This lightly spiced roasted cauliflower salad comes with a quick and easy low fat yogurt dressing. It is a delicious vegetarian dish, perfect as a side or main. Ready in just over 30 minutes!
This delicious curried roasted cauliflower salad can be enjoyed cold or warm, as a veggie side or even main dish. As it contains essentially one vegetable , i.e. cauliflower, it won't wilt or get soggy after 10 minutes (which is about as long as most salads manage to stay fresh for). So you can make it ahead and take to a party or enjoy for lunch at work.
This curried cauliflower salad is also nutritious and easy to make. The creamy dressing is low in fat, full of flavour and comes together in seconds.
Roasted cauliflower salad ingredients
I coated the cauliflower florets with seasoning and a little oil before roasting. The creamy yogurt based dressing consists of cumin, turmeric as well as lemon juice, oil and a little maple syrup. Add a splash of water to get the consistency you want.
For garnish I used pomegranate seeds for sweetness and crunch and fresh coriander (cilantro) for freshness and a bit of green.
Step-by-step recipe instructions
1.Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. Chop the cauliflower into similar size chunks, place in a large bowl, season with salt and cayenne pepper, drizzle over 2 tablespoons of oil and stir until thoroughly coated. Arrange in a single layer on top of a baking sheet.
2. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes turning over halfway.
3. In the meantime prepare the dressing by combining all the ingredients and stirring until smooth.
4. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and either combine with the other ingredients and serve warm or cool first, then add the dressing and serve.
Serving suggestions
This curried cauliflower salad goes well with chicken dishes such as cornflake chicken nuggets, crispy baked chicken legs or yogurt marinated chicken. Served with pita bread, couscous or potato wedges it makes a delicious vegetarian meal.
Top tips
- Chop the cauliflower into large chunks or smaller pieces if you prefer. They should be roughly the same size to ensure they roast evenly.
- Use a large baking sheet to ensure the cauliflower pieces have plenty of room to roast evenly.
- Adjust the amount of water to get the consistency you want (depending on personal preference and the consistency of your yogurt you may not need to add any water).
- Serving: This roasted cauliflower salad can be enjoyed warm or chilled. If you are serving it hot combine it with the dressing and pomegranate straight from the oven. To enjoy it chilled cool the cauliflower before stirring in the dressing.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Make ahead
What I really love about this cauliflower salad recipe is that it can be made ahead. You can make the cauliflower as well as the dressing in advance or even make the entire salad and refrigerate for a few hours (4-5).
If you are planning to serve this salad chilled it's absolutely fine to roast the cauliflower ahead. Cool and refrigerate it, covered (for up to 2 days), until you are ready to use it.
The simple yogurt dressing can also be made ahead and refrigerated (for up to 2 days) until you are ready to use it.
Substitutions
- Substitute natural yogurt or Skyr for Greek yogurt.
- Herbs: I used cilantro but parsley, chives, tarragon or thai basil would work well too.
- Spices: I used cumin and turmeric but you could add ground coriander or some garam masala. Alternatively use your favourite curry powder instead.
- Substitute chili powder for cayenne if preferred.
You might also like
- Roasted Cauliflower Tabbouleh Salad with Pomegranate
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Dip with Garlic
- Simple Chunky Cauliflower Potato Soup (Healthy)
- Healthy Cauliflower Cheese Patties
- Cheese and Onion Cauliflower Pasties
Keep in touch!
If you make this roasted cauliflower salad recipe I'd love to know how it turned out for you. What spices did you use? Let me know in the comments below, thanks!
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Creamy Curried Roasted Cauliflower Salad
Equipment
- Large baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower chopped into chunks, florets only
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- 4 tbsp cilantro/fresh coriander finely chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Fine sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Dressing ingredients
- 4 tbsp Greek yogurt or another thick yogurt
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- â…” tsp cumin powder
- â…“ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp onion granules
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp water (optional)
- Fine sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. Chop the cauliflower into similar size chunks, place in a large bowl, season with salt and cayenne pepper, drizzle over 2 tablespoons of oil and stir until thoroughly coated. Arrange in a single layer on top of a baking sheet.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden, turning over half way. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- While the cauliflower is roasting make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients and stir thoroughly until smooth (add a splash of water to loosen the consistency if needed).
- In a large bowl combine the roasted cauliflower (warm or cooled) with the dressing. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and cilantro, stir, adjust the seasoning if needed and serve.
Notes
- Cauliflower: Chop the cauliflower into large chunks or smaller pieces if you prefer (but use either one or the other). Use a large baking sheet to ensure the cauliflower pieces have plenty of room to roast evenly.
- Herbs: I used cilantro but parsley, chives, tarragon or thai basil would work well too.
- Spices: I used cumin and turmeric but you could add ground coriander or some garam masala. Alternatively use your favourite curry powder instead.
- Adjust the amount of water to get the consistency you want (depending on personal preference and the consistency of your yogurt you may not need to add any water).
- Serving: This roasted cauliflower salad can be enjoyed warm or chilled. If you are planning to serve it chilled it's absolutely fine to roast the cauliflower ahead. Just refrigerate it, covered (for up to 2 days), until you are ready to use it. If you are serving it hot combine it with the dressing and pomegranate straight from the oven.
- Dressing: The simple yogurt dressing can also be made ahead and refrigerated (for up to 2 days) until you are ready to use it.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is automatically generated and should be considered as an estimate.
**A note about baking: If using a fan-assisted oven refer to your appliance's instructions and adjust the temperature accordingly.
Ooh now that sounds gorgeous Monika, and I love the pomegranite seeds sprinkled on top for extra crunch - but also the colour they bring is beautiful. I must say, and I have no idea why, but I've never tried roasting cauliflower, I'll have to try that I imagine it will bring so much more flavour than just steaming it as you say.
Angela x
Thank you Angela! I started roasting cauliflower only recently myself and now I just won't have it any other way, it's really so delicious! Hope you give it a go too:)
I love roasted cauliflower but don't like it any other way. This sounds so delicious that it's going on my things to make list!
Thank you Corina! Hope you like it if you do make it:)
Golly this salad sound really delicious. I will have to give this a try so I am pinning it for later. It looks so colourful too .
Thanks Jacqui! Cauliflower tastes really nice prepared like this. This is my new favourite way of eating cauliflower:)
I love cauliflower, but the others are not so keen. I think I'll try roasting it to see what they think. This salad looks delicious! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks Kirsty! I hope they like it roasted, my youngest son won't touch cooked cauliflower but he loves it roasted.
This looks incredible!! I so agree with you about roasting the cauliflower. And those flavours just sound like the perfect match...this is definitely one of those 'I wish I'd thought of that' recipes!! 😀 Eb x
Thank you! I have to say this has got to be one of my favourite (new!) ways of eating cauliflower.
I love roasting cauliflower, it gives it such a great flavour.
I agree, it's my favourite method of preparing cauliflower:)