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Spicy Roasted Carrot Salad with Tahini and Lentils

January 29, 2018 by Alexandra Daum
This easy roasted carrot salad is mixed with lentils, greens, & topped with a creamy dairy-free tahini dressing for an easy weeknight dinner great all year.
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Roasted carrot lentil salad with arugula and tahini sauce on white plate.

Lentil salad with some sort of roasted root vegetables, or pumpkin, is an autumn and winter staple. It’s easy and takes no time at all, it’s a balanced meal, and most importantly tastes great.

Since pumpkin is right at the tail end of its season now, I’m sticking to carrots for now. Carrots are a little speedier in any case. If you want to use pumpkin, try my roasted pumpkin salad.

If I’m being really lazy I’ll just toss everything together with a little balsamic vinegar on top, but the tahini sauce really pulls everything together here and adds some satisfying creaminess. I’m not sure when I first started to really love lentils but these days it’s a full-blown affair.

I never understand when people, especially vegetarians, tell me they don’t like lentils. They’re the ideal food! Especially if you live in the north, as they’re grown in northern Europe and North America so you can usually find them from a local-ish source. Even in Canada!

I make this roasted carrot salad for a quick lunch on the weekends, as a main during the week, and it’s almost as good cold, so Graham packs it and brings it to work with him too. If you’re looking for a super-quick weeknight dinner, you’ve found it!

You need less than half an hour from start to finish, including and cutting time (minimal) and making the sauce. Note that if you have huge carrots, they should be quartered instead of halved to keep within a reasonable cooking timeframe.

Plus, the ingredients are easy to find and affordable – if you don’t want to spend money on tahini or you don’t like/can’t get it, you can substitute some kind of nut butter or another seed butter in its place. Tahini is easy to find now anyway, probably thanks largely to the popularity of the  Ottolenghi books, hah.

Roasted carrot lentil salad with arugula and tahini sauce on white plate.

Roasted carrot lentil salad with arugula and tahini sauce on white plate.

Roasted carrot lentil salad with arugula and tahini sauce on white plate.Let’s connect! If you liked this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via email, facebook, and pinterest.

Yield: 2 people

Spicy Roasted Carrots with Tahini Lentil Salad

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
4.69 from 44 votes

Ingredients

  • 150 grams / 3/4 cup dry brown or green lentils*
  • 7-8 medium carrots halved lengthwise (~300 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
  • ½ teaspoon sumac**
  • 60 grams / 2 cups rucola or other mild greens

Tahini Vinaigrette

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar***
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon maple syrup or honey
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt to taste
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • Plus pomegranate seeds for topping

Instructions

  • Rinse the lentils and place into a medium pot. Cover generously with water, bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes. Strain any remaining water and stir in a sprinkle of salt. While the lentils are cooking, prepare the carrots.
  • Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F. Place the carrots onto a baking sheet with the oil and spices, then use your hands to mix until the carrots are coated. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until they are softened and browned.
  • To serve, separate the rucola between two dishes and add half the lentils and carrots. Top with the tahini sauce and some pomegranate, and serve immediately. If you want to pack this for lunch, let the individual elements cool before packing them together in a sealed container.

Tahini Vinaigrette

  • Place all of the ingredients into a small dish or jar and mix until fully combined. Keep and leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Notes

• Since carrots are naturally higher in sugar, they can burn easily. To prevent yours from charring, place them cut side up on the pan so that the skin side is facing down - you can see that I didn't do this for some of mine and they got a little dark in places.
• Try baby spinach, kale, or swiss chard in place of the rucola (all babies). Don't go for lettuce as it'll be wilt unpleasantly when it comes into contact with the warm carrots and lentils.
• I know this recipe says it serves two but I've downed the whole thing by myself before, so double it if you're extra hungry!
• Try to soak the lentils ahead of time if you can - just cover them in cold water with a splash of apple cider vinegar and let them sit overnight. This makes them easier to digest and they'll cook faster.
*This will be around 300 grams / 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils if you already have them on hand.
**If you don't have sumac, cumin is a good substitution.
*** If you hate vinegar, you can switch out the balsamic for lemon juice. But even Graham, who says he can't stand vinegar, happily eats this sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 2people Calories: 542kcal Carbohydrates: 61g Protein: 17g Fat: 29g Saturated Fat: 4g Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g Sodium: 1025mg Fiber: 22g Sugar: 8g
© Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs
Cuisine: American
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Comments

  1. mwaters says

    September 23, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    Odd that your photographs show pomegranate, but you don’t include it in the recipe.

