This is an entrée salad if I’ve ever seen one. And it’s what I’ve been noshing on lately for solo-lady dinners and lunches at home.
It makes delicious use of seasonal vegetables, my favorite 5-Minute Macadamia Nut Cheese, and my 10-minute Chimichurri as a dressing! Wowza – that’s a gorgeous plate. Let’s make salad!
I’ve been digging roasted vegetables lately because they’re the easiest way to make vegetables tender, delicious, and easier to digest. And even with the roasting time, this remains a 30-minute recipe.
Some of you ask how I work so fast in the kitchen. I suppose I’ve been doing it for a while now, but also, I multitask! While your veggies are roasting, make your dressing. It’s that easy!
Lately, I’ve been throwing whatever roasted vegetables I have on a bed of greens and calling it a meal. Add a little tahini and lemon juice for “dressing.” Or, if you’re feeling fancy, bust out the chimichurri – my new favorite condiment for summer! Not only is it a gorgeous, vibrant green color, but it’s packed with healthy fats, spices, and an extra serving of greens from both parsley and cilantro.
Hello, world’s healthiest dressing (cue waving hand emoji).
I hope you guys LOVE this salad! It’s:
Hearty
Flavorful
Veggie-packed
Satisfying
Super healthy
Versatile
& Super delicious
This would make the perfect meal for an easy at-home lunch or quick weeknight dinner. It travels well, so I could also see it being delicious on picnics, hikes, road trips, or even plane trips!
It’s hearty enough to serve two as an entrée (20+ grams protein!). But it would also make a delicious side to meals like my Grillable Veggie Burgers, Zucchini Lasagna, Chickpea Sunflower Sandwich, or Red Lentil Chili.
For more of my favorite salads, check out our Garlicky Kale Salad with Crispy Chickpeas, White Bean Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing, 20-Minute Asian Kale Salad, Sweet Potato Chickpea Salad, Roasted Sweet Potato Avocado Salad, Blissed-Out Thai Salad with Peanut Tempeh, and Thai Kale Salad with Curried Chickpeas.
If you try this recipe, let us know how it goes! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram so we can see what you cook up. Cheers, friends!
- 1 large sweet potato (150 g), chopped
- 6-7 baby (600-700 g) baby yellow or red potatoes, quartered
- 2 whole carrots (120 g), halved and chopped
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) melted coconut oil, divided (or sub water)
- 2 tsp curry powder, divided
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
- 1 cup (90 g) chopped broccolini
- 2 cups (180 g) chopped red cabbage
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced (120 g)
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper, seeds + stems removed (omit if not into spicy food)
- 1 cup (20 g) packed cilantro, thick bottom stems cut off
- 1 cup (20 g) packed flat-leaf parsley
- 3 Tbsp (45 g) ripe avocado
- 1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 3 Tbsp (45 ml) lime juice
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) maple syrup (or other sweetener of choice)
- Water to thin (~3 Tbsp or 45 ml)
- 4 cups (~200 g) hearty greens (spinach, kale, or mustard greens), chopped
- 1 ripe avocado, chopped
- 3 Tbsp (30 g) hemp seeds
- optional: fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, thyme, etc.)
- optional: 5-7 sliced radishes
- optional: 1/4 cup (60 g) Macadamia Nut Cheese
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the sweet potato, potato, and carrots to one baking sheet and toss with 1 Tbsp (15 ml) oil (or water), 1 tsp curry powder, and 1/4 tsp sea salt. Bake for 25 minutes total or until golden brown and tender.
- To a separate baking sheet, add broccolini, cabbage, and bell pepper and toss with remaining 1 Tbsp (15 ml) oil (or water), 1 tsp curry powder, and 1/4 tsp sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes total or until golden brown and tender (place in oven once the potatoes have been cooking for 5-10 minutes.
- In the meantime, make chimichurri. Place garlic and pepper in a food processor along with the cilantro, parsley, avocado, salt, lime juice, and maple syrup.
- Process/mix until smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Thin with water until a semi-thick (but pourable) sauce is formed.
- Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more pepper for heat, garlic for spice/zing, avocado for creaminess, salt for saltiness, lime for acidity, or maple syrup for sweetness.
- Transfer to a serving container. Leftovers will keep covered in the refrigerator up to 4-5 days. Be sure to seal tightly or the sauce will lose its vibrant green color.
