Winter Roasted Vegetable Salad with Barley
This roasted vegetable salad with barley doubles as a vegan meal prep idea! Topped with a delicious maple tahini dressing, it makes a healthy and satisfying light meal.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked pearl barley rinsed
- 3 cups water
- 12 Brussels sprouts trimmed (and cut into halves if they're large)
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 small-medium sweet potato peeled & diced
- 2-3 medium beets peeled & cut up
- 4 medium tomatoes quartered
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or to taste
- 5 dashes Italian seasoning or to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Handful of spinach optional
Dressing:
- 3 heaping tablespoons tahini
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Water to thin the dressing (3-4 tbsp)
Instructions
- Cook barley according to package directions (I cooked 1 cup barley in 3 cups of water with a pinch of salt and it took about half an hour).
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400F and move the rack to the middle position.
- Prep your veggies (try to cut them into pieces that are about the same size (I aimed for about 1" pieces) so they cook more evenly) and add them to a baking sheet. Toss with the olive oil, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt & pepper. Roast them for 20 minutes or until they're cooked. You can flip them halfway through if you wish, but I did not.
- Add the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Adjust the lemon juice and seasonings as needed. Thin with 1 tablespoon of water at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
- Once everything is ready, you can either add it all to a large bowl or platter and assemble it like you would a salad, or you can portion it out into individual containers if you're going the meal prep route.
Notes
- Here's a guide on how to cook barley if you want a little more explanation than I provide here.
- Serves 4-6.
- This recipe makes quite a lot of food. I had some of it as a salad when I first made it (including the spinach you see in the photos), and then I had the rest as lunches (without spinach). I did not heat the lunches up... that is up to you. I think it would work hot or cold.