Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Lemon Dressing

My roasted cauliflower chickpea salad recipe has turmeric roasted cauliflower florets and chickpeas, roasted to crispy perfection, served on rocket (arugula) and topped with creamy goats chèvre. It is then drizzled with a simple lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.

Filled with plant-based protein, this delicious salad is filling enough to eat as a main meal or serve as a show-stopping side dish. This is the salad of your dreams!

Perfect to meal prep for a week of easy and healthy lunches or impress your guests at your next get together. If you love this roasted vegetable salad then you might also like to try my Roasted Pumpkin and Beetroot Salad, Roasted Brussels Sprout Salad with Bacon, or Kale, Apple and Cranberry Salad. Or if you're looking for more cauliflower recipes then you might like to try my Easy Leek Soup Recipe (without potato).

What You'll Love About This Recipe

I'm really not joking when I say this is about to become one of your new favourite salads. It's full of flavour and hearty enough to be a main meal or wholesome side dish. Here is what you'll love about this roasted cauliflower salad:

• warm roasted cauliflower, crispy chickpeas and creamy goats cheese in every bite!
• 20 grams of protein per serve when served as a complete meal!
• vibrant colours and full of flavour, this salad will be the star of the show.
• made using easy to find, simple ingredients.
• a great salad for the winter months and fall.
• roasted chickpeas add a delicious texture and heartiness to this salad.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

This salad is based on easy to find, fresh ingredients that pack in a whole lot of flavour. The ingredients you will need for this salad are below:

• cauliflower - you will need about a half head of cauliflower (depending on how large it is) cut into small florets. Being the main ingredient, I wouldn't recommend swapping cauliflower for any other vegetable.
• chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) - I used a can of chickpeas to save on time. You could also use soaked and boiled chickpeas. If chickpeas aren't available you can swap for cannellini beans. Legumes add extra protein so don't skip on these!

Seasoning Blend

• ground turmeric
• garlic powder - can be swapped for onion powder.
• cumin seeds - can be swapped for a half teaspoon ground cumin.
• flaked sea salt

To serve

• rocket leaves - also known as arugula. Can be swapped for other leafy greens like butter lettuce or baby spinach.
• goats chevre - goats chevre is a soft goats cheese that can be found in the deli section in most grocery stores.
• toasted slivered almonds - you could also use flaked almonds or roughly chopped almonds. Swap for pine nuts or another nut of choice if desired.

Lemon dressing

• fresh lemon juice (fresh is best) - you can also use apple cider vinegar in place of lemon juice.
• extra virgin olive oil - other minimally processed oils like flaxseed oil, avocado oil or macadamia oil work well in this dressing as well.
• raw honey - can be swapped for pure maple syrup.
• cracked black pepper - to taste.

For the ingredient quantities see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to Make Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea Salad

The process for making this simple dish is quick, taking around 15 minutes to prepare with a cooking time of 50 minutes. Here's how.

Step 1: Make the spiced cauliflower and chickpeas. Place cauliflower florets and chickpeas to a large roasting pan or large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Top with turmeric, garlic powder, cumin seeds and salt. Add a drizzle of olive oil and toss to coat evenly before placing in the oven to roast for 50 minutes minutes, or until the cauliflower and chickpeas are crispy.

Step 2: Make the lemon salad dressing (vinaigrette). While the cauliflower and chickpeas are roasting, make the salad dressing by adding lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, pepper and honey to a jar and shaking vigorously to combine. Alternatively you can add the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk until emulsified (which means that the oil and lemon are mixed together and no longer seperate). This makes just the right amount of dressing for this salad but if you're someone who likes extra dressing then you might like to double to dressing recipe and add dressing to your taste.

Step 3: Assemble. Once the cauliflower is roasted, remove the baking dish from the oven, add rocket leaves to a large mixing bowl and top with the roasted cauliflower and chickpeas (they can still be warm), half of the goats cheese, toasted almonds and lemon dressing. Toss to combine before serving on a large serving platter topped with the remaining goats cheese (crumbled). Et voila - a golden cauliflower chickpea salad!

Tip: some people might like to wait until the cauliflower and chickpeas cool to room temperature, however I personally love assembling the salad while they're still warm as it softens the goats cheese, making it even creamier!

Variations

• herb - add fresh herbs of choice (like coriander, fresh mint or parsley) and toss to combine.
• tahini - for a creamier salad use my lemon tahini dressing.
• mustard dressing - my maple dijon vinaigrette would also work perfectly in this cauliflower salad recipe.

Storage

Store the roasted cauliflower and chickpea salad in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. If meal prepping for lunches throughout the week, do not dress with salad dressing until the day of consuming, otherwise the dressing will turn the rocket leaves soggy. I like to divide the dressing up into small salad dressing containers and pop them inside each individual larger container containing the salad.

Health Benefits

This healthy salad recipe has several benefits, which include:

• 20g protein per serve (when served as a main dish).
• this salad is a complete protein source by mixing plant based proteins like almonds and chickpeas as well as containing complete protein in the goats cheese.
• healthy fats from the extra virgin olive oil in the salad dressing.
• high in fibre from the chickpeas, cauliflower and rocket.
• vitamin C from cauliflower and rocket.

📖 Recipe

Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea Salad

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin

Course: Mains, Salads, Sides

Cuisine: egg free, Gluten Free, Plant Based, Vegetarian

Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Keyword: cauliflower, salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings: 4 as main

Author: Sarah Bell

Equipment

• Measuring Cups & Spoons
• Large Baking Dish
• Oven
• Salad bowl
• Jar or air tight container
• Sharp knive & chopping board

Ingredients

• 400 g cauliflower
• 400 g tinned chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon turmeric ground
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• Cracked black pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon flaked sea salt
• 120 g Rocket leaves rinsed
• 120 g goats chevre
• ½ cup flaked almonds

Lemon Dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon 40mL
• 50 mL extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon raw honey

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and cut into small florets. Place florets into a large baking dish.
• Add the rinsed chickpeas to the dish as well as the turmeric, garlic powder, cumin seeds, salt and pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toss to coat as evenly possible.
• Place the tray into the oven and bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour, depending on the level of crispiness desired.
• In the meantime, make the lemon dressing by adding the lemon juice, olive oil and honey to a small jar. Place lid onto jar and shake vigorously to combine.
• Place flaked almonds onto a baking tray and into the oven for 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them so that they do not burn. Once nicely toasted, remove from the oven.
• Once the cauliflower is roasted remove from the oven and set aside. Place the rocket leaves into a large salad bowl, top with the chickpeas and cauliflower and then the goats chèvre and finally the toasted almonds. Drizzle with the lemon dressing and serve straight away.

Notes

Storage

Serve salad straight away and store remaining salad in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days. 

Serving 

This recipe will serve 4 when served as a main dish or 6-8 as a side dish. 

Dress the salad with as much or as little salad dressing as desired. Store remaining salad dressing in a sealed jar in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Nutrition facts are an estimate only. 

Nutrition

Calories: 474kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 448mg | Potassium: 831mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1052IU | Vitamin C: 54mg | Calcium: 201mg | Iron: 5mg

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