This bright turmeric-spiced roasted cauliflower salad recipe has spinach, onions, almonds, chopped dates and a sweet and tangy honey-lemon-tahini dressing. It's a flavor-packed vegan salad that's substantial enough for dinner and also makes a great side dish with meat, fish or chicken.
To be honest, cauliflower isn't a vegetable I generally crave, unless it's baked with cheese, grilled or roasted. I had never thought to make a cauliflower salad until I fell in love with a bright yellow cauliflower salad at J&A, a cafe down the street from my London flat. (I lived in London for a couple of years). I'm not sure how many times I returned to J&A for another bowl of that amazing salad (lots!) before I decided I needed the recipe.
After some careful tasting, a little chat with the cook at the café, and some trial and error in the kitchen, I'm excited to bring you this beautiful salad of turmeric-spiced roasted cauliflower with tahini honey lemon dressing. A versatile cauliflower salad that suits many occasions. Eat it for lunch or serve it as a side dish at a fancy dinner party. It's bound to be a hit, as it was with all my recipe testers (family and friends).
Let's make this Cauliflower Salad!
- Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Whisk up olive oil, cumin, turmeric, a pinch of cayenne and salt. Pour the mixture over the cauliflower and toss to coat.
- Roast the cauliflower in a 425ºF oven for 20 minutes.
- Whisk up the tahini dressing ingredients: tahini, lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt and water.
- In a large bowl, combine the roasted cauliflower with blanched spinach leaves, chopped dates, sliced red onion and toasted almonds. Toss with dressing.
This cauliflower salad is delicious cold or at room temperature. It's great with an extra squeeze of fresh lemon. Garnish it with more sliced almonds if you like.
A big shout out to J+A Café for their amazing salad and cooking inspiration.
Here's the Roasted Cauliflower Salad Recipe. If you try this recipe I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and comment. I'd love to know what you think.
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Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower Salad
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
A flavorful roasted cauliflower salad with spinach, almonds, dates and honey lemon tahini dressing. A flavor-packed vegan salad or side dish for lunch, brunch or dinner.
Ingredients
For The Dressing:
- ½ cup Tahini
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 medium garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
- 2-5 tablespoons of water (see instructions)
For The Salad:
- 2 pounds of bite-sized cauliflower florets, cut from 1 large head of cauliflower or 2 small heads
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- a pinch or of cayenne pepper
- 4-5 medjool dates, chilled, pitted and chopped (note: chill the dates in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting, or they might stick together and turn to mush when you chop them)
- 8 ounces of fresh spinach leaves, washed
- ½ of a small red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
- ½ cup flaked almonds, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes
Optional Garnishes:
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of toasted flaked almonds
- Lemon wedges to serve alongside
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Set an oven rack in the center position.
- In a small bowl whisk the tahini (½ cup), 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, honey (3 tablespoons), garlic, and salt (1 teaspoon). Slowly add water, 2 teaspoons at a time, whisking, until your dressing is the consistency of thin honey.
- Put the cauliflower in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk the oil (2 tablespoons), cumin (2 teaspoons), turmeric (1 tablespoon), black pepper (½ teaspoon), salt (½ teaspoon) and a pinch of cayenne. Pour spice mixture over the cauliflower and toss well until all the pieces are evenly coated. Spread florets out on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until just tender and starting to brown in spots. Don't let it get too soft. Cool for 10-15 minutes.
- While the cauliflower cools, blanch the spinach by dropping it into a pot of boiling water. Give it a stir and allow it to wilt for 30 seconds or so. Drain in a colander and immediately run under cold water, lifting and turning the leaves, to stop the cooking process. Drain spinach and remove excess water by wrapping the spinach in a clean dish cloth and squeezing it several times, over the sink.
- In a large bowl, combine roasted cauliflower, spinach, dates, red onion and almonds. Give the dressing another whisk and pour it over the salad. Toss. Season, to taste with salt and pepper and additional lemon juice. Toss again.
- Serve cold or at room temperature. You can make this up to a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: salad, side dish
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: cauliflower, salad, turmeric, tahini
surati ivey
This looks great, and I'm presently making your recipe for Middle Eastern Spinach, and now I'm gonna' run over to the health food store and get the stuff to make this salad, and think it would be good with the soup. Yay ! So excited. I love flavorful and healthy multi ethnic cuisine.
Emmanuelle
This is sooooooooooooo good. I made this the other night and already can't wait to make this again! So much flavor!!!!
Lisa
I'm so happy to hear this Emmanuelle!! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed!! 🙂
Ellen Silberman
We liked this recipe so much, I am making it a second time this week. I have been enjoying cauliflower all different ways over the past few months, but this takes the prize. The spicy, tangy cauliflower and the spinach are delicious enough, but add that tahini-honey dressing and it is AMAZING. Thank you Lisa. So glad you are being inspired by London cafes!
Lisa
Hi Ellen, I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying this recipe. I'm pretty much obsessed with it right now. So much great flavor in that dressing - right?!
Ellen Silberman
Two years later and this is still a favorite of ours and in our regular rotation. Thank you for this and all your delicious recipes.
Lisa
I'm glad you are enjoying 🙂
Emily
I made this today for my family, and it is AMAZING. It was fun to cook, and the flavors all go so perfectly together. So many of your recipes have become our family favorites. This is another favorite that we'll make many times. Thank you Lisa!!
Lisa
Hi Emily! So great to hear that you and your family enjoyed the cauliflower salad!! And I'm beyond happy to know that you've found some family favorite recipes here on Panning The Globe. That's great news!
Stephanie
This recipe is amazing! Did not have any spinach on hand but still was good! The combination of flavors and sweetness was perfect. Will redo again
★★★★★
Lisa
Great! I'm so glad you enjoyed!!
Doreen Nicastro
Hi Lisa making the recipe but don’t see ingredient
Measurements. Sound delicious!
Lisa
Hi Doreen, I see the measurements. Did you scroll all the way down the the recipe field? Try clearing your browser cache. let me know if there's still an issue. You can shoot me an email at lisa@www.panningtheglobe.com
If there's still an issue I'll email you the measurements. Lisa