A beautiful late spring recipe, this roasted rhubarb salad features greens, vegan labneh, and rye bread croutons! The title for this recipe could easily stretch for miles – salad with roasted rhubarb, garlic rye sourdough croutons, vegan labneh balls, blueberries, lemon vinaigrette, and so on. They’re all important players in this major meal of a salad.
You know it’s good when you want to steal all the bits and pieces before they reach the salad (those croutons). It is a bit of work to make all the different elements, but it’s mostly a bit of chopping which you’d be doing for any other salad anyway. And you’re going to want these croutons!
Salad should never be boring, and this is proof! Give me hearty, exciting salads every day of the week and I’m a happy camper. And bread in salad, always good.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
It’s easy to switch out a number of the ingredients and keep the base recipe following the same sort of guide.
- Mâche lettuce: other types of lettuce or greens work well. Think rucola (rocket/arugula), little gem, baby spinach, anything that won’t melt as soon as something vaguely warm comes into contact with it.
- Fresh blueberries: other berries or fruit (strawberries, peaches, apricots) can take the place of blueberries.
- French green lentils (le puy): sub black or mountain lentils for the green, but not red.
- Sunflower seeds: any nuts or seeds you like can replace sunflower seeds – walnuts would be excellent.
- Dark rye bread: you can also use a gluten-free bread instead of rye, or something like spelt sourdough for a milder taste.
- Vegan labneh: if you don’t want to make and roll the labneh balls from scratch, you can use a soft goat cheese (if you eat cheese) or substitute dollops of your favourite thick yogurt.
- Honey: use maple syrup in place of honey where called for in the recipe to make it fully vegan.
Recipe Notes
To streamline this, start by cooking the lentils if you haven’t already (they’re listed as cooked in the ingredients). While they’re cooking, cut the bread, pop it on the baking trays with the olive oil, garlic, and salt, and get the croutons in the oven. While the croutons are baking, cut the rhubarb, and get it roasting with the honey too. Croutons take about twenty minutes and the rhubarb needs about ten.
If your croutons and the rhubarb are done before you have the salad assembled, don’t worry! They can cool before being mixed in with the other ingredients. It’s a good idea to get them going before everything else so that you don’t have your salad sitting out and waiting for the things in the oven – this is the most time-efficient way to make the recipe.
Mâche Lettuce
I chose mâche lettuce (lamb’s lettuce, corn salad, or feldsalat in German) for this recipe mostly because it’s my favourite type of salad green, but I also think it holds up well in the salad despite the delicate nature of the leaves. You should be able to find it at this time of year.
In northwestern Europe, it’s available through winter and spring as a colder-weather green – I grow it through the winter and it usually does well even outside the cold frame. Mâche has three times as much vitamin C as regular lettuce, and it’s higher in other nutrients as well.
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Expert Tips
- Serve fresh: as with most green salads, this doesn’t hold up very well to storage, and should be served shortly after assembling.
- Change it up: the roasted rhubarb is the most important element of the salad, and the other ingredients can be changed to suit your preferences (see substitutions above).
- Prepare in advance: some of the elements can or should be started ahead of time, like the labneh and lentils. The bread can also be cubed a day or two in advance and kept in a container until needed.
More Vegetarian Salads
Asparagus Potato Salad
Vegan Broccoli Salad
Chickpea Quinoa Salad
White Bean Salad with Herb Dressing
If you make this Springtime Rhubarb Salad or any other vegetarian side dish recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Roasted Rhubarb Salad
Ingredients
Garlic Rye Croutons
- 2 thick slices rye sourdough cubed, 3 cm (1 inch)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
Honey Roasted Rhubarb
- 2 stalks rhubarb sliced
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
Honey Lemon Vinaigrette
- 60 ml olive oil
- Juice of one lemon about 3 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Base Salad
- 125 grams mâche (lamb's) lettuce
- 150 grams cooked french lentils
- 100 grams blueberries
- 40 grams sunflower seeds
- 1 batch vegan labneh rolled into small balls
Instructions
Garlic Rye Croutons
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the bread onto the pan and then add the olive oil, garlic, and salt. Use your hands to work the oil into the bread, squeezing as you mix the ingredients. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crisp and golden.2 thick slices rye sourdough, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt
Honey Roasted Rhubarb
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix to coat the rhubarb with honey (or maple syrup), and then bake for about ten minutes, or until the rhubarb is soft and beginning to caramelise.2 stalks rhubarb, 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
Labneh Balls
- To make the labneh balls, take small spoonfuls from the finished product and gently roll them with your hands into balls. Make as many as you like for the salad, but I recommend between 10-15.
Honey Lemon Vinaigrette
- Add the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper into a small jar and shake until fully combined. Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week, but you shouldn't have leftovers.60 ml olive oil, Juice of one lemon, 1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Assembly
- Place the lettuce, lentils, blueberries, and sunflower seeds into a large serving bowl, in the order listed. Top with the croutons, roasted rhubarb, and labneh, then finish with the lemon dressing. Serve immediately.125 grams mâche (lamb's) lettuce, 150 grams cooked french lentils, 100 grams blueberries, 40 grams sunflower seeds, 1 batch vegan labneh
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
This post was originally published in June 2017. It has been updated as of June 2020 with improvements to the text, recipe, and photographs.
Hilary says
What a pretty salad! I love the mix of colours, flavours and textures. Beautiful!
Ayngelina says
I LOVE labneh but never thought to put it in a salad like this. Looks fantastic.
Gabrielle @ eyecandypopper says
Oh this is so my kind of salad! Yummy! I love salads full of surprising elements, flavours and crunchiness. I had no idea you could make vegan labneh balls! So interesting!
Ginger by Choice I Food & Lifestyle Blog says
I'm also from Germany and I love mâche lettuce/Feldsalat! I've tried to grow it here in Tennessee but unfortunately it's too hot and too humid. Labneh is totally new to me. It sounds pretty good! I've googled how to prepare it. It's quite easy!
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! I enjoyed reading it and will definitely try it.
Ginger by Choice I Food & Lifestyle Blog