Simple Broiled Vegetable Salad

Simple Broiled Vegetable Salad gives all the goodness of grilled veggies without the grill! An oven and a sheet pan are all you need to get a healthy, delicious variation on grilled vegetables.

Sad story: our grill broke 2 years ago. The end.

What a way to start a blog post, right? The truth is that we have missed having an electric grill, but did not want to fork out the money for one. So we purchased an inexpensive charcoal grill instead.

Now don’t get me wrong – I love charcoal grills. They impart incredible flavor, and are (I imagine) pretty fun. I say I imagine because I am not one who knows how to man a charcoal grill…yet. Hence the life hack of using a the oven to broil vegetables!

Thankfully this story has a happy ending, because these broiled vegetables, while they don’t have the charcoal grill flavor, certainly pack a punch! Not to mention this salad, which is accidentally vegan, is flavorful enough to feel decadent but healthy enough to solidify Wonder Woman status.

A few things I HIGHLY recommend when making this simple broiled vegetable salad:

• Make sure you don’t slice the vegetables too thin (specifically the zucchini) or they’ll get soggy and mushy very quickly.
• I love to use parchment for easy release. Otherwise you’ll need to oil both sides of the vegetables and make sure you’re OK with scraping them off the pan.
• Make sure you put everything in a SINGLE LAYER. I cannot emphasize this enough because otherwise you’ll just be steaming them. Steaming means less flavor and no caramalized bits.
• If you do not let the vegetables cool before putting them on the salad greens, the heat will wilt the greens. Honestly if it’s baby spinach this isn’t awful news, but other greens might not be as forgiving.
• Play around with the spices, or add other veggies! Yellow squash, eggplant, other pepper varieties, and even kale would be delicious! The key is to keep it all in one layer (and not overcrowding).

I can’t wait to hear what you think! Tell me – did you play around with the seasonings? What did you use for dressings?

SIMPLE BROILED VEGETABLE SALAD
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 red onion, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 1 large zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
• 8-10 mini sweet bell peppers, halved, with seeds and stem removed
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil (another option: avocado oil spray)
• salt and pepper
• 4 cups salad greens of choice
• salad dressing of choice

Directions:

• Preheat oven to broil while slicing the vegetables, about 10 minutes.
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place the vegetables cut side down in an even layer on top of the parchment paper.
• Brush with oil (or spray lightly with oil).
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper. I used about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
• Broil for 10-15 minutes, until you start to see the vegetables browning.
• Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to the salad greens.
• Top with chickpeas, and toss with dressing of choice.
• Enjoy!