Making sure I get vegetables into my diet takes daily effort. But one thing I know for sure is that if I have them prepped, I am 1000x more likely to eat them. So this week I made these Roasted Vegetable Salad Meal Prep boxes to hopefully remove one more barrier between me and my vegetables.😜
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How to Eat Your Roasted Vegetable Salads
This salad is meant to be eaten cold, but you could certainly warm it if you prefer. Warming the salad will cause the spinach to wilt, so it will be more like a sautéed spinach in the dish, which would still be quite delish! You’ll still want to add the dressing after reheating.
Dressing Options
I used my Lemon Dill Tahini Dressing for this salad because I’m still obsessed with it, but I think there are some other suitable options if this one is not your favorite. A green goddess dressing would be amazing, as would a yogurt based Greek salad dressing.
Vegetable Options
What I love about this meal prep is that you can always change up the vegetables to give it a new flavor. It’s still the tail end of summer, so I am using mostly summer vegetables here. Other great summer vegetable options are eggplant, asparagus, and bell peppers.
When we head into fall and winter I’ll probably start using harder winter vegetables, like sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. Just keep in mind that the hard winter vegetables may take slightly longer to roast.
Other Topping Ideas
I’m all about keeping things simple, but if you have some of these items laying around waiting to be used up, here are some other ingredients that would make great toppings for this roasted vegetable salad: pita bread (cut into wedges), kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, or fresh parsley.
Where can I get those containers??
The glass containers are the 3-cup rectangular Pyrex containers and the dressing cups are 2.5 oz. metal dipping cups. Both were purchased from Amazon, and can be found in the “meal prep” category of my Amazon Shop.
Roasted Vegetable Salad Meal Prep
Servings 4Ingredients
Lemon Dill Tahini Dressing
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp dried dill ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 1/4 cup tahini ($0.75)
- 1/4 cup warm water ($0.00)
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.09)
Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa ($1.20)
- 1.75 cups water ($0.00)
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 pint grape tomatoes ($1.99)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.69)
- 1 zucchini ($0.95)
- 1 yellow squash ($0.56)
- 1 red onion ($0.44)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
Other
- 4 cups fresh spinach ($2.15)
- 1/2 cup hummus ($1.15)
Instructions
- Make the dressing first. In a small bowl combine the garlic powder, onion powder, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, tahini, water, and lemon juice. Stir or whisk until smooth. Refrigerate the dressing as you prepare the rest of the salad.
- Begin cooking the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa well in a fine wire mesh sieve. Place the rinsed quinoa in a small sauce pot and add 1.75 cups water. Place a lid on top, turn the heat on to high, and bring it up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
- After letting the quinoa simmer for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest with the lid in place for five minutes. Empty the cooked quinoa out into a casserole dish, spreading it out to increase the surface area. Refrigerate the dish with the quinoa until you're ready to assemble the meal preps.
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the grape tomatoes onto a large baking sheet. Slice the onion into 1/4-inch strips. Cut the zucchini and yellow squash into 1/4-inch wide half-rounds. Cut the mushrooms in half. Mix the vegetables together on the baking sheet. If there are too many to fit in a single layer on the baking sheet, divide them between two baking sheets.
- Add the olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, and salt to the vegetables. Use your hands to mix the vegetables and seasoning, until the vegetables are well coated in oil.
- Roast the vegetables in the preheated 400ºF oven, stirring every 15 minutes, until the vegetables are browned on the edges. Allow the vegetables to cool for about 10 minutes at room temperature.
- To build the meal prep bowls, place one heaping cup of spinach in each dish. Add 1/2 cup of the cooked and cooled quinoa on top of the spinach. Divide the roasted vegetables between the four containers, then add 2 Tbsp hummus to each dish.
- Divide the dressing between four small dressing containers. Refrigerate the salads and dressing for up to 4 days.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Small Roasting Pan
- Enamelware Sheet Pan
- Pyrex Glass Meal Prep
- Chef’s Knife
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Roasted Vegetable Salad – Step by Step Photos
Make the Lemon Dill Tahini Dressing first. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/4 tsp salt, some freshly cracked pepper, 1/4 cup tahini, 1/4 cup warm water, and 3 Tbsp lemon juice. Stir or whisk until smooth. Refrigerate the dressing until you’re ready to make your salads.
Next, begin the quinoa. Rinse 1 cup quinoa well in a fine wire mesh sieve. Place the rinsed quinoa in a small sauce pot, add 1.75 cups water, and place a lid on top. Place the pot over high heat and allow it to come to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let the quinoa rest, with the lid in place, for 5 minutes. Then empty out the quinoa into a shallow dish and spread it out to increase the surface area, so it will cool faster. Refrigerate the quinoa until you’re ready to build your salads.
Begin preheating the oven to 400ºF. You can use any mix of vegetables for this meal prep (see notes above the recipe for more ideas). I used 8 oz. mushrooms, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 red onion, 1 zucchini, and 1 yellow squash.
Slice the onion into 1/4-inch strips, slice the zucchini and yellow squash into 1/4-inch half-rounds, and cut the mushrooms in half. Leave the tomatoes whole. Combine the vegetables and spread them out onto a large baking sheet so they are in a single layer. Use two sheets if needed to make sure they’re not piled on top of one another. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Toss until the vegetables are well coated in oil and spices.
