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.
Hi Beth,
I just found this recipe! One of my favorite vegan restaurants has a similar dish that I absolutely love! It is basically this dish (substitute parsley for baby kale and/or spinach) add half tofu / have chickpeas (rest of the recipe is the same – including this AMAZING dressing! They serve it over short grain brown rice. I never thought to make it at home, but now I will!
Also, I have been utilizing your website for many years now. I typically make all our weekly meal plans mostly from recipes on your site! Doing this has allow my partner and I to cut our grocery bill down to about $30 per week while still eating healthy. Speaking of my partner – when we met he was eating microwaved tortillas and cheese or drinking soylent! YUCK! Thanks to your site (especially your fantastic step by step instructions and images) he is able to cook. He even makes me dinner on occasion!
Thanks again for putting together one of the best recipe sites out there! And for continuously adding to it!
– J
Wow!! You don’t know how happy that makes me!! :D $30/week for two is incredible. Great job you two!
Just made this tonight but subbed spinach for the parsley. So, so GOOD! love that it has just the right spicy note. Do you generally use the entire amount of dressing? I found I used 1/2 to 1/3 which means I can make it again with less effort :) Thank you Beth!!!
This is a keeper! I loved the combo of cauliflower, onion and chickpeas with the dressing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the parsley, but my husband liked it. Great flavors! Thanks a bunch! Next time I will add more onions – they are so good!
Hi there!
So just wanted to share some modifications (only as fyi! so feel free to publish or not).
I roasted cauliflower and onions as per recipe, used walla-walla onions (sweeter and less strong), used cinnamon/madras curry powder/paprika to saute chick peas with a bit of olive oil, added cilantro, and pan fried kale with garlic and a bit of olive oil (makes it less chewy to eat).
Dressing lime, shallot minced, salt, and olive oil. Of course, I eyeball all spices (not helpful for people who are trying first time to cook LOL), but I know I give every spice a good shake (probably 2 tsps of each).
And if I had remembered, I would have pan fried a few walnuts and added!! but I forgot ;o(
OMG sooooo yummy.
Enjoy your site sooo much! hope all is well ;o)
Caro
I have made this salad twice a week in the last month and so, it is delicious. Thank you so much for another great recipe!
This was DELISH!!! I added quinoa and made it our main course!! Will be making it again!!
Looks so good, both as a light snack and a nutritious one. Thanks for this.
My only complaint is the that there wasn’t enough! Haha I could have eaten the whole batch just standing at my counter. I didn’t change a thing. Well done, thanks for the recipe! I think I’ll double it next time. :)
How long will this salad dressing remain good?
Probably about 4-5 days.
THX!! Preparing “Greek Week” so your response helps immensely :)
I just simplified by roasting the chickpeas with the cauliflower and onion after I seasoned according to the recipe, delicious!
OMG what ?!!! Seriously !!! This soooooo good. I can’t stop.
I’ve been making your recipes about once a week for while now, but this is hands down the MOST surprisingly delicious dish. I’m trying not to eat it all since this was supposed to go into my lunches. Anyhow, thanks for providing amazingly exquisite and super easy recipes.
cheers
Yet another wonderful Budget Bytes meal! My boyfriend and eat meals based on your recipes at least twice a week and haven’t had a “meh” meal yet! I added diced sweet potato to roast with the cauliflower and served the salad over some barley I had left over from another meal, and both additions paired well with the rest of the recipe ingredients. I’m looking forward to trying this again soon!
I love the sweet potato idea!!
This was amazing! I just shared it with a friend. The cauliflower didn’t brown quite as well as the above pictures but it still tasted great.
This was great! Made it as written, except substituted cilantro for parsley. Enjoyed it for lunch three days last week! Great way to enjoy cauliflower.
I can’t wait to try this… I want to make it ahead for my lunches this week. Do you recommend heating it up or just eating it cold?
It’s great both ways. I ate it slightly warm when it was first made, then the leftovers I ate cold so that the parsley wouldn’t get “cooked” during reheating. :)