How To Make Summer Roast Vegetable Salad

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It’s that time of the vear when I start cooking one of my favourite salads: Summer Roast Vegetable Salad. This is a big, tasty salad full of delicious Mediterranean vegetables, Halloumi cheese and seeds. Drizzled with a plenty of tangy homemade vinaigrette, it is packed with flavour and a real crowd pleaser.

It may seem strange to think of firing up the oven when the weather is hot, but think of it this way; rather than standing over a hot stove or sweating over a grill pit, you simply throw all your dinner ingredients in the oven and close the door.

That means you can exit stage left somewhere cool (possibly with a cold wine or beer in hand), while the oven does all the work. Genius, right?

Table of Contents

🥗 About this salad

I’ve been making this salad for years, as it is very popular in my homeland of New Zealand. It’s full of big, bold Mediterranean flavours. Roasted sweet potatoes, (that’s Kūmara where I come from) and other vegetables are tossed with tangy Cypriot Halloumi cheese and a honey vinegar dressing.

Served with plenty of peppery arugula or rocket, this salad can be a meal by itself or a delicious side to grilled meats.

As this is a sturdy salad, it keeps perfectly in the fridge for up to a week, so it is ideal for batching / meal prepping.

🍽️ Main Ingredients

Sweet Potato / Kūmara: These roast up beautifully sweet and tender, and along with potatoes make up the base of this salad. Both orange sweet potato and golden NZ Kūmara taste great.
Red onions, Red Peppers and Zucchini: This trio of Mediterranean vegetables add gorgeous colour and flavour.
Halloumi Cheese: The most famous export from the island of Cyprus, this cheese is ideal for frying or baking, and has a delicious, salty chew.
Pine nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds: For added crunch
Red wine vinegar, honey and wholegrain mustard: combine to make a sweet, sour and seriously tasty dressing.

Diced sweet potato, zucchini, red onion and red pepper on an oven tray

👨🏻‍🍳 Method

It is so easy to make a Roast Vegetable Salad! It’s really all about letting the oven cook the vegetables to golden perfection. The only secret is putting the vegetables in the oven in the right order.

First, roast the potato, sweet potato and garlic.
Next, add the softer onion, zucchini and pepper.
Last, add the Halloumi cheese, nuts and seeds.
After that, all you need to do is toss the warm vegetables with the honey vinaigrette and a little salad greens and serve!

Variations

You can vary the ingredients depending on what you have and what is in season, just remember to put the ingredients in the oven in order from hard to soft.

By this, I mean that potatoes and onions take a lot longer to roast than softer vegetables like zucchini.

Don’t stress about it too much though, this is supposed to be relaxed cooking! You could add pumpkin, eggplant, or cherry tomatoes to the mix and they’ll all be super tasty.

If you can’t get hold of Halloumi, crumble over a good quality feta cheese after you take the salad out of the oven instead.

Summer Roast Vegetable Salad showing roasted halloumi mixed with the vegetables.

I like to use a whole rainbow of summer vegetables! Use whatever is fresh and in season for the best flavour.

Prepare in advance

This is a great salad for bringing to a picnic or the beach as it won’t wilt or sag. If you are taking it outdoors, keep the rocket separate until serving, then toss it under with a little extra dressing or a squeeze of fresh lemon.

What to serve with Roast Vegetable Salad

While this salad is a meal all by itself, it would be great served alongside some Turkish Chicken Shish Kebabs, a Chicken and Chickpea Pilaf, with a delicious Greek Salad and fresh bread. It is perfect with grilled or barbecued meats too.