- Plate salad by adding mixed greens to a serving platter and topping with roasted vegetables. Arrange avocado along the edges, along with radishes and macadamia nut cheese (optional). Sprinkle the top with hemp seeds and serve with dressing on the side. Garnish with herbs if desired.
- Keep undressed leftover salad covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Eat cold or at room temperature, or reheat on the stovetop (it will cook the greens, so it becomes more of a vegetable scramble).
I would love to make this chimichurri but I’m not a fan of avocados (I know, a vegan who doesn’t like avocados. I also don’t like mushrooms…..) Anyways, can I sub anything for the avocado, or just leave it out? I pretty much eat a bowl of green/grain/bean/veg every day and am always looking for new dressings/sauces.
Thanks!
Mina
My husband doesn’t like avocados but loved the chimmichuri sauce! You can’t taste it:)
Thanks!
I am allergic to avocados so I would like to revisit this question and see if there is, in fact, anything I could sub for the avocados in the Chimichurri.
Add olive oil instead… 😉
This chimichurri sauce is so good, I’m not even bothering to dream up something to put it on! Thank you SO much!!
Stephanie
My boyfriend is allergic to nuts so I often sub with seeds whenever you call for dry nuts or nut flours in recipes (as I’m also gluten free and vegan). The one I’m stuck on is making nut cheeses, would they work with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds? I love expanding my protein options and am realllly craving something cheese like :) Thanks again for all of your inspiring recipes and helping to show the world that eating healthy can be quick and tastey!
Hi Sarah! I haven’t tested them that way, but I’m guessing sunflower seeds or hemp seeds would be your best bet!
What a gorgeous salad! I’ve been making lots of your recipes recently and I can’t wait to make this one. The chimichurri looks so good–oil-free, yet filled with good fats? Outstanding! Thank you, Dana.
Yes! That was intentional. Hope you enjoy it!
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to get it in my belly.
PS: I’m allergic to cilantro ( but not parsley, I know weird) . Is it okay to just leave it out or do I need to add something to balance the flavors?
Thanks,
Deb
Yeah! Use all parsley. Or even mint or basil would be nice.
Made this for dinner tonight! It was so good! Loved the mix of cooked and uncooked mixed together and the chimchurri sauce was so good!
Yay! Thanks for sharing, Sommer! Next time would you mind leaving a rating? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. xoxo
Your recipes have helped me convince teenage boys to eat vegan. I made chimichurra exactly as written, “cheese” with cashews, roasted veggies on two pans as suggested.
Healthy, delicious, wonderful.
Now that’s a compliment! So glad everyone enjoyed it!
Love this recipe except… not a big fan of curry! Any other spice(s) I could use instead??
Really any spice blend, even a mexican would work: garlic, cumin, chili powder/cayenne, paprika. Or, just salt and pepper and a little cinnamon could be nice!
What a pretty dish this would be on a dinner table! -Laurel
Dana–I just love all your recipes and your fresh approach to plant-based eating. I’ve been making your recipes for the last couple weeks (and this whole year really), your favorite green smoothie, your quinoa gado gado, and without fail each one is delicious!! This one is no exception. Keep up the amazing work and hope you had a wonderful birthday :)
So kind! Thanks Annie!
Made this tonight and it was so satisfying after my workout! The sauce is absolutely amazing. Thank you for another great recipe!
Lovely, thanks Kim!
Perfect weeknight dinner loaded with healthy and colorful veggies. This is going to be a regular in my kitchen now.
Yay! Thanks for sharing, Ranjana!
The chimichurri looks so good and was amazing! Outstanding job, Dana!
So yummy! I definitely love my roasted vegetables, and I constantly heat my veggies up to make them more flavorful!
my wildland firefighting son is vegan, but is having a hard time staying vegan while on fires. he has 2 days off and i served him this tonight, a big hit! thank you.
Marianna i am thinking your son îs struggling when on fires due to options on offer. As a disabled vegan who does not always have the use of my dominant hand I have taken to combining hot and cold foods and really enjoy it. My beloved haș even followed suit. I will top a salad with hot grains, potatoes, soup, chili, beans, noodles…pretty much anything I have. Or if I am not up to warming anything I will just eat everything cold. I find many things, especially all things tomato based are excellent cold. Your son may be faced with animal-centric mealtimes while on fires. Even then I imagine they still might serve potatoes, grains or bread and șome sort of veggies. Even if he haș to keep a ziplock of B12 enhanced nooch in his gear to add. While I am sure it îs a struggle I hope if it îs important to him he îs able to find a way to make it work. Please send my gratitude to your son for doing such a hard but vitally important job.
yes, his options are limited., and he’s gone anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks at a time. there are vegetarian options. that can translate into tons of bread and cheese. and sugary foods like candy. they have to get up to 6000 calories a day.
but i’m thinking he’s grateful to be back home and eat as he pleases, vegan. and i indulge him as long as he comes over for dinner.
i am so thankful for sites like this one that help get me inspired and out of my rut.
i personally could get my 6000 calories a day in chocolate ;-)
I already posted about making this, as I said it was so, so good! I forgot to leave a rating so posting again.
