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’ve been trying my best to bring you more plant based recipes to celebrate seasonal produce and this hearty salad is perfect for winter and spring 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. You’re going to love it!
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
- Use a 1:2 ratio for quinoa to liquid. In this recipe you’ll cook 3/4 cup quinoa in 1 2/3 cups water. I like to add a tiny bit more water to ensure the quinoa is super fluffy after you’re done cooking and it continues to steam in the pot.
- 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.
- Finally, replace lid and allow quinoa to steam for 10 more minutes.
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.
- 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!
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
27 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!
Killer recipe!!! The sunshine dressing is everything.
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 🙂