Cauliflower Salad with Avocado Pesto Dressing

Cauliflower Salad with creamy avocado pesto, sweet cherry tomatoes, and spicy arugula is about to become your go-to recipe for picnics or for serving on the deck with dinner. The flavors are bright, fresh, and so delicious!

There are so many reasons to fall in love with this cauliflower salad, starting with the avocado pesto. Yes, it’s a thing — and it’s dreamy, creamy, and a little bit magical. The pesto clings beautifully to the cauliflower, turning a simple vegetable into something truly crave-worthy.

The cauliflower is lightly steamed until crisp-tender, giving it plenty of nooks and crannies to soak up all that flavor. Sweet cherry tomatoes, peppery arugula, a little red onion, and crunchy almonds add freshness, bite, and texture. It’s easy to make ahead, travels well, and the bright colors always steal the show.

Move over pesto pasta salad — there’s a new favorite 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 run cold water over the steamed cauliflower until it is cool. To make this a hot cauliflower salad, pour the pesto dressing over the hot steamed cauliflower. So easy!

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4.98 stars (34 ratings)

Cauliflower Salad Recipe

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 5 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

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Cauliflower Salad with creamy avocado pesto, sweet cherry tomatoes, and spicy arugula is about to become your go-to recipe to bring to a picnic or serve on the deck with dinner. The flavors are bright and fresh and so delicious!

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Ingredients

Cauliflower Salad

• ▢ 1 large head of cauliflower (chopped)
• ▢ 1 pint cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
• ▢ 1 ounce baby arugula
• ▢ ¼ cup minced red onion
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped toasted almonds

Avocado Pesto

• ▢ 1 cup basil
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil
• ▢ ¼ cup toasted cashews
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ Juice from 1 ½ lemons
• ▢ 1 clove garlic (minced)
• ▢ 1 ripe avocado

Instructions 

• Add the cauliflower pieces to a medium-sized pot an add an inch of water. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, cover the pot, and steam for 3-5 minutes, depending on how soft you like your cauliflower. Drain the water from the pot and, if serving cold, run cold water over the cauliflower until it is cold.
  1 large head of cauliflower
• Add the basil, olive oil, cashews, salt, lemon juice, and garlic to your blender and blend on high until mostly smooth. Add the avocado and ½ cup of water and blend once more for a few seconds. If the pesto is too thick to pour, add a little more water.
  1 cup basil, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup toasted cashews, 1 teaspoon salt, Juice from 1 ½ lemons, 1 clove garlic, 1 ripe avocado
• Add the steamed cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, arugula, red onion, and almonds to a large bowl, pour the avocado pesto over the top, and toss to coat.
  1 pint cherry tomatoes, 1 ounce baby arugula, ¼ cup minced red onion, ¼ cup chopped toasted almonds

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ⅙ of the recipe, Calories: 246kcal (12%), Carbohydrates: 17g (6%), Protein: 6g (12%), Fat: 19g (29%), Saturated Fat: 3g (19%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Sodium: 443mg (19%), Potassium: 872mg (25%), Fiber: 7g (29%), Sugar: 6g (7%), Vitamin A: 758IU (15%), Vitamin C: 95mg (115%), Calcium: 75mg (8%), Iron: 2mg (11%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.