This warm salad with roasted cauliflower and radishes is served on top of a bed of French green lentils and then tossed together with a sweet balsamic mustard vinaigrette. It’s perfect if you are looking for flavor-packed salads or a side dish to keep dinner interesting. As an added bonus, it packs well for lunch and you can enjoy this salad at room temperature the next day.
A Delicious ‘Non-Salad’ Salad
When I want to eat like they do in France, I start a meal with what I call a ‘non-salad’ salad. Veggies lightly tossed in a vinaigrette, followed by a main dish and more vegetables with a grain of some type. It’s a great way to add an extra serving of vegetables to your diet.
In this simple recipe, cauliflower florets and radish share the spotlight as the star ingredients. Roasted to tender perfection and then tossed in a tangy, sweet balsamic vinaigrette while still warm, and piled on top of protein-packed lentils, and you have the perfect non-salad salad! For texture, I love to add a handful of sunflower seeds. And for an extra pop of color, chives.
Never roasted radishes before? Roasting them brings out their natural sweetness, which is otherwise masked by that peppery kick radishes are known for.
Ingredients You Need to Make This Dish
- Red radishes: Globe radishes are the most available type of radishes, but feel free to substitute for white, pink, or purple varieties. How – or if – you cut them will vary depending on the variety you use.
- Cauliflower: Roasted cauliflower is almost sweet, making it a winner with my toddler. It’s full of antioxidants and fiber, making it a winner with me.
- Olive Oil
- Lentils: Adding lentils to this recipe gives this dish an added boost of protein, which means on busy days this can actually be a light meal (with a generous chunk of crusty bread and some cheese, for example).
- Sunflower seeds: Sunflower seeds not only add texture to this salad recipe, they’re also great sources of vitamin E, zinc, and folate. In fact, this tiny seed has a lot of health benefits you may not be aware of.
- Chives: Chives impart a delicate onion flavor and add a bright pop of color to this otherwise earthy salad.
Ingredients for the Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Balsamic Glaze
- Whole-Grain Dijon Mustard
Substitutes & Additions & Other Recipe Notes
- Add a handful of arugula or baby spinach. Arugula for a little added spice. Spinach if you can’t stand the thought of arugula. 😉
- Add feta cheese or hard-boiled eggs to bulk up this salad even further.
- Substitute green onions in place of chives. You could even add finely diced red onion to this salad if desired.
- Substitute balsamic vinegar for balsamic glaze. If you don’t have any balsamic glaze on hand, you can swap balsamic vinegar in this recipe, but you’ll also want to add a teaspoon or two of honey or maple syrup, to replace the sweetness the glaze brings to the original recipe. In this case, I also recommend adding the balsamic vinegar before you add the apple cider vinegar and then adding that to taste.
- Swap walnuts or pepitas for the sunflower seeds. Or omit altogether.
How to Make This Roasted Cauliflower and Radish Salad
- Roast Vegetables. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut raw radishes in half, leaving the smallest ones intact so they are all roughly the same size. In a small bowl, toss your radishes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut raw cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. In a medium or large bowl, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place radishes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. Then, carefully remove tray from oven, toss radishes and then add cauliflower and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and add veggies to a salad bowl.
- Cook Lentils. Fill a medium saucepan with water, leaving several inches of room at the top. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the lentils and salt. Set the timer for 16-18 minutes. Reduce heat as necessary to prevent overflow and to maintain a simmer. Using care (they’re hot), use a fork to scoop out a few lentils and test for doneness. Your lentils are done when they are pleasantly tender throughout (not mushy or falling apart). If your lentils aren’t fully cooked yet, retest every 1 to 2 minutes until they are. Once cooked, strain off all the excess water and add to the salad bowl.
- Make Vinaigrette. Combine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, balsamic glaze, and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk until the vinaigrette emulsifies. Then add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Put the salad together and serve. Add sunflower seeds to the salad bowl with vegetables and lentils. Then toss with the balsamic vinaigrette. Garnish with chives. Enjoy!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week.
More Flavorful Salad Recipes
- Lemon Parmesan Swiss Chard Salad with Garlic Breadcrumbs
- Grilled Romaine Lettuce Greek Salad
- Beet Cucumber Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Dill Quinoa Salad with Asparagus and Jammy Eggs
📖 Recipe
Balsamic Roasted Cauliflower and Radishes With Lentils
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 8-10 radish red
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided ½ tablespoon for radish, 2 ½ for cauliflower
- ½ cup lentils
- 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon chives
- salt to taste recommended: ¼ teaspoon for radish or to taste, ½ teaspoon for cauliflower or to taste, ½ teaspoon to lentils
- Black pepper to taste
Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons balsamic glaze
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Roast Vegetables. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut raw radishes in half, leaving the smallest ones intact so they are all roughly the same size. In a small bowl, toss your radishes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut raw cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. In a medium or large bowl, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place radishes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. Then, carefully remove tray from oven, toss radishes and then add cauliflower and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and add veggies to a salad bowl.
- Cook Lentils. Fill a medium saucepan with water, leaving several inches of room at the top. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the lentils and salt. Set the timer for 16-18 minutes. Reduce heat as necessary to prevent overflow and to maintain a simmer. Using care (they’re hot), use a fork to scoop out a few lentils and test for doneness. Your lentils are done when they are pleasantly tender throughout (not mushy or falling apart). If your lentils aren’t fully cooked yet, retest every 1 to 2 minutes until they are. Once cooked, strain off all the excess water and add to the salad bowl.
- Make Vinaigrette. Combine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, balsamic glaze, and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk until the vinaigrette emulsifies. Then add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Put the salad together and serve. Add sunflower seeds to the salad bowl with vegetables and lentils. Then toss with the balsamic vinaigrette. Garnish with chives. Enjoy!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Devil Wears Salad
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