Despite the size of the directions, this Roast Vegetable Salad is one of my easiest recipes to make. The main key to its success is in making sure that the roast vegetables are cooked just enough – but not over cooked. And that’s about it! The rest is easy.
This recipe is my go-to when I’m doing my meal prep for the week and I’m feeling lazy. When I want something healthy and filling, but without all the work, I’ll make up some roast vegetable salad. Just chop up some vegetables, bang them in the oven and Bob’s your uncle!
Plus – it’s got roast pumpkin! (*drool*) So you know I’m in!
Serve it up along with your choice of protein (of either animal or non-animal variety) and you’ve got yourself an easy, healthy and well-balanced meal that will keep you going for the rest of the day.
Roast Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
- Sunflower oil (for coating)
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1/4 whole pumpkin
- 2 large carrots
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 cup white button mushrooms
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- handful sesame seeds (optional)
- dash black pepper (optional)
Dressing
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp honey
- sprig fresh mint chopped finely
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 200°C/390°F and prepare two oven trays.
- Chop the sweet potato and pumpkin into evenly sized pieces. Chop the carrot into slightly smaller pieces and place on one of the baking trays.
- Chop the broccoli and cauliflower into medium-sized florets and place on a separate baking tray. Chop the mushrooms into quarters and also place on the baking tray.
- Coat all of the vegetables evenly with a light coating of sunflower oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven and roast for about 40 mins, until cooked through and golden brown in colour. Make sure you turn them at least twice in the oven during this time.
- Once cooked, take the vegetables out of the oven and allow to cool for about 10 mins before placing them together in a large bowl.
- Place the sliced almonds on a clean baking tray and roast in the oven for about 5 mins until lightly browned. Then place in the bowl with the vegetables.
- Pour the honey and balsamic vinegar into a jar, together with the chopped mint. (I like to use a jar for this, but any secure airtight container would do). Shake well for at least a solid 5 minutes until the honey and the balsamic vinegar are blended together – this will count as your arm workout for the day!
- Pour about ½ of the dressing over the vegetables and toss the vegetables together lightly. You can use more dressing if you prefer, but I find that less is more in this case.
- Sprinkle the roast vegetable salad with some sesame seeds and cracked pepper and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure you put the broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms together on a tray separate from the rest of the vegetables, as they don’t take as long to cook!
- Technically you could swap the honey for maple syrup, or another similar syrup (thinking of the vegans out there), but I don’t think it tastes as good. Honey has a more subtle taste which just seems to work better with the balsamic vinegar.