I like to call this salad sunshine in a bowl. Or on a platter. Because however you serve this carrot cauliflower quinoa salad, it’s everything you could want: bright, refreshing, flavorful, bold, cozy and nutritious! Tons of veggies, fresh herbs, crunch and flavor, too.
I originally shared this quinoa salad and the end of winter last year to ring in spring produce, and this hearty salad is perfect for spring-into-summer when you want something in between cozy and refreshing. The carrots and cauliflower are roasted to tender perfection in a blend of spices, then tossed with more herbs, veggies, a hint of sweetness from dates, crunch from pistachios and of course: the sunshine dressing.
This gorgeous salad recipe makes the best lunch or veggie-packed dish for your Easter table! Serve it up next to all of those sweet treats for the perfect balance. Everyone will love it!
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Everything you’ll need to make this cauliflower quinoa salad
This beautiful, vegan cauliflower quinoa salad recipe is packed with flavorful roasted veggies, fluffy quinoa and delicious salad mix-ins. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- For the veggies: we’re roasting up carrots and cauliflower with cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, a little cayenne if you like heat (I recommend!), salt & pepper.
- For the quinoa: you’ll just need some dry quinoa and water to cook it up. Feel free to use white quinoa or tri-color.
- For the mix-ins: toss this salad together with fresh green onion, cilantro, parsley, chopped Medjool dates, roasted & salted pistachios and some peas.
- For the sunshine dressing: grab the recipe for this gorgeous sunshine dressing here! It’s made with tahini, lemon juice, a little maple syrup, fresh ginger, turmeric, garlic powder, salt & pepper.
Make this roasted cauliflower salad your own
This cauliflower quinoa salad is great for customizing! Here are some delicious ways to mix it up:
- Swap your produce. This salad would also be delicious with roasted sweet potato or butternut squash instead of carrots.
- Try a different sweetener. Instead of dates feel free to mix in some golden or regular raisins, dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Use a new nut. Roasted salted almonds or cashews would also be delicious in place of the pistachios. Or omit them to keep the recipe nut free!
- Try another dressing. The sunshine dressing is absolutely delicious, but this salad would also be great with a plain tahini dressing, a jalapeño green tahini dressing or a curry tahini dressing!
Add a boost of protein
Looking to add some more protein to this roasted carrot quinoa salad? Here are some great options:
- A can of chickpeas
- Chopped chicken or pair it with my easy roasted chicken recipe
- Shrimp or salmon — try it with my lemon garlic salmon or maple glazed salmon
How to make this roasted cauliflower quinoa salad
- Roast your veggies. You’ll start by roasting the carrots and cauliflower in all of those cozy spices.
- Cook your quinoa. While the veggies are roasting, cook your quinoa. See tips below for making the best fluffy quinoa!
- Combine the toppings. Once the quinoa is done, add it to a bowl with all of those yummy mix-ins, veggies and herbs.
- Make the dressing. Mix together the sunshine dressing in a medium bowl.
- Toss & serve. Pour the sunshine dressing over the salad, toss and serve as a main meal or a side dish!
How to cook the perfect fluffy quinoa
Get all of my best tips and tricks for cooking perfectly fluffy quinoa here!
Storing tips
Keep this vegan cauliflower quinoa salad in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days. This salad can easily be made the day before, too, and will be delicious served the next day!
More salad recipes to try
- California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad
- Italian Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Winter Butternut Squash Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad
- Curry Roasted Cauliflower Sweet Potato Salad (whole30, vegan & gluten free)
- Vibrant Curry Cashew Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Looking for more? Get all of our delicious salad recipes here!
I hope you love this roasted carrot cauliflower quinoa salad! If you make it be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing
Beautiful roasted carrot cauliflower quinoa salad tossed with fresh herbs, sweet Medjool dates and salty pistachios. This vegan cauliflower quinoa salad is lightly dressed with a bright sunshine dressing for the perfect plant-based lunch or side dish!
Ingredients
- For the veggies:
- 4 medium carrots (or 3 large), cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 2 inch segments/chunks
- 2 cups small to medium cauliflower florets
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if you like a little heat
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
- For the quinoa:
- ¾ cup quinoa
- 1 ⅔ cups water
- For the salad mix-ins:
- ⅓ cup diced green onion
- ⅓ cup cilantro
- ⅓ cup flat leaf parsley
- ⅓ cup chopped pitted Medjool dates (or sub dried cherries)
- 1/3 cup shelled roasted and salted pistachios (or sub roasted almonds)
- ¾ cup thawed frozen peas, optional
- For the dressing:
- Sunshine Dressing Recipe
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large pan with parchment paper and add carrots and cauliflower; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, cayenne and salt and pepper. Toss well to combine and coat the veggies with the oil and spices. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until carrots and cauliflower are tender and golden; flip veggies halfway through to ensure even roasting.
