Salads aren’t just for the warm weather months, but when I get my vegetable cravings in the winter I change up my salads with heartier vegetables and ingredients that have warm, smoky flavors, like roasted vegetables and smoked paprika. This Roasted Cauliflower Salad is actually a play on one of my other favorite salads, Mediterranean Farro Salad. I used the same Lemon Tahini Dressing (because it’s so good that I want to pour it on everything) and spiced chickpeas because I thought they would provide just the right punch to complement the mellow roasted cauliflower. The combination of roasted cauliflower, sweet red onions, spiced chickpeas, and tangy lemon tahini dressing might be my favorite yet!
Other Salad Greens Options:
Parsley is a great green to use for salads because it’s cheap and the presence is subtle enough to not over power the cauliflower and chickpeas. Baby spinach would also work, as would finely chopped kale, but both will likely be a bit more expensive.
What is Tahini?
Tahini is the star ingredient for the delicious lemon tahini dressing for this salad. If you’ve never heard of tahini, it’s just like peanut butter, but made with sesame seeds instead of peanuts. It has a creamy yet slightly sharp flavor that is totally unique. It’s usually about twice the price of peanut butter, but it’s a valuable ingredient and stays good in the fridge for just about forever (just like peanut butter). You can use it to make gobs of delicious homemade hummus, as well as this amazing lemon tahini dressing. I promise you’ll want more of this dressing.
What to Serve with Roasted Cauliflower Salad
This Roasted Cauliflower Salad is really filling, so it can definitely stand on its own as a vegetarian main dish, but if you want to make something to go on the side, it also goes great with Focaccia Rolls, Herb Roasted Chicken Breast, Homemade Naan, Greek Turkey Burgers, or Creamy Mushroom Soup.
Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower ($2.99)
- 1/2 red onion ($0.55)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- Salt and Pepper to taste ($0.05)
- 1/2 bunch parsley ($0.45)
LEMON TAHINI DRESSING
- 1/3 cup tahini ($1.13)
- 1/3 cup water ($0.00)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice ($0.18)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
SPICED CHICKPEAS
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($0.79)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne ($0.02)
- Salt and Pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Chop the cauliflower into small florets and place them on a large baking sheet. Slice the red onion into 1/4-inch strips and place them on the baking sheet. Drizzle the cauliflower and onions with olive oil and season with a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Toss the cauliflower and onions until coated in oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast the cauliflower and onions in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then stir, return them to the oven, and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and browned on the edges. Let the cauliflower cool slightly.
- While the cauliflower and onions are roasting, make the lemon tahini dressing. Add the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and salt to a blender. Blend until smooth, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas. Add them to a skillet along with the olive oil, smoked paprika, cayenne, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and cook the chickpeas over medium heat for about five minutes, or until they sizzle and become slightly crispy. Remove the chickpeas from the heat.
- Pull the parsley leaves from their stems and roughly chop the leaves into small pieces (about 1.5 cups loosely packed, once chopped).
- To build the salad, combine the roasted cauliflower and onions in a bowl with the spiced chickpeas and chopped parsley. Drizzle the lemon tahini dressing over top, and toss to combine. Serve warm or cold.
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Try this lemon tahini dressing drizzled over all your favorite roasted vegetables!
How to Make Roasted Cauliflower Salad – Step by Step Photos
Begin by preheating the oven to 400ºF. Chop one head of cauliflower into florets. Slice 1/2 of a red onion into 1/4-inch strips. Place the cauliflower and onions on a large baking sheet. Drizzle the vegetables with 2 Tbsp olive oil and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables until they are well coated in oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast the cauliflower and onion for 20 minutes, stir, then return them to the oven and roast for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and the edges browned. (the sides touching the baking sheet brown fastest, so you’ll see more browning once you give it a final stir).
While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the lemon tahini dressing. Place 1/3 cup tahini, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and 1/4 tsp salt in a blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth. Refrigerate the dressing until you’re ready to serve the salad.
To prepare the spiced chickpeas, drain and rinse one 15oz. can of chickpeas. Add the drained chickpeas to a skillet along with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and cook the chickpeas for about 5 minutes over medium heat or until they begin to sizzle and become slightly crispy on the outside. Remove them from the heat. (I like to do this in a non-stick skillet.)
Pull the leaves from about 1/2 bunch of parsley and chop them into small pieces (about 1.5 cups loosely packed once chopped). To build the salad, combine the roasted cauliflower and onions with the spiced chickpeas and chopped parsley…
Drizzle the lemon tahini dressing over top…
Stir to combine, and enjoy! You can enjoy this Roasted Cauliflower Salad slightly warm from the oven, or chilled after storing in the refrigerator.
This was sooo good! Definitely in the regular rotation. Thanks.
This was so delicious! I added toasted almonds and sliced carrots!
I am obsessed with this recipe and cannot get enough of it!!! It is so easy to throw together and tastes great on its own -or lately I have been using it as a baked potato topping. An instant favorite in our house.
So good!! I added some maple syrup to the dressing and a few handfuls of spinach to the salad. This salad has become a firm favourite.
I could not find tahini in either of my local grocery stores (small town problems) could it sub sesame oil in its place?
No, unfortunately you need tahini for this one to thicken the dressing. Tahini also tastes different than sesame oil, despite them both being made from sesame.
In many grocery stores it is in the Jewish food section, if there is one. Look for it near the Hispanic or Asian section, or see if you can find a Jewish grocery store.
Could also use peanut butter in a pinch.
This salad is so good!! I don’t like Tahini so I used a couple of spoons of hummus. If it’s too think I add a little water. Does the trick. I make my own hummus (without tahini :).
I have made this meal as is and in different variations at least 30 times. It is excellent. The lemon tahini dressing is absolutely to die for. Bravo! Oh and I’ve shared it an embarrassing number of times. It’s amazing.
Tasted great but I thought the tahini sauce was too thick and made the dish quite dry.
Wonder if the use of cups as a measure is confusing (is for me) and partly responsible.
Just made it tonight, it was the bomb dot com!
A big hit for the family. I will definitely be making it again. I added pomegranate arils to it which was amazing too. The dressing was so delicious, could use it for a lot of things. Thank you so much!! Joce :)
So delicious! I made some whole-wheat couscous to go with it. My non-vegetarian husband approved!
I love this recipe soo soo much.
I substituted cilantro for the parsley and lime for the lemon, because that’s what I had. It was soo good. I don’t like my salads with too much dressing, so next time I will probably half the dressing amount. I had leftovers the next day with half a can of tuna and I liked it so much I just had the rest of it for breakfast.
If you are keeping leftovers, I recommend preserving some of the dressing to top it off the next day. Thank you, Beth!
Soooo tasty! We added in some spinach and a bit of onion powder to the chickpeas, and oh my gosh…salad heaven. I already can’t wait to have this again!
This was fantastic! I did sub cilantro for parsley, because I don’t love parsley. But this was so good. I added some quinoa and spinach to make it into a vegan bowl meal for dinner. (My cauliflower was super small so it wasn’t quite enough food).
A++++! My non-vegetarian fiance really enjoyed this. The dressing was a little stronger than I expected and fiance commented the cauliflower itself could use a little more spices, so I might adjust the ratios there next time. Total winner, though.
This was amazing! Perfect flavor combination. I’m obsessed with this Mighty Sesame tahini that comes in a squeeze tube, and I used it in this. I kind of want to make this for a crowd, it’s that good.
This was AMAZING. I made it for dinner tonight and it was popular with the whole family, including my almost 2-yo. My 4yo said “you should make this every night!”. I served with quinoa, and a combo of baby spinach and parsley. Can’t wait to make this again.