Roast vegetables salad with caramelized Brussel sprouts, carrots, fennel and parsnips with a balsamic vinaigrette is what you need for a healthy and delicious meal!
Whether you actually plan on doing this salad or have spare root vegetables in the refrigerator, you won’t regret it. It is incredible what high heat roasting does to vegetables vs. just boiling them.
They become sweet, crispy and burst with concentrated flavor! All you need is a drizzle of olive oil, a baking sheet and a fiery hot oven to make it happen!
I love to eat this roasted vegetables salad and mix up the ingredients. There are essentially four main components to the salad to play with:
Vegetables
- Brussel sprouts are amazing for roasting! They crisp up and caramelize and taste great. (20-25 min roast time)
- Carrots and parsnips take about the same time to roast and get concentrated flavor, crisp edges and sweeten up as they roast. (45 min roast time – shake and turn halfway)
- Fennel Bulb and branches are definitely a winner and are a great roasting choice (45 min roast time – shake and turn halfway)
- Sweet Potatoes are a great choice to roast and can be a nice replacement for the carrots. They add great color too! (45 min roast time – shake and turn halfway)
- Leeks and Onions obviously! (20-25 min roast time)
- Squash of different kinds make a nice choice for color, flavor and variety as there are so many kinds to use like acorn, butternut, etc. (45 min roast time – shake and turn halfway)
Cheese
Of course, everything tastes better with cheese! You want to have a healthier and saltier bite, add diced feta cheese. You prefer a creamier and unctuous taste, go with buffalo mozzarella or burrata with a drizzle of olive oil.
Nuts
Go nuts with walnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts or cashews. They all taste great with this salad. I personally like the balance of the biter walnuts with the sweet roasted vegetables in the salad.
Vinaigrette
I usually go for a vinaigrette composed of olive oil (3tbsp), balsamic vinegar (2 tbsp) and juice from half a lemon. Add some salt and pepper, whisk and you’re done!
Now that you’ve picked your ingredients, preparing this roast vegetables warm salad recipe is as easy as 1,2,3!
Preheat your oven to 450F. The oven needs to be at high temperature to roast root vegetables. Cut your vegetables and mix up in a bowl with olive oil until coated. Spread your vegetables on a baking sheet.
Place in a bowl in a nice pattern (it needs to look as good as it tastes!).
Drizzle the vinaigrette and add your diced feta and crushed walnuts and dig in!!!!
I like to eat the salad when the roast vegetables have cooled down to room temperature. You can keep the vegetables for a couple of days in the refrigerator and warm in the microwave to bring it back at room temp!
Enjoy!!!
Ingredients
Salad
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 8 small carrots, halved lengthwise
- 1/2 lb. Brussel sprouts, halved
- 4 parsnips, halved lengthwise
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced (1/4 inch thick)
- 1/4 cup of Feta cheese, diced
- 1/4 walnuts (or equivalent), roughly crushed or chopped
Vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F
- Toss vegetables with olive oil in a bowl
- Spread vegetables on a large baking sheet. Put the inside of the Brussel sprouts on the baking sheet.
- Roast the vegetables on the bottom rack for 20-25 minutes until Brussel sprouts are browned
- Remove the Brussel sprouts and reserve while the rest of the vegetables cook for another 20 minutes
- In the meantime, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients and reserve.
- To plate, arrange the vegetables in a bowl, drizzle vinaigrette on top and add feta and nuts in the middle of the plate.
Nutrition Information
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