-
While the veggies are roasting, you can cook your quinoa: add in quinoa and water to a medium pot and bring mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for exactly 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork, then replace the lid and allow quinoa to steam for 5-10 more minutes.
-
Once quinoa is done cooking, add to a large bowl, then add in the roasted carrots and cauliflower, green onion, cilantro, parsley, chopped dates, pistachios and peas.
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Make the sunshine dressing: in a medium bowl, mix together the tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup, ginger, turmeric, garlic powder and salt and pepper. Add 2-3 tablespoons of warm water to thin out the dressing so that it’s nice and pourable. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
-
Pour dressing over the salad and mix well to combine. Serves 4 as a main meal, 6 as a side.
Recipe Notes
To store: keep this vegan cauliflower quinoa salad in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days.
This salad can easily be made the day before, too, and will be delicious served the next day!
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on February 16th, 2021, and republished on April 13th, 2022.
102 comments
This salad looks amazing with all these different flavors going on! The sunshine dressing is the best! It makes anything you put it on taste great!
I love your white saucepan in the video that you cook the quinoa in. Can you tell me where you bought it?
Absolutely! And it belongs to my videographer, so I’m not 100% sure 🙂
This looks really good! Question though, is the nutrition facts correct? It seems like it’s quite low for the number of calories listed. Looking forward to making it this weekend though!
Thanks for the catch! We’ve updated 🙂 Enjoy!
This dish and the sunshine dressing are going to be a new weeknight staple in my house! Threw in some grilled shrimp and the flavors were perfect!
So happy to hear that! Sounds delicious 🙂
I just happened to have all of these ingredients in my fridge/pantry today and gave it a go for lunch. I halved the recipe, added chickpeas and topped with avocado, and it was amazing. So flavorful and nourishing. Half the recipe gave me 3 portions with the added half can of chickpeas. Yum!!!
Amazing! Such a great lunch!
Great recipe, I substituted sun butter for tahini and lime juice for lemon because that’s all I had and it was great.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
This is DEE-LICIOUS!!! Incredibly yummy. I put the recommended cayenne on the veggies before roasting – perfect amount of heat without being overwhelming. Subbed dried cherries for the dates & added the peas. So colorful & good – I will be putting this into our rotation!!
Love it! Such a great lunch or dinner!
So delicious! Such a great meal-prep recipe. The salty pistachios with the sweet dates were so delicious. I added the peas as well as some shredded chicken. Love this recipe!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I am so appreciative of the variety of flavours and foods we eat based on your recipes. This salad is perfect! Colourful, flavourful and full of texture. I first made the Sunshine Dressing and used it on a lettuce salad. It was okay, but not my favourite. It is perfection on the roasted cauliflower and carrots! We enjoyed it for lunch with a piece of your Pistachio Poppyseed Orange Loaf for dessert!
So happy to hear that! And yes, the sunshine dressing is great on nice, crunchy veggies 🙂 Glad you enjoyed both!
This salad is lunch heaven, especially on a winter day that could use a little brightness!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
As per usual with your recipes, this one is a hit! I added a can of chickpeas for some bulk (so it will last me all week for lunch), and served it over spring mix. Delicious!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed.
Tried today and I must say this is so good!!!! And the dressing is absolutely delicious!! Thank for the recipe!!
So glad you loved it!!
So easy and incredibly delicious!
Glad you enjoyed!
This salad is really delicious, even without the fresh herbs and green onion! The sunshine dressing is gloriously refreshing and brings all the ingredients together really well. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Absolutely! Glad you loved this one 🙂
Killer recipe!!! The sunshine dressing is everything.
So glad you loved it!
This salad is amazing! I replaced the cilantro and parsley with carrot tops from the carrots I roasted. I also added chopped dried apricots! I will definitely make again, thanks for the recipe 🙂
Perfect! Love that!
This recipe was amazing! I’m glad I made a double recipe right away because I LOVE it. I prepared it as written except for using baby carrots (thicker ones halved lengthwise) and accidentally using ground ginger for 1/2 of the ginger in the dressing. I am definitely putting this into our regular rotation!
So happy to hear that! One of my new favs 🙂
It was absolutely delicious! I left out the dates but made everything else as the recipe called for and it was amazing. I also fried an egg on the side and added it for some extra protein. Can’t wait for the leftovers!!
Love that! Sounds delicious 🙂
So delicious! All the add-ins and flavors worked perfectly together. I added chickpeas and will have enough servings for the next few days! My quinoa cooked perfectly with the ratios you listed, but it was done at around 8 minutes instead of 15. Just an FYI for people to keep an eye on it!
