Why you’ll fall in love with this cauliflower salad
Avocado Pesto. Yes, this is a thing. It’s a dreamy, creamy, magical thing.Cauliflower bites that are quickly steamed until crisp-tender have lots of nooks and crannies to soak up the magic pesto dressing.Sweet summer cherry tomatoes.A few little bites of spicy arugula and red onion.Crunchy bits of almonds.It’s so easy to make ahead, travels well, and the bright color steals the show.
Move over pesto pasta salad, there’s a new kid in town.
Magical Avocado Pesto Salad Dressing
We call this cauliflower salad, but it’s really all about the pesto avocado dressing. The cauliflower is only in the picture to help us get more of the delicious dressing into our mouths. Thank you for that, cauliflower. Adding a ripe avocado to pesto sauce makes it super creamy and perfect to use as a pesto salad dressing. Also, since avocados are so rich you don’t need to add any cheese to this pesto. Give it up for dairy-free pesto! There’s one more thing you’ll love about this pesto salad dressing: It’s so easy to make! Just pop everything into your blender then turn it on. Once the pesto is mostly smooth, pour it over the steamed cauliflower and your salad is ready.
Hot or cold cauliflower salad?
Your choice! In the summer, I like to serve this cold. In the winter, I like it hot. It’s delicious both ways. To make this a cold cauliflower salad, I simply run cold water over the steamed cauliflower until it has cooled. To make this a hot cauliflower salad, pour the pesto dressing over the hot steamed cauliflower. So easy!
What to serve with this cauliflower salad recipe
I like to keep dinner fuss-free. So when I serve this salad, I often opt to serve it beside some simple baked or grilled chicken. Because this cauliflower salad is almost like a faux pesto pasta salad (in other words, it’s filling) you really don’t need to anything other than a protein to go beside it. Here are my favorite main dishes to serve beside this salad:
Perfect Baked Chicken BreastsJuicy Baked Pork ChopsHoney Garlic ChickenGrilled Chimichurri ChickenSmoky Gochujang BBQ Chicken
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Best Greek Salad RecipeBacon Kale Caesar SaladGrilled Peach Salad with Curried Pecans and Honey VinaigretteThai Chopped Salad with Mango Sesame DressingCrispy Kale Salad with Roasted Beets
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