    Reply
    • Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says

      September 23, 2018 at 2:03 pm

      It is mentioned in the recipe to top it with pomegranate, but of course you can leave it out if you prefer.

      Reply
  2. Kim says

    September 24, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    Made this last night as a quick Sunday meal…so good. It will now be part of my regular meal rotation. Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Kayla says

    February 26, 2019 at 2:48 am

    Love this easy healthy meal!! Have cooked it consistently for guests for past year. Always a hit!! Carrots must be bigger than usual as they’re taking forever to cook. LOL : ) Thanks for great recipe!!

    Reply
  4. Ruby says

    May 27, 2019 at 3:47 am

    What kind of lentils work best here?

    Reply
    • Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says

      May 27, 2019 at 7:00 am

      Hi Ruby, brown or green lentils are best. Thanks for noticing that, it’s been updated now in the recipe.

      Reply
  5. Kristina says

    June 2, 2020 at 3:54 pm

    Made this last night and it was very good. We added sun dried tomatoes and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds for crunch, and used white wine vinegar instead of balsamic. Easy dinner salad, great for leftovers.

    Reply
  6. Kat says

    October 2, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    Really wish the recipe would have included pomegranate in the ingredients list. Making an extra trip to the store now that I realize it was not included for my last trip.

    Reply
    • Alexandra says

      October 3, 2020 at 7:43 am

      Hi Kat – it’s listed under the tahini sauce, maybe you missed it when looking at the main salat ingredients?

      Reply
  7. Ash says

    February 21, 2021 at 1:50 am

    Can you use canned lentils?

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      February 21, 2021 at 9:22 am

      I don’t see why not!

      Reply
  8. Jennifer says

    March 15, 2021 at 5:38 pm

    I had not tried a salad with lentils like this before, or with roasted carrots for that matter! I enjoyed trying something new and hope to make it again. I used spinach for the greens, subbed dried cranberries for the pomegranate and added avocado to my salad. It’s a unique but tasty combination of flavors and textures!

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      March 16, 2021 at 11:12 am

      So glad you liked it, thanks Jennifer!

      Reply
  9. Alessandra Rodriguez says

    September 8, 2021 at 12:02 am

    SOOO GOOOD and SOOO EASY!!! I am so impressed by how filling this dish was! I was nervous that it wouldn’t be enough for dinner, but it was so much that we didn’t even finish it! Can’t wait to try again.

    Reply
  10. Suzanne says

    January 24, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    This looks so good! Do you use this vinegarette for any other recipes?

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      January 25, 2022 at 9:24 am

      There are similar ones here and here.

      Reply
  11. Vanessa says

    January 24, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    Thanks for sharing! Does the vinegarette keep long?

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      January 25, 2022 at 9:23 am

      About three days in the refrigerator, in my experience. You might have to thin it a bit before using if it’s cold.

      Reply
  12. Jess says

    February 16, 2022 at 11:25 pm

    I’ve made this twice and I’m obsessed. Even my meat loving husband loves it as a main course with some crumbled feta. I liked the balsamic in the dressing, but the second time I used lemon juice and liked it even better. I like lemon on everything though, so it may just be me. 🙂

    Thank you! I’ll definitely be trying more recipes.

    Reply
  13. Annemie says

    July 14, 2022 at 7:24 am

    5 stars
    I made this yesterday and it was lovely! Even my boyfriend who was very skeptical upfront about the “weird brown sauce” really liked it. Really easy too!

    Reply

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