Speedy quinoa! I’m glad you kept an eye on it 🙂
Delicious! Especially loved the dates. Made a great meal prep lunch.
That bite of sweetness is so delicious 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
AK’s Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad is SO good – and the Sunshine Dressing is AMAAAAZING…! I subbed sweet potatoes for the carrots, left out the parsley and peas (just because I didn’t have any), and used roasted unsalted sunflower seeds in place of pistachios (because mine were raw and I I was too lazy to roast them!) I also added a little diced celery. OMG this recipe is going to be on replay in our house…! (And I’ll definitely use the Sunshine Dressing on other dishes/salads.) Thank you for another stellar recipe!
So glad you love it!! Perfect for customizing 🙂
This salad is delish and so many fun things to play around with.
The first time i made i used toasted almonds, raisins, green onions, parsley and cilantro – it turned out great! I cooked my quinoa with the cover off after rinsing and it took about 15 min.
Next time i make the dressing i may use orange juice to thin it out 🙂
Great recipe!
Love it! Those add-ins sound delicious 🙂
This dressing is addicting! I especially love this recipe because there are so many ways to repurpose the leftovers throughout the week – as a side dish with fish or chicken, or on its own as a hearty lunch.
Absolutely! Glad you love it!
This dip is BEYOND fantastic! I made this as our Easter brunch appetizer and it was very well received. You’ll never, ever miss the chicken.
Ambitious Kitchen is my new favorite site and I’ve now made several recipes from this site – 110% yummy!
Made this salad for my Easter brunch and it was a HUGE hit! We have a new vegetarian in the family so I needed to expand my menu. I made this salad the night before and the dressing, the morning of. Placed the dressing in a little jar to add to the salad as desired. I’ve never had tahini before – the Sunshine Dressing is wonderful and my guests loved it.
The salad is beautiful on its own with the golden quinoa and roasted veggies & really flavorful.
Monique – you’re brilliant! Thank you!
Amazing! So glad everyone loved it!!
WOW, JUST WOW! We made this for lunch and we used expletives to describe how delicious it was as we were eating it. The flavors are incredible and the touch of sweetness from the dates is perfection! This will definitely be a staple in our house!
Haha so glad it was a hit!!
Made this tonight for dinner and it was amazing!! The flavours were great together and the dressing made it so addicting, couldn’t stop eating! Even my skeptical husband was a fan. Will make again soon!
The best! So happy to hear that 🙂
This recipe has become one of my favourites for a quick and healthy weeknight dinner option! I always hope to have leftovers for next day’s lunch, but my boyfriend usually devours it all in one sitting … which is huge since he usually doesn’t even like quinoa!
I personally love the freshness of the sunshine dressing and all of the veggies – switched the cauliflower to broccoli and it came out just as good.
So glad it’s a hit! One of our fav lunches or dinners, too 🙂
This dish is incredible! I used edamame instead of peas and tart dried cherries instead of dates and it came out great. I plan to make this many times over. Thank you for sharing!
Love that! Such a great lunch or dinner!
This is the best recipe ever. I make it all the time and it never gets old. It’s the perfect blend of savory yet fresh and tangy. I’ve done many add ins/substitutions. Squash, is a great add, my favorite is delicata. I’ve also used many different nuts and dried fruits, depending on what I have in my pantry.
I season the veggies with some added curry powder for another layer of flavor. I also add turmeric, saute’d garlic, salt, and whatever other seasonings I’m feeling to the quinoa to give it a subtle boost.
The dressing is the star here! I’ve never changed anything about that recipe because it’s just too dang good.
My boyfriend loves this recipe too, and it’s hard to get him to eat vegetarian, let alone vegan! It’s a staple in our house. It also keeps on the fridge so well and tastes delicious cold or hot.
Amazing! So glad this one is a hit 🙂 We use that sunshine dressing for everything, too!
This quinoa salad is incredible! It’s so so tasty & filling…I’ve made it three times now & will keep making it because it is addicting. The medjool dates are a must, that hint of sweetness is truly chefs kiss. I added some feta on top, because why not, & used roasted salted cashews instead because that’s what I had on hand. Would 10/10 recommend you make this TODAY!
Amazing! Love the addition of feta 🙂 so glad this is a fav!
This is SO GOOD. I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand and was even short on a some of the seasonings, but it still turned out phenomenally. I subbed almond butter for the tahini in the dressing which worked well.
Perfect! So happy to hear that!
Fantastic!!
Very filling and flavorful. Would definitely make again 🙂
So glad you enjoyed!
Really tasty. I think next time I will make more dressing, I wish it had tasted a little more like tahini and lemon, but still really good.
