This winter panzanella with turmeric tahini dressing is packed with a mix of fresh and roasted vegetables and fruits and is ready in under 45 minutes. Kale, carrots, beets, and watermelon radishes are tossed with toasted cubes of bread and drizzled with a golden turmeric tahini dressing for a satisfying winter salad that is vegan and gluten free with one simple swap.
Kicking off a brand new year with this super colorful and flavor-packed winter panzanella salad with turmeric tahini dressing! If you’re been craving more plants, this is absolutely the salad for you. It’s a melange of winter fruits and veggies like kale, beets, and watermelon radishes tossed with homemade croutons, buttery pecans, and a zingy tahini dressing flavored with fresh lemon juice and turmeric. It’s fully vegan and can very easily be made gluten free by using your favorite gluten free bread. Enjoy it as a light lunch or pair it with your favorite plant-based protein for a well-rounded and colorful meal.
Notes on Ingredients and Substitutions
This salad celebrates winter produce and is incredibly adapatable based on what is available to you. Any combination of winter root veggies can be used in place of the watermelon radish, beets, and carrots. If you don’t have persimmons, feel free to one large, ripe apple or pear instead. If you’re going to include pomegranate arils, I highly recommend buying a pomegranate and removing the arils (seeds) yourself because they are so much fresher, cheaper, and tastier than the ones sold in packages. Don’t want to faff around with that? Use dried cherries or cranberries. As for the bread, use one that you like! I ended up using a cranberry pecan bread for the photos but honestly any bread will do. If yours is already sliced into thinner slices, you’ll need more like 5-7 slices for the salad.
TURMERIC NOTES: You can use either fresh turmeric root or ground turmeric in the dressing. Freshly grated turmeric root will have a more vibrant spicy and citrusy flavor and will turn the dressing a deeper yellow the longer it sits. Have some left over? Try these no-bake turmeric lime coconut tarts!
Winter Panzanella with Turmeric Tahini Dressing in 6 Easy Steps
Recipe Tips
- Make sure you tear or cut your bread into bite-sized pieces! This makes it so much easier to eat the salad so that you get more in a bite than just a big hunk of bread (speaking from personal experience!).
- Dress the salad right before you serve and eat it. This helps keep the bread stay crisp and honestly, it just tastes fresher in my opinion!
- Cut your root veggies into similar sized pieces so that they roast evenly.
- Want a super smooth dressing? Use an immersion blender instead of a whisk.
More Winter Salad Recipes to Enjoy
Brassicas like kale and Brussels sprouts make a great base for winter salads! If you want a kale salad that’s more cooked and less raw, try my warm kale and lentil salad with lemon rosemary dressing. Or, if you want a quick kale salad without any cooking, I highly recommend my kale, apple, and celery salad with maple dijon dressing. If you’re a Brussels sprout fan I have two delicious salads for you: a shaved Brussels sprouts salad with roasted Delicata squash, and a roasted Brussels sprouts salad with a citrus shallot vinaigrette.
Winter Panzanella with Turmeric Tahini Dressing
- Total Time: 40-45 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This winter panzanella with turmeric tahini dressing is packed with a mix of fresh and roasted vegetables and fruits and is ready in under 45 minutes. Kale, carrots, beets, and watermelon radishes are tossed with toasted cubes of bread and drizzled with a golden turmeric tahini dressing for a satisfying winter salad that is vegan and gluten free with one simple swap.
Ingredients
for the salad
- 2 medium beets
- 2 medium/large watermelon radishes, or other winter radishes or turnips
- 2 large carrots
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt, to taste
- 3–4 thick slices wholegrain bread
- 4–5 large kale leaves, de-ribbed and torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup roasted pecans or hazelnuts, chopped
- 2 firm-fleshed ripe persimmons, such as the Fuyu variety, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
for the dressing
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, from 1-2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 scant teaspoon freshly grated turmeric, or 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- Sea salt, to taste
- Water, as needed to thin
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
While the oven preheats, prep the root veggies. Remove the outer peel from the beets and carrots then scrub the watermelon radish well. Cut the radishes and beets into bite-sized pieces then slice the carrots into bite-sized pieces. Add them to a large baking sheet. Drizzle with oil then season with salt and toss to coat. Spread them out into an even layer then roast in the preheated oven until tender, about 25-30 minutes.
Get out another large baking sheet. Cut or tear the bread into bite-sized pieces then place them on the second baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt then toss to coat. Spread the bread out in an even layer, then place in the oven on a separate rack from the veggies. Toast the bread for 18-20 minutes until turning crisp and golden around the edges.
While the veggies roast and the bread toasts, prep the remaining components. Add the kale to a large bowl along with a small pinch of salt. Massage for about 30 seconds until softened and glistening. Add the pecans, sliced persimmon, and pomegranate to the bowl as well.
Make the dressing next. Add the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, maple syrup, garlic powder, pepper, turmeric, and a pinch of salt to a small bowl or jar. Whisk until smooth. Add water a teaspoon or two at a time as needed to reach a drizzleable consistency.
After the veggies and bread have both been removed from the oven, allow them to cool for at least 5 minutes before adding them to the bowl along with the kale. Toss to combine.
Right before serving, drizzle with some of the dressing and toss. Taste, then add more dressing and salt/pepper as needed.
Notes
- I recommend adding dressing only to the portions of the salad you will eat right away. Keep leftover dressing and salad stored in separate containers in the fridge and enjoy within 5 days.
- For easier clean up, you can line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Baby spinach, baby kale, or arugula can be used in place of the larger kale leaves — you’ll need about 6 ounces.
- The runnier the tahini, the better. Thicker tahini will take more water to reach a drizzleable dressing consistency. For mine, I only needed to add 1 tablespoon of water.
- Use any bread variety you like but I tend to prefer something heartier or whole grain here. Gluten free bread works beautifully here as well!
- Pecans are my favorite to use in winter salads but you can also use an equal amount of roasted hazelnuts or walnunts.
- If you prefer, you can use dried cranberries or cherries in place of the pomegranate.
- I used Chioggia beets (candy-stripe beets) but you can use any red or golden variety you like.
- Make sure to use a persimmon variety that is firm when firm, such as Fuyu.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cooling Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Category: salad
This salad looks amazing! Perfect mix of textures and flavors, and love that it’s vegan and gluten-free too.
So many lovely flavors, textures, and colors! Let me know if you try it!
As a dietitian, I LOVE how nutrient rich and delicious this recipe is!!! YUM!
So happy you enjoyed it! And awesome to get the dietitian seal of approval 🙂