Fragrant and delicious, this roasted cauliflower quinoa salad is perfect as a vegan lunch or light summer side dish. Impress your guests with this fun salad that's so easy to make but looks quite fancy!
Love cauliflower? Do check out my guide to cooking frozen cauliflower rice and my air fryer cauliflower steaks for more tasty low carb sides!
This roasted cauliflower quinoa salad is deliciously creamy with pops of sweetness. It combines quinoa, low carb cauliflower and colorful fruits and veggies for a good crunch!
Easy to make, you can serve this turmeric roasted cauliflower salad as a vegan lunch recipe or as a side dish for BBQ food or to take to a potluck!
Do have a peek at my asparagus caprese salad which is perfect for the early summer months, and stone fruit caprese salad that makes the most of summer peaches for more ideas.
And for another salad using quinoa, why not check out my arugula and quinoa salad!
This post was updated with new photos and slight amendments to the recipe on 14 August 2023.
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⭐ Why this salad is so good
- Flavorful. Cauliflower can feel a little dull by itself, and calling out for added flavor. Turmeric and sweet paprika add a hint of spice to give a nice hum of heat.
- Hearty. The quinoa makes the salad more hearty and so suitable as a lunch salad.
- Easy to make. Just a few simple steps to make this tasty roasted cauliflower salad!
🥗 Ingredients
All the ingredients and their quantities are set out in the recipe card below.
Some notes on a few of them:
- Cauliflower - a staple low carb vegetable that can be a little dull on its own, but gets so deliciously nutty and sweet when roasted in the oven.
- Turmeric - to add a hint of spice and makes for a good color too! It's also an inexpensive spice, and the Simply Organic ground turmeric root is good.
- Quinoa - to make the salad more hearty and into a main meal if you wish. There are different varieties, but I tend to use something like the Terrasoul organic white quinoa.
- Pomegranate - these pretty jewel-coloured seeds not only make this salad look lovely, but also add a pop of sweetness.
- Rocket / arugula - because we have to have some healthy greens in there!
- Radishes - these give a nice sharp peppery kick to the salad.
🔪 Step by step instructions
Making this cauliflower quinoa salad is very easy to do, uses simple fresh ingredients and has just a few steps:
Step 1: Roast cauliflower florets
Dice your cauliflower into small bite-size florets. Place on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the turmeric and sweet paprika. Toss to coat, and roast for 25 minutes (image 1).
Step 2: Cook quinoa
Cook the quinoa according to packet instructions (usually around 15 minutes), or until the 'tails' of the seeds open (image 2).
Step 3: Make the tahini dressing
Combine tahini and water in a small bowl and stir or whisk together to get a creamy tahini dressing (image 3).
Step 4: Combine the salad ingredients
Combine the roasted cauliflower florets, cooked quinoa, pomegranate seeds, radishes and tahini. Season with salt and black pepper, and stir together (image 4). Spoon onto your serving plate and garnish with fresh parsley.
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- Dice the cauliflower into small florets that are roughly the same size so they have an even cook time.
- Spread the cauliflower florets in an even layer on the baking sheet with a little space between them. This helps them roast evenly to give them crispy edges, and prevents them from steaming. I've made the mistake of having them too close together before and they are soggy rather than crispy on the edges!
- Cook the quinoa so the seeds open their 'tails', which means they are ready to use!
- Add more water to thin the tahini dressing, or more tahini to thicken.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Roasted cauliflower has a deep nutty flavor with a hint of sweetness. Adding spices will give it even more flavor!
This recipe is fairly low carb, but the quinoa does have carbs.
Yes, you can use either white quinoa or a tri-blend quinoa.
🥣 Alternative salad dressings
Tahini is my go-to dressing for this salad, but if you aren't a big fan of it or aren't able to tolerate sesame, then there are other options to try.
A recent favourite of mine is to use little 'blobs' of pesto on salads. It is full of flavor, and really perks up any salad dish.
Two easy pesto recipes:
Dairy-free basil and pumpkin seed pesto
Or, if you like a more fruity salad dressing, then my pomegranate vinaigrette would work so well and pair up with the pomegranate seeds in the salad.
🍽 How to serve
This roasted cauliflower salad can be served on its own as a plant-based lunch or dinner recipe, or you can add:
- fresh cheese, including ricotta, cottage cheese, mozzarella or feta cheese (the latter doesn't appear on the SIGHI list and is more debated in terms of histamine).
- fresh chicken
- fresh turkey
- chickpeas (not low histamine)
In smaller portions this salad makes a great side dish for a BBQ night, as a picnic or a buffet-style dinner with other plates. Some other plates and side dishes could be:
🥬 More healthy salads
I have so many flavorful salads that work perfectly for lunch, or as side dishes here on my salads page, including my popular butternut squash and beet salad and my apple radish salad. Some recent recipes to enjoy:
I’m always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes. And please do leave a star rating ⭐ if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- ½ medium cauliflower head diced into florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ cup quinoa dry weight
- 6 radishes diced
- 2 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
For the tahini dressing
- 3 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon water
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360F / 180C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dice half a cauliflower head into small bite-size pieces of roughly the same size.
- Arrange the cauliflower florets on the sheet, drizzle with oil and then sprinkle over the turmeric and sweet paprika. Toss to combine so the cauliflower is evenly coated in the spice. Spread the cauliflower out into an even layer with room between the florets (this prevents them from steaming rather than roasting). Roast for 20-25 minutes until tender with crispy edges. Set aside to cool.
- Prepare the quinoa according to packet instructions, then set aside to cool.
- Make the tahini dressing by combining the tahini and water, and stirring until it becomes a creamy dressing. Add more water to thin, or more tahini to thicken, to your preference.
- Combine the roasted cauliflower, quinoa, radishes and pomegranate seeds in a bowl. Drizzle with tahini dressing and stir it through the salad. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, then spoon onto your serving plate and garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
- Spread the cauliflower evenly on the baking sheet with a little space between each floret so they roast rather than steam.
- Ensure the 'tails' of the quinoa have opened as this is the sign it has cooked through.
- Add more water to thin the tahini dressing, or more tahini to thicken.
- Please note that nutritional information is offered as a courtesy. It is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
- tahini (sesame), which scores 1. Be mindful that sesame is a potential allergen and only use if you know you tolerate it well.
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