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, Roast Sweet Potato Lentil Salad or my Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad.
For lighter salads to accompany my Golden Roasted Cauliflower Salad try my Kale, Apple and Cranberry Salad or my Dill Pickle Chopped Salad.
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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. I love this salad dish with a lid and salad servers for when you're taking this salad to a gathering.
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
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
If you made this recipe, let us know how you went by giving the recipe a star rating and commenting below.
Deanna
Delicious! Thanks for the instruction to roast the veg in a dish.. my whole life I've roasted veg on a tray and this works sooo much better.
Perfect recipe - was a HUGE hit.
Sarah Bell
You're welcome, so glad you loved it!
Lu
What’s the difference between roasting on a baking dish instead of a tray?
I made a similar recipe recently and this one sounds even better, can’t wait to try it. 🙂
Sarah Bell
Hi Lu, I prefer to use a baking dish as it is easier to clean afterwards and doesn't require using any baking paper. I have used a white baking dish which could change the baking times as cooking on dark metal created more heat and may cook quicker on the bottom of the vegetables. You can absolutely use a baking tray, just be aware that the baking time may be reduced so keep an eye on your veggies. I hope you love this recipe!
Esra
Hello,us this pre cooked chickpea and coli flowers? Thx
Sarah Bell
Hello, yes the chickpeas are already cooked (I use cooked canned chickpeas) but the cauliflower is raw and then roasted as per the recipe instructions. Happy cooking!
Rick
I used romaine instead of arugula and forgot to include the cheese but it was still delicious! Also a great way to make roasted, seasoned chickpeas.
Sarah Bell
So glad you loved it and the romaine lettuce worked well!
Freya
Made this for dinner and it was a hit. Everyone loved it including my two boys ages 3 and 5. Can’t wait to make it again! Thank you for sharing Sarah!
Sarah Bell
I love that your little ones enjoyed the salad too, that is a big win in my eyes!
Teresa
Would feta be an ok substitute. Not the biggest goat cheese fan
Sarah Bell
Yes, absolutely! Feta would be perfect in this recipe.
Lainey
I was never a goats cheese fan but I got onto Meredith’s marinated feta goats cheese and I highly recommend it
Sarah Bell
Oh my gosh, their marinated goats cheese is my absolute favourite! So creamy and delicious!
Lainey
This is the first nourishing table recipe I’ve tried and it was delicious 😋
Thank you for sharing Sarah. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Sarah Bell
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! xx
Angela
Simply a beautiful salad; thanks @ournourishingtable.com
Sarah Bell
So glad you enjoyed it!
Monique
Made this for Xmas day with the tahini dressing, left off cheese. It was a winner. So much so that I’m making again tonight for NYE get together.
Sarah Bell
Ooh yum! With the tahini dressing would be delicious, so glad you loved it!
Anna
Everyone in the family loved this salad! Not a big meal for four, but with some bread and desserts it was perfect.
Sarah Bell
I'm so glad you loved it, this Cauliflower salad is definitely one of my favourites. So good to know about the meal size, thank you.
Andrea
Hi Sarah, I made this salad tonight and it was a success! I didn’t event add the cheese and it was so so delicious and nourishing.
Could you clarify if the nutrition facts are per serving or for the four servings? Thanks!
Sarah Bell
I'm so glad you loved it! This salad is a personal favourite of mine. The nutrition facts are per serving.
Stephanie Spiers
The recipe is missing there are no quantities for ingredients or even what temp to set the oven to
Sarah Bell
Hi Stephanie, the full recipe with ingredients and methods is at the bottom of the post. There is a button in the contents menu at the top of the post saying "recipe". If you click it, it will take you straight down to the recipe.
Emma
This is a new favourite in our household! We use feta rather than the goats cheese and add minced garlic and tahini to the dressing to make it into a nice creamy dressing! Delicious!
Sarah Bell
That sounds delicious! So glad you loved it!
Kym
Hi, just wondering, can the veges be roasted ahead of time or is the salad served hot?
Thanks
Sarah Bell
Hi Kym,
This salad is lovely served warm or cold. I have made it several times by roasting the vegetables ahead of time and it was still just as delicious.
Pam
My favourite salad that can be accompanied with anything or eaten on its own. Easy but delicious.
Sarah Bell
I love this so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
KaRyn
so so so good. Thank you for this recipe. The layers of flavor have made it a family go to.
Sarah Bell
That's so great to hear, thank you!
Tiffany
Outstanding! Delicious flavors, great ingredients. We loved it.
Sarah Bell
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! This salad is one of my personal favourites.
Barbie
This salad was awesome! I added garam masala, curry, cumin and cinnamon to the spices because we like our roasted cauliflower done with those flavours. It was such a delightful salad, I can't wait to make it for guests!
Sarah Bell
Thank you so much, I'm so glad you loved it! Loving your addition of spices too, how delicious!