Roasted Vegetable & Grain Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

It’s rare that I find a recipe that not only makes amazing leftovers, but makes *enough* of them that it’s worth all the work. And that I can actually talk myself into still choosing over the cafeteria’s amazing chicken tenders on days 2, 3, 4…

This is one of those recipes.

This grain and roasted vegetable salad is a total recipe unicorn—easy, versatile, and just as good hot, lukewarm, or cold. It can be meat-y, vegetarian, or vegan. Basically, YOU DO YOU.

Also, this lemon tahini dressing is sooooo good! It really pulls everything together, with depth and tanginess but doesn’t just overwhelm you. Honestly you should put this dressing on everything!

The only downside of this recipe is that actually getting that many vegetables roasted or grilled (and prepping them, honestly) can take a bit of time.

However, what I usually do is pace it over the course of an afternoon, since the veggies don’t need to be piping hot fresh. And I’ll do a combination of grilling and roasting so I don’t have my oven on forever. I love to absolutely pack this salad with veggies rather than have it be really grain-heavy, because HEALTH.

Roast and/or grill the vegetables with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. This can be done ahead of time or right at the last minute.

Cook the farro (or barley or whatever) according to the package directions. A good al dente is what you want.

Blend all of the ingredients together for your lemon tahini dressing (I use my tiny Cuisinart food processor and it’s perfect). Make sure to taste it and adjust the proportions to your taste (this time I had to add more tahini as the lemon was punching me in the face).

If you’re adding a protein, cook it however you’d like. Keeping the flavors pretty simple would be good, since the dressing should be your main flavor.

Toss everything together in a big bowl or container, douse with your lemon tahini dressing, and stir together.

It’s great fresh, but also amazing once the ingredients have all melded together. Keeps for up to a week in the fridge.

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Roasted Vegetable & Grain Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

I’ve listed the vegetables I use most often, but feel free to substitute others as desired

Salad

1 package of barley (farro or similar grains work too, I use these Trader Joes ones, which are 8.8 ounces)
1 sweet decent-sized potato or half a butternut squash
1 pound of brussels sprouts
1 zucchini (medium or large)
1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow, or a handful of small mixed ones)
1/2 of a red onion (you’re welcome to use the whole one)
2 cups of cauliflower florets (or more)
Extra-virgin olive oil, fresh-ground salt, pepper, and some garlic powder
Optional: a cooked protein such as grilled chicken or fish

Lemon Tahini Dressing

1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/3 tsp salt

Roast and/or grill the vegetables with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. This can be done ahead of time or right at the last minute.
Cook the farro (or barley or whatever) according to the package directions. A good al dente is what you want.
Blend all of the dressing ingredients together (I use my tiny Cuisinart food processor and it’s perfect). Make sure to taste it and adjust the proportions to your taste (this time I had to add more tahini as the lemon was punching me in the face).
If you’re adding a protein, cook it however you’d like. Keeping the flavors pretty simple would be good, since the dressing should be your main flavor.
Toss everything together in a big bowl or container. It’s great fresh, but also amazing once the ingredients have all melded together. Keeps for up to a week in the fridge.

Dressing recipe from Budget Bytes

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