Roasted Cabbage Salad with Lemon-Shallot Dressing is the perfect side dish for your favorite proteins. Melty antioxidant-rich cabbage gains a delightfully deep caramelization with hints of smokiness after roasting in the oven at high heat. The savory, tangy lemon-shallot dressing is tossed with the cabbage while it’s hot, fully infusing it with bright citrusy notes, while salty Parmesan cheese balances out all the flavors. Keep reading for our expert tips, including ingredient substitutions.

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• Feel free to roast the cabbage until it is more than just golden but instead charred in spots. It’ll add texture to the dish, and the charred flavors will pair perfectly with the lemon dressing.
• While we enjoy this recipe with cabbage, it would also be excellent with quartered Brussels sprouts.
• For a different flavor, consider using fresh herbs like parsley or dill.
• You can substitute the toasted walnuts with almonds or nut-free alternatives such as pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds or sunflower seeds. Plus, you can use nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan to keep the recipe dairy-free. 
• To toast walnuts, place in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. 

Nutrition Notes

• Cabbage is a cruciferous veggie known for its cancer-fighting nutrients. The fiber in cabbage will feed your beneficial gut bacteria and the antioxidants in cabbage will help keep your eyes healthy. 
• Shallots are a part of the onion family and, like onions, have been associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, infectious diseases and cancer. 
• Parmesan cheese adds some calcium and protein to this salad. If you want to keep this dish vegetarian, look for Parm made with vegetable rennet instead of animal rennet. 
• Walnuts have a ton of health benefits. They’re loaded with heart- and brain-healthy fats, fiber and plant protein. They provide food for your beneficial gut bacteria, and their combination of fiber, fat and protein is a perfect combination to help stabilize blood sugar.