Three Bean & Roasted Cauliflower Salad

There’s still plenty of time for barbecues and this Three Bean and Roasted Cauliflower Salad is the perfect side dish. I didn’t grow up with bean salad on the dinner table and I had never really given the dish much thought before. However, a couple months ago, Matt and I were grabbing dinner at Whole Foods. We live right by one so this is a common occurrence for us; it’s too hard to go in there and shop without getting dinner! I usually put together something from the salad bar. I’m not big on salads, but I throw in all the toppings and sides they have without any lettuce on the bottom. Anyone else do this or am I the only weird one?

Anyways, I put in some of this four bean salad they had along with some multi-colored roasted cauliflower (among probably ten other things). When we sat down to eat, I couldn’t get enough of the bean salad and roasted cauliflower combination.

I decided to make my own version when we had some family come stay with us. I found Cookie and Kate’s bean salad recipe and decided to tweak a few things. The salad got rave reviews! It is crunchy, well-balanced and has just the right amount of acidity. All the fresh chopped parsley brightens it up as well. My Aunt liked it so much that she made it while we were down at the beach!

Shortly after making it for my family, I decided I wanted to make it again, but this time with the roasted cauliflower like my Whole Foods salad bar meal. I found some rainbow cauliflower in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s and thought the colors of the purple cauliflower would pop really well. I had never roasted frozen cauliflower before, but it came out perfect.

So after a bit of tweaking, below is my favorite version of this refreshing Three Bean and Roasted Cauliflower Salad. It makes a lot so definitely make sure you’re going to have some hungry eaters!

Recipe adapted from Cookie + Kate.