Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Spinach and Chickpeas

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This roasted cauliflower salad is hearty, healthy, satisfying and packed with flavor! This recipe makes cauliflower the star, roasted to perfection and tossed with a warm dressing, along with some chickpeas for protein, spinach for some greens, and kalamata olives for a nice tangy bite. Perfect for lunch or a light dinner, and super easy to make!

Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to prepare fresh veggies. Roasting brings out so much flavor and gives veggies a caramelization that is just to die for! Which is why, instead of using raw cauliflower in this recipe, I obviously had to use roasted cauliflower instead!

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This cauliflower salad recipe is vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free, but is so satisfying you won’t even notice!

It’s also super simple to do, and you can make a big batch and use it throughout the week for lunch or dinner. It’s a great meal-prep meal too!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This Cauliflower Salad with Spinach and Chickpeas is…

• Super filling and satisfying
• A one-pot meal
• Delicious and flavorful
• Tender and caramelized
• Perfect for meal-prep
• Healthy
• Vegan
• Gluten free

How to Make Roasted Cauliflower Salad

Recipe Ingredients and Notes

This easy cauliflower salad with spinach requires basic pantry ingredients! You’ll need:

• Fresh Cauliflower: 1 large head cut into florets
• Baby Spinach: One of my favorite salad greens — packed with nutrients and requires no prep!
• Chickpeas: I used canned chickpeas to save time. About 1 15oz can.
• Olives: Kalamata olives are bright and tangy, but you can use any olives you like. Or if you’re not an olive fan, leave them out!
• Dressing Ingredients: Olive oil, vinegar, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, parsley, mustard seeds, dijon mustard.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet or sheet pan with parchment or foil. Toss the cauliflower pieces with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.

Step 2: Spread on the prepared sheet and roast in the oven for about 35 minutes or until golden brown, tossing the vegetables once midway through cooking time.

Step 3: While the cauliflower is roasting, heat the vinegar and mustard seeds in a small saucepan over low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the Dijon mustard, parsley, crushed red pepper, and olive oil. Keep warm.

Step 4: Place the chickpeas, spinach and olives in a large bowl. Add the hot roasted cauliflower and warm dressing, tossing to wilt the spinach a bit and coat all ingredients lightly with dressing.

Step 5: Taste and adjust seasonings with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

What Makes This Roasted Cauliflower Salad Healthy?

• High in Fiber and Plant Protein: Each serving of this cauliflower and spinach salad has 10 grams of fiber and almost 10 grams of plant protein! Fiber is important for digestion and protein helps keep you full and satisfied.
• Antioxidants: Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous vegetable family, which is known for its powerful anti-inflammatory, cancer-preventing antioxidants.
• Vitamins and Nutrients: You’ll get a healthy dose of Vitamins C, K, Calcium, Iron, Potassium and Magnesium in this salad!

Tips for Making The Best Cauliflower Salad

Overall Tips

• Make your dressing room from scratch! While you could save a little time using store bought, homemade dressing is way more flavorful and you can control all the seasoning.
• Try prepping all the ingredients ahead of time, and just tossing the salad before serving to save time on the day of.

How to Serve, Store and Keep

• Serving Suggestions: I like serving this salad with a soup or stew, or as a healthy side dish for pizza, pasta or burgers!
• Storage Instruction: store in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 3 days.

Try These Recipe Variations

• Roast the chickpeas: You can roast them right on the sheet pan with the cauliflower – they will get nice and crunchy and will add even more texture to your salad.
• Add other roasted veggies: Roasted red peppers or roasted squash would both taste great
• Make it Keto: Omit the chickpeas and add meat (or just make it a veggie forward salad)
• Add Cheese: Feta or goat cheese would taste amazing in this salad!

Check Out These Other Salad & Side Dishes!

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