Thanks Sommer!
Eating the chimichurri on greens and garbanzo beans right now, delish!! Will be having the roasted vegetables and salad with chimichurri M-W for lunch. Thanks Dana for all of your great recipes. I am not vegan or gluten free but find myself believing I could be after making several of your recipes and being amazed at how fantastic they taste and are so easy to make.
So kind! Thanks Kris!
I made this tonight, and like all of your recipes, I loved it. The macadamia cheese was great too, I realized I need a good food processor, the vitamix leaves too much in the bottom that I found hard to scrape out. The constancy of the cheese makes for a perfect spread for crackers etc. So I found a few recipes here that I can add to other meals.
Thanks Again for the great dinner.
J-me
I made this last night and it was amazing! I didn’t have parsley or curry seasoning so I subbed extra cilantro and some cumin and creole seasoning. So full of flavor. The only mistake I made was deciding on my own to add balsamic to the greens. So unnecessary and distracting from the chimichurri deliciousness.
I can’t wait until lunch for leftovers.
This is such a great salad! The ingredient ratios and cooking times are just right. I didn’t have red peppers so added a few mushrooms instead. The chimichurri is the perfect dressing for this salad. It came together beautifully in my Vitamix. The leftovers will make awesome packed lunches for work.
Made this for a lonesome weekday lunch, perked me up to have something so full of flavour and interesting over my normal hummus and veg. Very healthy too, which baby bump and I fully appreciate.
I’d definitely recommend people make the macademia cheese with it, it’s super creamy and really balances the fresh and spicy chimichurri! Xx
Another excellent recipe!! We paired it with your green chickpea curry for a fabulous vegan dinner. Thank you!
half way through making this and i notice: Add the sweet potato, potato, and carrots
but not in the ingrdients list:
ROASTED VEGETABLES
1 large sweet potato (150 g), chopped
6-7 baby (600-700 g) baby yellow or red potatoes, quartered
2 whole carrots (120 g), halved and chopped
2 Tbsp (30 ml) melted coconut oil, divided (or sub water)
2 tsp curry powder, divided
1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
1 cup (90 g) chopped broccolini
2 cups (180 g) chopped red cabbage
1 red bell pepper, sliced (120 g)
The sauce is excellent though :)
Omg i saw tomatoes and not potatoes, i am the worst.
Beautiful recipe- thank you! I added some beets and paired this with BBQ tofu. Wonderful meal! Thank you Dana ❤️
This was so good! This would be great on its own as a meal, but we had it with salmon. The roast veggies and potatoes mixed with the greens were awesome. The chimichurri and macadamia nut cheese were the perfect combo together (I used cashews instead of macadamias). Thanks for another awesome recipe, will be making this again!
We made this last night. Although it was tasty, we were too angry about the prep time. We were chopping vegetables for an hour. No idea what you were talking about with the 5 minute prep time. It took that long just peeling the potatoes.
Thanks for the recipe. We’ll make something less time consuming from your blog next time because you do have some great stuff here.
Delicious but took me 3 hours! There is no way you could make this in a half hour.
I made this for dinner earlier this week and it was a huge hit. However, the chimichurri sauce and the cheese really made my day.
Today I made the chimichurri sauce with less heat and added about a third of a cup of watercress to bump up the nutrient density, left out the salt and used 3T raw pumpkin seeds instead of avocado as that was all I had. It’s now my go-to salad dressing. It’s absolutely delicious on an Eat-to-live compliant salad.
Okra is a splendid addition to the salad, btw. I put it into my air fryer at 370 for 15 min and then add it to my salads.
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. We have “Minimalist” dinners often and appreciate the work you put into developing recipes and taking your absolutely gorgeous photographs
I agree, the Chimichurri sauce was so good. This is a go to sauce. It blended perfectly with the roasted veggies. Big Hit!