The Best Roasted Vegetable Salad Urban Farmie

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💭 Why you’ll love this recipe

Salads are often seen as a boring, mundane side dish. But this healthy roasted vegetable salad stands out. Here’s why:

Uses a fun variety of veggies. This hearty salad has a wide assortment of vegetables like carrots and bell peppers. Depending on the season or what’s in the fridge, you can switch up your favorite veggies across the rainbow. Deliciously healthy. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring—this roasted vegetable salad proves it! Packed with vitamins and nutrients from fresh vegetables, you can feel good about giving this dish to your family (and yourself!) while still enjoying its delicious taste.Has a smoky flavor. By roasting vegetables, you lightly char them, adding a crunchy texture and a smoky flavor to your salad.

📋 Ingredients and notes

To make this roasted vegetable salad recipe, you’ll need zucchini, carrots, patty pan (mini squashes), green bell pepper, red onion, chopped beets, and Brussels sprouts, kosher salt, and black pepper. To make the dressing, you’ll need olive oil or avocado oil, aged balsamic vinegar, grainy dijon mustard, maple syrup or agave, dried thyme, salt, black pepper, and garlic. You can also add fresh parsley and fresh basil as an optional garnish.

Notes and variations

Switch up the vegetables. I’ve used the best roasted vegetables that I like, but you can easily swap them with hearty vegetables like sweet potato, butternut squash, yams, mushrooms, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, asparagus, or cherry tomatoes.Add seasonings. While salt and pepper make roasted vegetable salad tasty, adding seasonings like oregano and garlic powder can further enhance the flavors. Try out different salad dressings. If you ask me, I would say that our balsamic vinaigrette dressing is the perfect dressing for this salad, but you can definitely try out different dressings of your choice like honey mustard, ranch, pesto, and so many more. Garnish with your favorite cheeses like feta cheese, goat cheese, or nut cheese.

Tip on baking sheets

You should consider using a large baking sheet to avoid crowding the vegetables and to cook them evenly on a single layer. If you want a nice char and roast, you can consider lining a cookie sheet with some aluminum foil. Or, you can use my favorite sheet pan:

📖 How to make roasted vegetable salad

Preheat the oven to 375°F.Chop the vegetables into uniform pieces. I kept the zucchini, onion, and mini squash slices slightly larger as they cook faster than the rest of the vegetables. Spread out the chopped vegetables onto two separate baking sheets lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Or you can just use a non-stick option. Place the beets and green vegetables on one baking sheet, separate from the other vegetables so the beets won’t dye the zucchini and squash red.

Make the zesty salad dressing

Whisk the oil, vinegar, sweetener of choice, dijon mustard, minced garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. I love using this simple dressing, but you can also mix it up and use your favorite dressing for roasted vegetables. Brush the dressing onto the vegetables with a pastry brush or drizzle over with a spoon. Mix the vegetables with the dressing and place them into the oven.Bake at 375°F for 25 minutes. If your vegetables aren’t quite crisp, turn the oven to broil at 400°F. Place the vegetables under broil, keeping a close eye on them for 2 minutes, until brown. Serve hot and garnish with fresh herbs like parsley and basil. It is also delicious cold.

👩🏽‍🍳 Tips for the Best Roasted Vegetable Salad

If you want to create a sensational roasted vegetable salad, keep these five simple tips in mind for success:

Choose hearty vegetables. For the best flavor, stick with heartier vegetables like carrots, Brussels sprouts, squash, zucchini, red bell peppers, and cauliflower. These vegetables will hold up well during the roasting process and will have a great depth of flavor when finished.Prep your vegetables ahead of time. Before you start roasting your veggies, cut them into uniform sizes so that they cook evenly in the oven. If some pieces are larger or smaller than others, they may not cook evenly and could end up undercooked or burnt. This vegetable chopper makes veggie prep a total breeze, you just need to throw the vegetables in and push to chop! Add some fat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter before placing in the oven to really bring out those flavors in your roasted veggies. This will also help keep your veggies from drying out as they roast in the oven.Stir the vegetables a few times while roasting to cook evenly. If the vegetables aren’t browning, you can broil them, keeping a close eye on them so they don’t burn to crisp up the edges. Nothing is better than crispy, golden brown red onions, and Brussels sprouts!Get creative with toppings. Once your roasted veggies are done cooking, you can get creative with toppings! Crumbled feta cheese is always delicious on top of a warm roasted vegetable salad; other options include sliced olives, chopped nuts (like almonds), diced avocados, extra virgin olive oil, sunflower seeds, pomegranate seeds, and more.

🍴How to Serve Roasted Vegetable Salad

Roasted vegetable salad is best served as an entree or side dish. To spice it up, sprinkle some crumbled feta cheese, goat cheese or balsamic vinaigrette. To bulk this up, you can make a roasted vegetable salad with quinoa or wild rice. You can play around with the dressing, with a squeeze of lemon juice or swap with apple cider vinegar for a tangier finish. Not only will you be praised for your delicious cooking, but you’ll also have an easy and nutritious meal ready to go anytime you’re in a rush! Storing this delicious roasted vegetable salad is easy. For best results, store the salad in an airtight container or a large bowl covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 5 days. To freeze, I recommend freezing the vegetables before you roast them and without the dressing for up to 3 months. First, place them on a flat sheet and flash freeze them, then put them into two freezer-safe bags (one with the beets). This way, you can enjoy your roasted veggie salad whenever you want without worrying about getting the freshest ingredients each time.