Roasting juicy red grapes with sweet potato caramelizes the sugars in both with intensely delicious results. Fennel adds another layer of flavor, and sage infuses all with autumn goodness.
This healthy sheet-pan recipe can sit on a table with turkey and trimmings, but it is also an easy weeknight winner to serve with chicken breasts, pork chops, or baked savory tofu.
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🥰What you’ll love about this dish
- Irresistibly sweet and juicy roasted grapes married with tender bites of sweet potato
- Sheet-pan recipe makes for simple prep and cleanup.
- Perfect for make-ahead, it tastes even better after fridge time.
- Major health benefits! (See below.)
Ingredients
- Sweet potatoes
- Grapes
- Fennel
- Sage
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Dijon mustard
- Garlic
🍠Sweet potatoes: Any variety is fine. I used standard orange yams.
🍇Grapes: Red seedless are best. Look for green stems attached to the grapes. Brown withered stems are a sign that they were picked long ago and are not fresh.
Fennel: Only the bulb is used. You can save the celery-like stalks and the fronds for broth-making.
Dijon mustard: This flavor is subtle, but do not swap in regular yellow mustard. Mustard powder is a fine substitute.
🌿Sage: Fresh sage gives the dish a seasonally delicious flavor, but you can use dried.
🧄Garlic: Here again, garlic powder is fine to use if you don’t have fresh cloves.
🧂Salt and pepper: Bear in mind, Dijon mustard is very salty. Go easy on added salt. Use black pepper at your discretion to punch it up!
For more ideas about swaps and variations, see below.
How to Make
Wash your hands, lathering with soap and rinsing with running water for 20 seconds, before starting.
Rinse the sweet potatoes with water, scrub with a brush, and pat dry. Leave the peel on, and cut into small squarish pieces, as if you were going to make hash.
Rinse and scrub the fennel and cut the bulb in half. Wrap and store one half of the bulb for future use. Cut the core away and remove any brown or scarred spots. Cut the half into quarters and slice. Slices should not be paper-thin.
Wash, dry, and slice the sage, too. The grapes should be clean but remain whole. (Yay! This saves you time. 😉)
Whisk together the olive oil, Dijon mustard, and garlic to make a toss sauce.
On a foil-covered sheet pan, mound together the potatoes, grapes, fennel, and sage. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Pour the sauce over the veggies and fruit on the sheet pan, and coat all pieces thoroughly.
Spread it all evenly over the sheet pan.
Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft and browned in spots and the grapes are wrinkled.
Let cool slightly, and gather up the edges of the foil lining the pan. Bring the potatoes, grapes, and fennel together in the center and scoop to serve or, transfer to a serving dish.
To reheat later, pile the potatoes and grapes into a baking dish coated with no-stick cooking spray (olive oil), cover with foil, and refrigerate. The roasted mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Find the full recipe with amounts and complete instructions at the bottom of this post.
Cooking tips and variations
When cutting up the sweet potatoes, keep the pieces on the small side. Think of the size you would need to make hash.
Be sure your grapes are dry before adding them to the sheet pan.
Sometimes the outer layer of your fennel bulb will look like it was picked in a war zone. Simply discard this outer layer unless it’s simple to trim off the brown and bruised spots.
🧑🏻🍳There are two easy swaps in this recipe: Herbs and grapes.
Rosemary and thyme can easily stand in for the sage. Fresh is best, but dried tastes awfully good, too. A mix of herbs de Provence (affiliate link), a melange that contains rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and more would be delicious!
For the red grapes, you can substitute any color. Black grapes or green grapes also taste terrific.
If fennel is not in your crisper drawer, reach for a sweet onion or even shallots. If you use shallots, though, make sure not to slice them too thinly because they will burn.🔥
Storage
This dish is an excellent keeper. Roast it fully, and let it cool. Scoot the mixture together into the center of the foil on your sheet pan. Then, slide it into a zip bag or container.
Hold it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can take it in the storage bag to a Friendsgiving or family celebration along with a square baking dish (affiliate link) or decorative casserole (affiliate link) for reheating.
(It tastes good at room temperature, too. Just don't serve it cold.)
Or, store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Reheat for about 25 minutes at 400°F from the refrigerator or 40 to 45 minutes from frozen.
Is this sweet side dish healthy?
Don’t let the honeyed taste fool you! You will reap plenty of health benefits from grapes and sweet potatoes. (Well, maybe not if you put marshmallows on them!)
Sweet potatoes are often called a superfood or functional food, and this recipe leaves the skins on which keeps the fiber intact and increases the nutrients. Sweet potatoes are loaded with:
- Fiber (nearly 4 grams per serving)
- 100% of daily vitamin A needs
- Anti-oxidant beta-carotene (pro vitamin form of A)
- Vitamin C
- B vitamins, good sources of thiamin (B1) and vitamin B6
- Mineral-rich with manganese, phosphorous, and potassium; good source of copper
Needless to say, sweet potatoes are anti-inflammatory. They have benefits for immune function and eye health thanks to all that beta-carotene and are good for managing blood sugar and perhaps reducing the risk of certain cancers.
