Roasted Cauliflower and Quinoa Salad is a Hearty Fall Side Dish

Salads are only boring when we don’t put our hearts into making them. People often forget to work on their main ingredients and focus on the dressing. But both are equally important and would fail without the other. My roasted cauliflower, quinoa, and sweet potato salad recipe takes care of both to provide a hearty fall side dish, which I will admit, I have treated as a main dish on more than one occasion.

The recipe takes a whole head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces, and roasted in the oven till golden brown, along with sweet potatoes and cooked lentils. You can add your choice of leafy greens; I have opted for romaine lettuce.

Since I live alone, the ingredients mentioned are sufficient for two servings. If you are cooking for a large group of people, you can multiply the number of people by the quantity.

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Active Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty Level: Easy
• Yield: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

• 100g sweet potatoes (cubed)
• 80g quinoa
• 1 medium head of cauliflower
• 100g of cooked lentils/beans of choice
• 1 onion (sliced and pickled)
• One head of lettuce/choice of leafy greens
• 1 garlic clove
• 5 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 30g roughly chopped cranberries
• Paprika powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions:

• Cook the Main Ingredients: Start by washing and cubing the sweet potatoes. Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Toss the vegetables into a bowl with olive oil and seasonings. Then spread everything evenly on a flat baking sheet. Bake until golden brown (180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes). While the vegetables are in the oven, cook the quinoa and lentils on the stove, separately; it should take about 15 minutes. Once the lentils are cooked, coat them in seasonings and olive oil and bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius
• Prepare the Dressing: Toss mustard, 150ml of olive oil, lemon juice, a garlic clove, and seasonings into a blender and blend into a delectable dressing. Give it a taste test before using to adjust the seasoning
• Assemble and Serve: Toss everything in a large mixing bowl, along with the chopped cranberries and shredded leafy greens. Mix the ingredients and drizzle the dressing on top, and give one last mix

That’s all. It takes less than an hour and gives you a warm, hearty salad that you can devour whole and never pay attention to the main dishes. I sometimes switch the dressing recipes to give it a variation, but otherwise, it has remained one of my favorite salad recipes. This roasted cauliflower, quinoa, and sweet potato salad recipe is flexible and forgiving, so you can substitute any ingredients in it. For instance, if you are not a fan of quinoa, you won’t add it; instead, try roasted chickpeas and so on.

Let me know if you try my salad recipe this fall. Happy eating!