Vibrant Rocca Salad
Recipe Highlights
This plant-based rocca salad (aka rocket salad) is super easy to make. It’s zingy, fresh, filled with textures, and looks beautiful!
Packed with fresh summer produce, walnuts, pomegranate, mint, vegan feta, and a simple vinaigrette, this rocca salad is vibrant in colour and flavour.
So next time you need a fun and delicious salad as a side (or even as a light meal), bookmark this page and give it a try! Say goodbye to boring salad mixes that are just plain and unexciting and replace them with this deliciousness instead.
What’s in this rocca salad?
Rocca salad is well known in many parts of the Middle East, and you’ll notice, based on the ingredients used, that it has roots in that part of the world.
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What’s in this salad, you ask? Well, here’s the list:
- Rocket (rocca, arugula, roquette)
- Pomegranate arils (seeds)
- Walnuts
- Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Red onion
- Mint
- Vegan feta
- Red wine vinegar
- Olive oil
- Sumac
- Pomegranate molasses (optional)
- Salt
- Pepper
The base for this salad is rocket, a peppery green salad leaf. Easy to grow and easy to find in supermarkets, farmers’ markets, or your local greengrocer. It has many names, however, rocket and arugula are the most commonly used.
The cucumber and tomatoes add freshness, and the pomegranate gives it bursts of sweetness.
Walnuts add some crunch and nutty notes, while mint brightens it up.
Tips for making this salad
- Make Ahead: If you’d like to prepare this salad ahead of time, make sure you keep the dressing and salad separate. Only mix it before serving to keep it from going soggy. Soggy salads send shivers down my spine, please don’t do it. The other ingredient to consider keeping separate is the vegan feta. If it comes in oil, add it when serving as well.
- Use a Salad Spinner: When washing the salad leaves, use a salad spinner to get as much water out as possible. Excess water will dilute the dressing, and you’ll end up with a swimming pool at the bottom of your bowl. The other way to ensure you don’t have excess liquid is to remove the seeds from the tomatoes you’re using. I got about ¼ cups worth of liquid just from that.
- Bulking it Up: If you’d like to bulk this salad up and turn it into a meal, add a drained can of your favourite lentils or beans to it. Brown lentils or cannellini beans work well.
- Easily Adaptable: This salad is very easy to adapt. For example, don’t have onions on hand? Use spring onions/scallions instead. Want to simplify it? Remove the cucumber, vegan feta, and mint from the salad. It’s really up to you in which direction you’d like to take it!
Other salad recipes you can try
I have a pretty extensive library of vegan salad recipes. Here are a few others you can try:
- Rustic Vegan Caprese Salad
- Vegan Herb Potato Salad (No-Mayo)
- Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Quick & Simple Vegan Lentil Salad
- Panzanella Salad (Italian Tomato & Bread Salad)
- High Protein Vegan Salad
- Pomegranate, Crunchy Walnut & Kale Salad
- Simple Potato and Radicchio Salad
- Black Rice Salad with Spicy Toasted Sesame Dressing
- Vegan Red Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing
This vegan rocca salad is great for sharing. You can take it to a dinner party, a BBQ, a picnic, or a potluck. However, as I mentioned in the tips, make sure you keep the dressing (and the vegan feta) separately until it’s time to serve to prevent the salad leaves from going soggy.
I also love to make it for the holidays here in Australia, as the pops of red amongst the green give it a festive vibe, and it’s a delicious salad that everyone enjoys!
Other wonderful recipes you’ll love:
- Vegan Gibanica Recipe (Serbian Cheese Pie)
- Vegan Spinach Crepes with Pesto Mushrooms (Gluten-Free)
- Gluten-Free Tabbouleh with Quinoa and Pomegranate
- Vegan Souvlaki (Tofu Skewers)
- Easy Vegan Tomato Tarts with Pesto
If you try these recipes, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe/s on Pinterest.
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Vibrant Rocca Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4*
Description
A quick and simple rocca salad that’s full of flavour, packed with freshness and vibrant colours. It’s great served as a side or a light meal.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup / 30g walnuts, chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped (300g / .66 pounds)
- 1 medium cucumber, sliced into half moons
- ¼ a small red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- 1 stem mint (10–15 leaves), leaves removed and chopped
- 40g / 1.4 ounces vegan feta, chopped (optional)
- 50g / 1.76 ounces rocket (rocca, arugula, roquette)
- ½ cup / 75g pomegranate arils / seeds (about ½ a pomegranate)
Dressing:
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon sumac (optional)
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (optional, add 2 teaspoons more vinegar and 1 teaspoon maple syrup if subbing)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Lightly toast the chopped walnuts on low-medium heat in a pan. Once they release some of their natural oils and turn slightly darker, remove them from heat, transfer them to a plate to cool, and set them aside.
- While the walnuts toast, chop the tomatoes, removing the seeds and liquid from them.
- Next, prepare the cucumber, onion, mint and feta and add them, along with the tomatoes to a large bowl.
- Rinse and drain the rocket well. Using a salad spinner to remove as much water as possible is best. Add the rocket along with the pomegranate to the bowl.
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a small jar and give it a good shake to combine.
- Pour the dressing, add the walnuts to the salad, and give it a light toss to coat everything.
- Serve straight away.
Notes
Yield: 4 as a side and 2 as a light meal. Add some canned lentils that have been drained and rinsed to bulk up the dish.
Want to prepare it in advance? If you’d like to prepare this salad ahead of time, make sure you keep the dressing and salad separate. Only mix it together before serving to keep it from going soggy. The other ingredient to consider keeping separate is the feta. If it comes in oil, add it when serving as well.
Want to change it up? This salad is very easy to adapt. For example, don’t have onions on hand? Use spring onions/scallions instead. Want to simplify it? Remove the cucumber, vegan feta and mint from the salad. It’s really up to you in which direction you’d like to take it!
- Diet: Vegan
