Grilled Vegetable Salad with Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing

Shake up the everyday side salad or entree summer salad with this grilled vegetable salad. It's not your standard lettuce-and-raw-veggies salad; grilling the vegetables in this vegan recipe adds a smoky flavor and yielding texture that pairs well with the toothsome snap of pumpkin seeds (in place of croutons fried in vegetable oil).

Grilling lettuce and bitter roughage like radicchio add char-grilled dimension to the salad base. Grilling red bell peppers enhances their sweetness, and grilled summer squash adds bulk and beauty to the dish. Sprinkle the warm summer salad with pumpkin seeds and drizzle with homemade Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing made with glycemic-friendly allulose, avocado oil for buttery flavor, and ripe avocado for creaminess.

Romaine lettuce leaves provide the sturdy, leafy foundation for this salad. Rich in vitamins A and K, folate, potassium, and manganese, romaine lettuce wilts slightly when grilled but retains its shape as long as you don't leave it on the grill for too long.

Use fresh, ripe avocado, the leaves and stems from fresh cilantro, and freshly squeezed lime juice to make the most robustly flavored salad dressing. A small bit of allulose mellows the acidity from the apple cider vinegar and citrus juice and tempers the slight bite of raw garlic. This low-glycemic sweetener shouldn't spike your blood sugar in the same way that a natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey could.

Grilled Vegetable Salad Recipe

A smoky, char-grilled switch-up from the everyday raw salad, this grilled vegetable salad is vegan, but bursting with flavor, texture, and creaminess from the avocado cilantro lime dressing.

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini, (sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices)
• 2 yellow squash, (sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices)
• 1/2 eggplant, (sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices)
• 1 red bell pepper, (cut in half)
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 8 Tbsp. Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing

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Instructions

1. Wash and dry all produce.
2. Pre-heat the grill grates to medium-high. Spray the grill grates with olive oil (or pour some olive oil on a clean kitchen towel and wipe across the grates before the grill heats up).
3. Cut the zucchini, squash, and eggplant into 1/2-inch thick strips. Cut the top of the red bell pepper off and remove the seeds. Cut the bell pepper in half.
4. Place the cut vegetables in a large bowl; add 2 tablespoons of oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper, and toss to combine.
5. Cut the romaine lettuce in half length-wise but don't remove the core. Cut the radicchio in half, keeping the core intact. Brush the lettuce and radicchio halves with 1 teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  
6. Grill romaine and radicchio halves for 3 minutes on the first side, pressing the vegetables down a few times with tongs to get a nice sear. Turn over and grill on the other side for 2 minutes.
7. Remove the lettuce and radicchio from the grill and put them on a plate. Spritz with fresh lime juice.
8. Place the zucchini, squash, eggplant, and bell pepper on the grill and cook for 2–3 minutes per side.
9. Cut the grilled romaine and radicchio slices in half (so you have quarters of each), add sliced grilled vegetables, and plate on a large platter. Drizzle with Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing, and top with pumpkin seeds.

Nutrition info

Nutrition info for 1 serving of Grilled Vegetable Salad with 2 tablespoons of Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing: 385 calories, 9 grams protein, 30 grams fat, 27 grams carbs.