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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Nutrition
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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.
I made it last night. It was incredible. Now I am trying to find anything that I can add your lemon-tahini dressing to! It’s addicting! Thank you!
Here is a time and energy saving tip – just toss the chickpeas with the spices and olive oil and roast in the oven on another sheet pan alongside the veggies. Stir part way through and remove when desired crispness.
Thank you for this recipe, I have made it three times in the last month! All the ingredients are my favorites! I have gotten lazy, though, and I skip sautéing the chickpeas in the spices, and just add those spices to the dressing, and stir in the chickpeas plain. Seems to taste about the same.
I’m single and I have found that if I’m going to be eating a dish like this that I like the leftovers better if I keep the dressing separate and add some to each portion as I eat it. Otherwise, the dressing makes the leftover vegetables too strong. This looks delicious. I had the roasted broccoli recently and am looking forward to trying roasted cauliflower soon.
This was excellent! I had some hummus I needed to use up, so I used that instead of the tahini and water, and reduced the olive oil. Also threw some sliced carrots in with the cauliflower and onions. I liked the shot of color and additional sweetness they added.
Got an _enormous_ head of cauliflower with my CSA share and it’s just DH and I. Found this recipe and it’s just delicious. Even DH liked it and he can be a little picky. GREAT flavors! I’m not sure it will survive to become a cold salad.
I can’t get enough of this. I food prep this just about every week now. I also have some smoked sea salt and use that when it calls for salt and it adds just a little bit of depth of flavor. Thanks for another favorite recipe!
Thanks for the tip about the smoked sea salt. I have some too and think this is a great idea.
This was delicious, I will definitely make it again!!
I want to try it this week but my daughter abhors parsley and cilantro-any other suggestions for a flavorful green? Has anyone tried basil or kale?
If you make it without the greens, it’s basically my lemon tahini dressing which is also amazing!
I made it with Tuscan kale in place of parsley and it was amazing!
AMAZING dish packed of flavor and nutrition. One of my faves. Made 4+ times already and always a hit. I always add WAY more smoked paprika to the chickpeas.
One serious flaw in thiz recipe is…..
Not enough! Seriously it look like loads of stuff but me amd boyfriend destroyed it! Lol
The flavors are fantastic and exciting to eat. Healthy.. but not exactly quick. I made mosy items the night before.
Do yourself a favor amd double the recipie if you want leftovers! It will disappear!
This was super flavorful! I’d probably use one clove of garlic next time instead of two, because the garlic flavor was pretty pungent. FYI, nutrition was not listed for this recipe, but I did my own calculation via My Fitness Pal and it has a great nutritional profile: Assuming 4 servings, it contains: 375 calories; 44g fat; 15g fiber; 20g protein; also high in Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron!
Any ideas for substitutes for the chickpeas? Looking for a low carb option.
You could always just leave them out.
holy shit this was delicious
Sooo good! Since it’s cheaper and a whole head of cauliflower is waay too much for just me, I used frozen one (didn’t thaw it before roasting it, worked perfectly fine!).
I also used less Tahini in the dressing (it’s too bitter for me otherwise), added minced baby spinach and substituted the red onion, which I didn’t have at hand, with a white one.
Great recipe!