Roast the vegetables, stirring every 15 minutes, until they are browned on the edges (about 40 minutes). Let the vegetables cool on the sheet pan for about 10 minutes.
To build the meal prep salads, add a heaping cup of spinach to each container. Then add 1/2 cup cooked and cooled quinoa to each container.
Once the vegetables are cool enough that they won’t wilt the spinach, divide the roasted vegetables between the four containers. Add 2 Tbsp hummus to each container.
Lastly, divide your dressing into four small containers. Refrigerate your roasted vegetable salad up to four days.
You guys, stop what you are doing and make this right NOW! It is DELICIOUS! I made this for lunch and literally stopped eating to text my sister the recipe link. The dressing is fantastic and the addition of the oregano to the veggies makes for an outstanding dish! I did skip the quinoa and subbed a Simply Nature 90 second seven grain packet (Aldi brand) instead. I love quinoa, but my kids and hubs are not huge fans. The grain packet worked great. I used what we had veggie-wise; cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, onion and tomatoes from our garden that I sliced into chunks. Just to give you an idea of how good this is, my 8 year old was eating the roasted veggies right off the baking sheet! Thanks for another outstanding dish, Budget Bytes!!!!
This salad is absolutely delicious!!!!! Beth – you are a genius with your healthy and simple recipes! The dressing is 10/10!!!!!
I really enjoyed this meal plan! I liked how simple it was to prep (just toss all the veggies in the oven while cooking the quinoa on the stove top and portion out). I enjoyed the addition of the hummus; plus the dressing, this made for a perfectly coated salad for my daily work lunches. The salads held up really well and were just as flavorful the first day as the last. It was also a good portion size that actually filled me up (eating a bagel for breakfast with almonds and a banana as a snack). I felt healthy eating so many real foods. I look forward to trying her other meal prep ideas and will likely add this into the rotation.
Just what I have been craving! It’s light enough, but filling enough… I am raving over this!!The sauce is so delish!!! Thank you again budget bytes for making yet another remarkable dish! My kiddos even ate it! Winner in my book
Often when I roast vegetables, especially zucchini and squash, they end up slimy, which wasn’t great alongside the fresh, crispy ingredients in the rest of this dish. If I make this again, I’ll use much less oil on the veg and maybe even roast them on a rack so they don’t sit in their own juices. I’ll also probably use less tahini in the dressing, it came through a little strong for my taste.
This looks delicious, but I am allergic to squash and zucchini. Any recommendations of other good veggies to sub? Maybe eggplant?
Eggplant would be great! Sweet potatoes, onions, whatever veggies you can have honestly!
Carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, particularly ripe ones, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, and cauliflower– I don’t think I’ve met a veggie that didn’t taste great roasted, and eggplant is a fave in my house
Where do you get tahini. I couldn’t find it. Nor did I know what it was so I bought Tahini Hummus? Would that work? Or do you have a substitute for the tahini dressing?
You could try the tahini hummus, but the tahini is key. You can typically find it with the peanut butter alternatives or with the asian food section.
This looks delicious, but where you shopping? Those little pints of grape or cherry tomatoes everywhere I’ve been are 4.99 on a good day and 3.99 on clearance!
Hi Erin! It can vary by location. But Beth shops a lot at Aldi which is a discount grocery store.
I’m halfway through my first “meal-prepped” lunch and had to stop to leave a review. I expected this to be fairly good, but I have to say I am shocked at how delicious and flavorful this turned out. I’ve eaten a Lean Cuisine / Healthy Choice / SmartOnes meal for lunch at work every day for the past 12 years, because they’re easy, cheap, and can be really tasty. But lately I’ve been wondering what all that processed food is doing to my health (not to mention my carbon footprint), so I decided it was time to try meal prepping. This was my first foray, and I’m thrilled with it. I’m so excited to try more!
Byebye frozen chemicals! P.S. I added about 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt to the dressing for an added punch of protein and creamy flavor – highly recommend this.
This is awesome! Thank you Laura!
Yummy! Thanks for a great “something a bit different” recipe :-)
So good! Made five portions from the recipe and it was plenty per lunch.
I was NOT expecting this but this recipe was absolutely delishhhh!!! I didn’t think that the sauce would mesh well with the hummus and I was WRONG. Highly recommended. Easy and fast to make. Fantastic for lunches at work. Thank you Beth! I make a bunch of your recipes per week.
Funny how the flavors just work! Happy to hear you loved it.
This recipe is delicious and unexpectedly packed with flavor! I almost skipped the dressing (out of laziness) and I’m so glad I didn’t. Could easily be split into more than four servings as I found it super filling.
Thanks Anne!
Oh HAYELL YAS, this is so good! And that dressing! Delish. Thank you!
Ha thanks Leslie!
where do you recommend buying quinoa? Even in the bulk section at WF ours ends up being very expensive
A little goes a long way and it keeps for awhile in the pantry. I’ve found it for fairly reasonable at some bigger box stores like Wal-Mart, or any discount grocery like Aldi.
Trader Joe’s usually carries it at a decent price