blog 🙂 PINNING.

  10. Maybe I’d be more into sports if I got to eat goodies like this while watching!

  11. This cracked me up. I love that you are that girl. I always want to be that girl, but I don’t have a big enough purse. Looks like I’m going to have to fix that. On a side note, it’s the Mr.’s life long dream to sneak an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a movie theater someday. Maybe you could try it for a baseball game…I’m 99% sure it would up the excitement level. 🙂

  12. I am all for sweet, spicy, savory and easy dishes! Joanne, I am surprised people at games haven’t asked you to share what you sneak in! I bet it smells and tastes way better than anything they have there!

  13. Cracking up here…..I love that you sneak salad into a baseball game. You should get one of those little plastic ice cream hats to eat it in.
    I enjoy baseball, but I bet I would enjoy it more if I was eating this salad.

  14. Lisa says:

    I am making a broccoli pasta dish tonight, with chickpeas and simple seasonings and lemon juice, perhaps a bit of goat cheese, but I’m not sure it will be as good as this one. Love the blend of flavors here.

  15. You know that I am all over that harissa! So making this for dinner!

  16. I love everything about this salad! Feta is always a great choice 🙂 And good luck w/ baseball season… 😉

  17. cheri says:

    Harissa is my new favorite spice, love this combination! Good for you, sneaking a salad into a ball game.

  18. Seriously YUM! Beautiful work Joanne! I could really go for some of this- Spring freshness- but comforting enough for this DAMN SNOW today! LOL!

  19. Haha, you’re definitely the kind of person I’d love to go to a game with! It’s crazy how much they charge for hot dogs, and coke! Anyway, I can’t wait to try this recipe– thanks for sharing 🙂

  20. Trisha says:

    Something about baseball just says summer. As does pasta salad. I LOVE pasta salad with feta. YUM.

  21. HAHA I don’t know anything about the Mets – you are a strong woman to sit through that! This salad needs to appear in my kitchen riiiiight now. So yummy looking.

  22. Wow, this looks incredible Joanne! What a fun salad and everything I love! Ravioli and broccolini are two of my favorites!! Gorgeous photos. Have a happy Monday!

  23. SallyBR says:

    Never thought of making salad with ravioli, and all of a sudden it makes perfect sense to me!

    thank you!

  24. This looks amazing as ever! Love the ravioli with feta- would make a great addition to any Summer picnic!

  25. Foodiewife says:

    I always love your recipes, and this one definitely hits it out of the ballpark. Pun intended. It’s your writing that I crave most. I’d be bored to tears, watching a ball game, I’m afraid. Yep, I’m that.girl. Brilliant!

  26. Danguole says:

    Every word in the title of this post is music to my ears! Baseball, not so much, although I’ve been known to put up with it in the past.

  27. I just love how creative this pasta salad is yet how it’s simple enough to throw together on a weeknight! Love all of the flavors going on here!

  28. Pam says:

    Now that is my kind of baseball food! I’d sneak it into the stadium too.

  29. Eileen says:

    Hooray, ravioli and greens! You know I am all over this. 🙂 I love the idea of punching it up with rich sweet potato and tangy feta too!

  30. P says:

    Can’t say I’ve ever snuck food in to a baseball stadium, but I can still relate, haha. When movie theater candy costs way too much, bringing in Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids from the dollar store a few blocks down is very much justified 😉

  31. This looks right up my alley, Joanne. Love those broccolini!

  32. Beth says:

    Ha! Love the story, love the salad. I just might make it for myself the next time I go to a Blue Jays’ game – because they won’t be winning either.

  33. Joanne says:

    What a fun post. Love the recipe. It’s so bright and healthy.

  34. Aggie says:

    I love that you’re that girl. I’d sit with ya! Especially if you would share…;) this looks incredible!

  35. Yay — it’s pasta salad season again, I love the look of this one, and I never thought to use mini ravioli, thanks for the creative idea Joanne!

  36. Oh yum! I would sneak this in everywhere and anywhere. This looks great!

  37. Julia says:

    I was worried there for a second you a.) donated your TV to charity or b.) decided to move to the jungle, far far away from cable/satellite/technology. So I sighed a big sigh of relief when I realized you were trading BB for BBall. LOVE this ravioli like it’s my own! Everything about it is driving me bonkers, ‘specially the harissa!! Deeelish!

  38. Pam says:

    Well this is new and creative, Joanne! It sounds delcious!

  39. Haha, sneaking your own food into the stadium is totally the way to go. This meal sounds so yummy! I’ve been craving cold meals so this pasta salad would really hit the spot!!

  40. Definitely making this for lunch or dinner this week! I love pasta salad and have been craving something with sweet potatoes. Yay for opening day!

  41. Great pasta salad, and a great idea! We love all the ingredients in this recipe!

  42. Matt put opening day on my calendar so that I could watch this afternoon… um?? Love this ravioli dish!

  43. what a great use for harissa! yum.

  44. Oh, you got nothing on me here. Paul plays baseball and Trevor plays T-Ball. And we…I mean, he…subscribes to the MLB package. So basically, my weekends are baseball, my evenings are baseball, and 2 days during the week are baseball. Thank goodness I do love this game. If this were basketball, I would be seriously self medicating with sugar. And pasta. All day long.

  45. fried harissa is a weakness of mine.
    I wish I could get into opening day, I do, but this winter is still here!
    I mean we just had a blizzard and now we’re having a small nor’easter.
    I want to go back to the days when I wasn’t quite sure what a nor’easter meant.

