Roasting vegetables is the best way to cook them in our opinion, and the easiest way to get people to eat more veggies. This Roasted Vegetable Winter Salad is a salad for people that think salads aren’t filling or they think they are boring. It’s the salad for people that think they don’t like salads! Warm and hearty – perfect for a cold winter day.
Winter Salad
Winter is all about comfort food, but that doesn’t mean that can’t include salad. Just make sure the salad is loaded with warm and hearty toppings that will keep you going.
A salad is more than just green leaves after all. Pick you favourite seasonal winter ingredients and put them on a salad. Crispy root vegetables and mixed greens all brought together with an easy dressing and topped with your favourite cheese.
Why should you try it?
✔ It is the salad for people that think they don’t like salads. Live with a salad dodger? This WILL change their minds.
✔ It is healthy comfort food. Comforting roasted vegetables, but still a light salad.
✔ Under 500 calories for a big filling bowl.
✔ Easily adaptable. Got some vegetables looking a bit sad in the back of the fridge? Roast them up to make this.
✔ It can easily be vegan – just leave the cheese out.
Roasted Vegetable Salad
I must admit, that these roasted vegetables nearly didn’t even make it on to a salad. When they came out of the oven I had to give them a try to make sure that they were done and I just couldn’t stop. They are THAT good.
But luckily for you, I managed to throw it on a salad before I could eat it all and I managed to photograph this recipe to share with you. The things I do for you guys! It just goes to show that roasting vegetables is the best thing you can do with them.
This is quite root vegetable heavy and we used a mixture of potato, butternut squash, carrot and parsnip. You could roast up anything though. Swap the white potato for some sweet potato and add some broccoli and cauliflower or even some radish.
What Salad Dressing To Use?
Now, let’s talk about the dressing for a minute shall we? As a dressing as really make or break and salad. We made a dressing that was bursting with fresh herbs, because a dish with this many vegetables needs a good mixture of herbs to go with it.
If you have a few different herbs to use up, then this dressing will help you to do just that.
Remember, we are all about wasting less food at the moment and herbs are one of those things that always go to waste. You buy some for one recipe, only use half, and then they are left to wilt in the back of the fridge. No more! Make this dressing instead.
We mixed the herbs with a good glug of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and seasoned it. Next time I would add a squeeze of lemon juice and some zest too.
Can You Make This in Advance?
You can roast all the vegetables in advance and then mix them with the salad, dressing and cheese just before serving. It’s best not to mix everything in advance, as the salad can get a little soggy.
Winter Salad With Chicken
The vegetables really are the star of this salad, however that doesn’t mean that you can’t top it with something extra too. You could add a grilled chicken breast or some grilled salmon or prawns on top to give it a protein boost. If you want to keep it vegetarian, then mix some cooked chickpeas in when mixing the salad.
Extra Tips
- Roast any vegetables you have that need using up. Cauliflower and broccoli roast well too.
- Mix up the salad greens by adding some spinach and kale.
- Keep the salad vegan by skipping the feta, or using an alternative.
- Add some extra texture to this salad by sprinkling some seeds on top before serving.
- Next time I would add some lemon juice and zest to the salad dressing too.
- Give the salad a protein boost with some chickpeas or grilled chicken.
How To Make a Roasted Vegetable Winter Salad – Step by Step:
One: Chop all the vegetables so they are fairly chunky. Put them in a bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt and pepper and mix well.
Two: Put on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 200C for 35-40 minutes.
Three: Make the salad dressing by mixing together the olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper and herbs.
Four: Remove the vegetables from the oven.
Five: Divide the salad between 2 bowls and top with roasted vegetables. Drizzle the dressing on top and crumble over the feta.
Want to try some other veggie packed recipes? How about these:
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
Asian Style Green Beans
Vegetable and Halloumi Kebabs
10 Minute Vegetable Teriyaki
Greek Roasted Vegetables
Vegetable Gnocchi
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If you’ve tried this Roasted Vegetable Winter Salad or any other recipe on the blog then let us know how you got on in the comments below, we love hearing from you!
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DON’T FORGET TO RATE THE RECIPE ↓
Roasted Vegetable Winter Salad
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 Small Butternut Squash
- 10 Baby potatoes
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Parsnips
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper
Salad
- 4 Handfuls of Watercress/Rocket (arugula) salad mix
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp each of fresh basil, coriander and parsley, finely chopped
- 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper
- 30 g Light Feta (or dairy-free equivalent)
Instructions
- Chop all the vegetables so they are fairly chunky. Put them in a bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt and pepper and mix well. Put in a preheated oven at 200C for 35-40 minutes.
- Make the salad dressing by mixing together the olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper and herbs.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven.
- Divide the salad between 2 bowls and top with roasted vegetables. Drizzle the dressing on top and crumble over the feta.
Video
Notes
- Roast any vegetables you have that need using up. Cauliflower and broccoli roast well too.
- Mix up the salad greens by adding some spinach and kale.
- Keep the salad vegan by skipping the feta, or using an alternative.
- Add some extra texture to this salad by sprinkling some seeds on top before serving.
- Next time I would add some lemon juice and zest to the salad dressing too.
This post was originally published 2nd March 2017 and it was updated 7th March 2019
Andi says
We roasted some chickpeas along with this and it was such a good salad. Not boring and I was full after it too.
Callum says
I make a big batch of these roasted vegetables on a Sunday night and have some with roast chicken and the rest for salads through the week. They are so simple, but really tasty. Can’t fault this recipe.
Jayne Pearson says
You just solved my conundrum of what to serve with Greek-style lamb cutlets when our neighbour comes over at the weekend. This looks so delicious. No parsnips here though :( so might have to sub with celeriac. Have only just discovered this blog – looking forward to a browse. Thanks for the recipes.
Pol Geys says
Thank you so much for this recipe! Since I’m trying to lose fat, im on the look for healthy food that I actually like. I tried my best searching for these kind of recipes but didn’t find one in a long time. I eat vegetables but I never really thought of them as something delicious, especially not when its a salad. Since I’ve found this recipe I eat it once or twice a week, and I’m even looking forward to eating it. I looked at some other recipes you made and they’re awesome too. One week I even ate one of the recipes everyday. Thank you so much for making my life a lot healthier.
Kind regards,
Pol
Luke - The Handy Squad says
Fantastic blog! I’ve been trying to eat a lot healthier recently and this blog will continue to make me try new things. Fantastic! Luke
Simon Claes says
Hello,
First, I want to say thank you for all your recipes. I have been trying now for so long to make my food healthier but did not really know how to do that. I never know which vegetables fit together. When I try something it usually does not taste very good. Thanks to these tips, I eat much healthier. I never thought that vegetables could be so tasty. Thank you very much!
Simon Claes