Glad you enjoyed! And yes feel free to double up on the dressing.
Oh my gosh I LOVE this recipe!. The veggies, dried fruit, nuts and sauce, everything comes together perfectly! I used almonds just because they were cheaper than pistachios lol. And I increased the sauce for extra flavor. So So good! You’re amazing at working with quinoa! Thank you!
Woohoo! Glad you loved this one, Rebecca!
Hello. I cant eat grains! What would be a good substitute ? Or should I just use double veggies?
Hi, Danielle! Feel free to leave the quinoa out, or sub with cooked cauliflower rice 🙂
This is delicious! This is the type of salad I’d be excited to get at a restaurant and I made it myself! A new addition to my dinner rotation.
Best compliment ever!! So happy you’re loving it, Mary 🙂
Oh this salad is amazing! I vary the carrot and cauliflower ratio depending on what’s fresh at the market. I also sub toasted sliced almonds since they are a pantry staple at my house more so than pistachios. Dried cherries are the bomb in this…and the sunshine salad dressing is SO GOOD!
This salad is wonderful. I fell in love with the spices. The salad keeps and transports well. I modified with dried cranberries and toasted almonds instead, but that’s just because I always have those on hand.
Very easy to make and delicious. Loving all the new dressing ideas
So happy that you enjoyed it!
This was so easy and delicious! I used pearled couscous because it’s better than quinoa IMO. Sunshine dressing was easy and the perfect pairing. I added some grilled chicken on top. Glad i have this for my lunches this week and will definitely be making again! I love AK!
Ooh pearl couscous is a great swap! And love adding chicken on top 🙂 Happy you enjoyed it, Brittany!
This was so good! Meal prepped it for lunches this week and its easy and delicious. I used dried apricots bc that’s all I had and omitted the cilantro, green onions, and peas because I didn’t have them. Definitely recommend trying this as lunch or a healthy side dish for dinner!
Such a good one to meal prep!! Happy you enjoyed it, Emma 🙂
Delicious salad, perfect mingle of flavours and textures. Probably even nicer the next day so I’m looking forward to it tomorrow. I served it with chicken and it complemented it perfectly.
Oh my gosh you all need to make this immediately! This is one of my favorite quinoa salads! I make a big batch on Sundays and portion out for my husband and my lunches for the week. It is absolutely so delicious!!!
Yaaaay I’m so glad this is a staple in your house–one of my fav salads ever!
I have made this probably 20 times and I throw in whatever extra vegetables I have around. It is SO GOOD and my family loves it. Thank you!!
Yay! Yes, love how versatile this one is. Happy you all love it!
very nice recipe
This salad was delicious! And the dressing is definitely going into regular rotation for me. Thank you for the great recipe
Omg it’s one of my favorite dressings, so happy you loved it, too!! Thanks for the review, Melanie 🙂
Dang. This is unbelievably good, I love that tiny zing from the cayenne! It has all the perfect flavors and textures, from the herbs to the nuts, and that creamy dressing is ridiculous – You’re a dressing magician! Taking it to a party later, I really hope I get to take home leftovers!!
Aw thank you!! I’m so happy you’re loving it. Hope the rest of the party did too 🙂
This recipe is out of this world amazing!! Made it for a family party and I couldn’t get enough compliments. Dates bring this dish to a whole other level. Thank you for creating your amazing recipes!!!
Ahh thank you! I’m SO happy everyone loved it!
This looks AMAZING!!! I’d love to make it, but I am allergic to sesame and am struggling to think of another idea for dressing – any suggestions? Thank you!! Excited to make this soon 🙂
Thank you! I think greek yogurt would be a great sub 🙂 Hope you love it!
Really delicious recipe. I love it yummy!!! It’s really awesome
Thanks, Chris! So glad you enjoyed it.
I just made this as a side for Easter dinner and it was amazing! Everyone loved it and the dressing. This will be a regular for me going forward!
So thrilled you all loved it! It’s one of my fav salads ever 🥰
Delicious and comes together quickly! Perfect for lunches, putting in a wrap, or a potluck!
I didnt have dates and added raisins instead! The dressing would be a great addition to so many other dishes!
Thank you for another great recipe!
I made this recipe exactly how it was written and it was amaaaazing. I couldn’t stop eating it. It tastes even better the next day.
I made this as a side for a bbq dinner party and it was a huge crowd pleaser! Even the heavy meat eaters loved it, and I could basically drink the dressing. I’ve now made it several times and it’s always a hit! It’s also super nutrient dense, which I appreciate!
This is one of our go to’s. So easy but yet packs a flavorful punch!! We love the sunshine dressing, the name itself makes you happy!! We use this for a quick and easy dinner!! We recommend giving this a try!!