Nutrition Speak: A good nutrient source offers 10% to 19% of the Daily Value. An excellent source provides 20% or more.
Grapes are another easy-to-enjoy source of nutrition with plenty of vitamins and antioxidants. This is particularly true of grapes with darker skins (red or black) since they’re higher in anti-inflammatory anthocyanin pigments than green grapes.
They also have vitamins C and K (good source), as well as antioxidants: immune-boosting quercetin and anti-aging powerhouse resveratrol.
Quercetin is abundant in commonly eaten fruits and vegetables like onions and apples, and resveratrol is found in the skins of many dark-colored fruits as well as chocolate, peanuts, and red wine. Grapes, however, are one of the richest sources.
Fennel is loaded with vitamin and mineral content, and contains plenty of fiber. It’s an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins A and K, as well as beta-carotene.
In addition, it has a smattering of B vitamins including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folate in meaningful amounts.
Fennel offers the following minerals in quantities that may benefit health: potassium (excellent source), calcium, phosphorus, and copper. Note that potassium supports healthy blood pressure.
It’s also one of the few vegetables with sodium (celery is another), helpful in boosting flavor!
Sage may possess chemicals that prevent cancer, improve cholesterol, help manage blood sugar, reduce inflammation, boost brain health, and decrease hot flashes. It has a long history in traditional medicine, especially for digestion and treating wounds.
Clearly, sage may lower inflammation with its phenolic antioxidants. Other substances it has that may help decrease inflammation are carnosic acid, carnosol, and camphor, an aromatic that stimulates nerve endings when applied topically.
FAQ
It is not dessert-like. The sauce that coats the vegetables and fruit while roasting and the herbal aromatic quality that sage brings to the dish push it into the savory spectrum.
Yes! It is both and can be enjoyed by all eaters. If you are serving to anyone with celiac disease, be sure and check your Dijon mustard for any ingredients with gluten. The label on the bottle should say "gluten-free".
Unlike cherry tomatoes, whose skins split after becoming brown and shriveled, grapes maintain a roundish shape. They will become wrinkled but stay juicy and absolutely yummy.
A couple of the creamier sauces on this blog would be excellent. Try drizzling this nutty Greek Yogurt Tahini Sauce over the dish, and Savory Greek Yogurt Sauce would add punch.
You could also use any miso-based sauce you have in the refrigerator or pantry, or tahini that has a thinner consistency. (Some are available in squeeze bottles.)
It's surprising, but they hold up extremely well. In fact, this is a good make-ahead recipe. Bring this sweet potato side to a family holiday gathering or Friendsgiving gathering.
Simply re-heat in a casserole dish on site. It can also be eaten at room temperature.
Other dishes you might like…
🍗Here's an easy, fast sheet-pan recipe with roasted baby potatoes and chicken thighs, Lemon Chicken Traybake, generously swabbed with lemon and garlic. Hard to go wrong with that combo!
Grilled Asparagus in Foil works just as well in the oven as it does on your grill. A quick side dish for your favorite protein-packed main. The bonus here is ultra-fast cleanup!
These Pesto Roasted Vegetables offer so much flavor and versatility for so little effort! Serve as a side or stir them into pasta or rice.
🥕Looking for another root-rich side dish? Honey-Roasted Carrots and Parsnips is the answer. You can make it with just multi-colored carrots. Parsnips are not absolutely necessary!
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Grapes with Fennel and Sage
Equipment
- Extra-wide aluminum foil
- 1 Large chef's knife
Ingredients
- 18 ounces sweet potatoes, about 2 large
- 2 cups red seedless grapes
- ½ bulb fennel
- 1½ Tablespoons fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon of dried
- ½ teaspoon salt, Kosher
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
- 1½ Tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions Start Cooking
- Wash hands thoroughly, lathering with soap and rinsing with running water, before starting prep.
- Wash sweet potatoes under running water, using a brush to scrub the skins. Cut our any large bumps or blemishes.Cut sweet potatoes into small squarish pieces, as if for sweet potato hash.
- Wash and trim fennel. Cut bulb in half and slice, but not too thinly.
- Place potato pieces, fennel slices, and clean grapes on foil lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with fresh sage, salt, and pepper. (If using dried sage, see the next step.)
- In a small bowl, measuring cup, or jar, whisk together the olive oil, Dijon mustard, garlic, and, if using, dried sage.Drizzle mixture over the vegetables and toss with a spoon or spatula, so that all ingredients are coated. Spread the seasoned veggie-fruit mixture evenly on the sheet pan.
- Place in the oven and roast at 400℉. After 35 minutes, check for doneness. Sweet potatoes should be soft and slightly browned in spots and the grapes should be softened and wrinkled. The fennel may be browned in spots.
- If sweet potatoes still seem firm, roast another 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve alongside turkey, ham/pork, chicken, or another main like Tofurkey.Or, let cool, and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or the freezer for 3 months.
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