Roasted Pumpkin and Barley Salad

Roasted Pumpkin Salad with Barley - this autumn salad is perfect for a light but surprisingly filling lunch. It's super delicious too! 

Ingredients 

• Pumpkin (substitute with butternut squash if you don't have access to pumpkins)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Rocket
• Pearl barley
• Apple
• Brown mushrooms
• Pumpkin seeds
• Tamari soy sauce
• Walnut oil
• Apple cider vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Getting oven ready

Before doing anything else, you'll want to preheat your oven to 220ºC. 

Prepping your pumpkin

While you wait for the oven to heat up, you can prep your pumpkin (or butternut squash) by washing it, halving it half and removing the seeds. Then cut off cour thumb-sized pieces of pumpkin (including the skin) and set them to one side. 

Now you can peel the rest of the pumpkin and cut it into bite-sized chunks. Once it's all cut up, put the chunks in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt before roasting the chunks in the oven for 20-25 minutes. 

How to cook your pearl barley

With the pumpkin roasting in the oven, you can move onto preparing your pearl barley. Firstly, give it all a quick wash before putting it in a saucepan with about 1 litre of boiling water and put the pan on medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes. 

During this time, you'll notice the barley grow in size as it soaks up the water, a bit like rice! Be sure to check on the barley every few minutes and add more water if necessary. Once the barley has doubled in size and is soft, drain it and set aside. 

Cooking your mushrooms

Next up, wash and slice your mushrooms before frying them in a large pan with a splash of olive oil. Be sure to only fry them for 1-2 minutes on each side, otherwise, they'll lose too much of their moisture and will shrink! Add a little salt and pepper until you're happy with the flavour. 

Once your shrooms are cooked, set them aside and put the four thumb-sized slices of pumpkin in their place. with a little more oil and salt and keep cooking them until they soften and brown. Once it's cooked, set the pieces aside. 

How to make your autumn dressing

Firstly, take a small jar and mix up the pumpkin seeds and tamari soy sauce and roast them in the oven for about 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, whisk together 1 Tbsp of walnut oil and 1 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a small glass.

Putting everything together

With all your ingredients cooked and ready, it's time to put everything together to make your delicious salad! 

Firstly, add a handful of rocket salad on each plate, before topping with the barley, mushrooms and roasted pumpkin chunks. Shred 1/4 of an apple on to each plate, add the fried pumpkin and pour over the walnut-vinegar dressing. Finish off the dish by sprinkling the roasted pumpkin seeds over the top.

You can even go a step further by pouring yourself a cold Appletiser 😉

This recipe is: 

• 100% vegan
• egg free
• dairy-free
• wonderfully autumnal 
• perfect for an easy and healthy lunch
• super easy to make 

Print

Looking for more of my vegan home recipes? Be sure to try these: 

• Vegan Teriyaki Sauce Recipe
• Vegan Kale Caesar Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
• Crispy Baked Falafels with Garlic Tahini Dip
• Roasted Pumpkin Red Lentil Dhal Recipe

*Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links and sponsored links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. You can find more information in my Privacy Policy.

 © Romy London / Romina Callwitz | All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images and content without permission. If you wish to re-publish any recipes or images, please get in touch via email. Thanks for your support!