  46. Melissa says:

    What a great idea! I never thought to bring my own food to a baseball game. Although, my favorite part of a Red Sox game is getting soft serve ice cream in a plastic baseball hat. Your ravioli look especially good too – did you make them yourself?

  47. You crack me up Joanne! I love that baseball season is here and I would SO prefer this dish over a hot dog!

  48. I feel you on the baseball but fortunately nobody close to me is that into it so I never have to watch it 🙂 I do like the idea of going to a game though and it would be especially enjoyable with this pasta salad! Your photos are seriously gorgeous!

  49. I would sneak this in to a sporting event to, so much better than anything they would have to offer. And I agree with you food at sporting events is too high!.

  50. Blond Duck says:

    It looks like the perfect spring salad.

  51. I don’t know where harissa has been all my life, but I am a recent convert! Amazing!

  52. The pasta sounds delicious and better than any game ‘treat’ 🙂

  53. Kate says:

    I’m loving the idea of ravioli in a pasta salad.

  54. I hear you on the pain of time (and especially couple time) suddenly being bowled over by sport. It’s football season in Australia now and that means one-quarter of every weekend is lost to my husband either being at a game, or watching one on TV – and sometimes watching on TV the very same game he just watched live! Argh!

    Thank goodness you’ve got the fuel side of things sorted 🙂

  55. Katerina says:

    One thing I never gave up is my detest for games, stadiums and all of this sort! Thank goodness my husband is not a big fan of them either. I love this pasta salad especially because it has feta in it!

  56. Deena Kakaya says:

    This has to be amongst the classiest game foods! You lady! I love Harissa and this is a fabulously tasty and easy idea for a ‘on-the-go’ recipe x

  57. What a beautiful looking salad! I would eat that over hot dogs any day!

  58. Hotly Spiced says:

    So the Mets never win? I love the look of your yummy pasta – it’s my kind of vegetarian meal! Lots of lovely flavour here and I do hope that compensation for you for watching the game will be lots of lovely warm sunshine xx

  59. What a fresh and delicious looking ravioli salad, although I am used to eating it laden with sauces 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  60. I love this salad idea, so used to eating ravioli filled with sauce 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  61. Simone says:

    This looks delicious! Will have to try it out soon 🙂

  62. Mmm … sweet potatoes, feta, almonds, lemon and other lovelies … what a wonderful combination of flavours for a quick pasta dish! I actually needed this inspiration today because I made a pasta dish with cheese-filled ravioli myself last night and it was rather disappointing, to be honest. This looks so much better!

  63. Lynn says:

    I love opening day of baseball! It means spring is really here. And I would love some of this to eat right now.

  64. Sara says:

    I made this last night. I had exactly 4 oz of leftover feta that I was wondering what to do with (other than just eat the whole block!) It turned out AMAZING! Thank you!

  65. Cassie says:

    Why have I never thought to use ravioli in a salad? Genius, Joanne!

  66. I’m cracking up. Baseball season is one of those things I don’t really pay attention to… well, I guess that’s the case with most sports. But what I like about watching baseball on TV is that you don’t really have to pay attention. You can totally have it on in the background while you’re doing other things. I do agree it’s pretty boring… but when it’s exciting, it’s really exciting. It’s just not exciting that often.

  67. Corina says:

    I love all the cheese and greens in this.

  68. I am that girl too hahaha. Although I wish it was this salad what I was eating, because oh boy it looks so so yummY!

  69. Hahaha I totally feel you. My husband is in two fantasy baseball leagues. Two! I have heard aaaaallllll about Matt Harvey too! Ugh! He literally watched 12 hours of baseball the other day. I would totally find solace in this bowl of carbolicious goodness too!

  70. Kathleen Kennedy says:

    No! No! No! Let’s not give up on the Mets! And Yes! Yes! Yes! This salad looks amazing! I love the looks of those lovely little ravioli in the photos. Are they any particular brand?

  71. grace says:

    braves fan here. hope you don’t hold that against me. 🙂
    this is a special salad, joanne–very creative!

  72. Reeni says:

    I sneak food into the movie theatre and would totally love to chow down on this instead of stale overpriced popcorn! Love, love, love everything about it! Those chewy ravioli are calling my name.

  73. Shannon says:

    ha. I have similar feelings about baseball season… but not this dish! I’ve been all over broccoli, but need to mix it up with some broccolini soon!

  74. Stacy says:

    I don’t know how I have gotten so busy that I’ve missed reading your wonderful blog, Joanne. You crack me up AND this ravioli salad looks divine! You would appreciate the many times I’ve snuck food, even fried chicken and soup (not the same night) into a movie theater.

  75. […] Ingredients1 large garlic clove, smashed and minced1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste2 tbsp lemon juice2 tbsp harissa1/4 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil, divided1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes1 bunch broccolini, coarsely chopped1 lb ravioli1/4 lb feta cheese, crumbled1/4 cup sliced almonds, toastedDirections  […]

  76. Terri says:

    Lovely food blog–found you when I googled broccolini/sweet potato/harissa salad. We are a pasta free zone so I’m totally stealing your recipe and morphing it for my husband. I make my own harissa and am always looking for new ways to use it! Thank you and go Mets! (Though I’m a Giants fan since birth I’m happy to give the Mets a shout for you!)

  77. Terri says:

    Following up: OMG my husband loved this warm for dinner last night! I used Trader Joe’s pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds as I had them on hand. Nice sweet/heat. Lots of “mmmmm”ing. I am certain that it would be awesome with the ravioli, but it was also fabulous without. Keeper. Totally. Thank you! 🙂

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