Roasted Veggie Couscous with Lemon Vinaigrette

We love playing around with different flavor combinations and experimenting with new recipes whenever possible. However, there are some recipes that we’ve been making for years and years and that are too perfect to change. This Roasted Veggie Couscous is one of those recipes for us.

There’s something so perfectly comforting and satisfying about food that has been roasted. So many of us typically think of roasting chicken or other animal proteins, but in this dish, we’ve swapped out the meat and replaced it with colorful vegetables, seasoned with olive oil and smoked paprika. Then, because we can, we’ve mixed the perfectly roasted veggies with pearl couscous, crumbled goat cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette.

The result is a hearty, vibrant, and nutritious pasta dish packed with flavor. It isn’t fussy at all, and comes together fairly quickly, so it’s a perfect weeknight dinner for yourself, your friends, or your whole family. It’s so tasty that we’re sure you’ll soon be adding it to your monthly dinner rotation too!

This recipe makes about 6 generous servings. It also makes great leftovers, if you have any!

Ingredients for Roasted Veggie Couscous

Here is what you’ll need to make this recipe:

• Pearl couscous – we love using pearl couscous here because of the texture it gives to this dish.
• Zucchini – when you cut the zucchini for this dish, it’s important make sure not to cut it too thin or it’ll become overly mushy.
• Yellow squash – as with the zucchini, cutting this too thin may make it become mushy when it roasts.
• Broccoli – broccoli is one of the unsung heroes of this dish, but if you don’t like broccoli, substitute it for cauliflower or another vegetable.
• Red onion – we love the color that red onion brings, but we’ve also made this with sweet onion and it’s just as good.
• Red bell pepper – we prefer red, orange, or yellow peppers because they’re sweeter than green ones, but you can use whatever you prefer or have on hand.
• Smoked paprika – we always, always have this spice on hand and we use it in many of our recipes. It brings a subtle smokiness and sweetness to this dish, which balances out the earthiness of the veggies.
• Crumbled goat cheese – you can also use goat cheese that isn’t pre-crumbled, but you’ll have to break it up yourself. The key here is that the goat cheese kind of melts with the warm couscous and veggies, coating everything in a light tanginess. Feel free to leave the cheese out entirely if you don’t eat animal products!
• Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Lemon Vinaigrette

This lemon vinaigrette is tangy, savory, and just a tiny bit sweet. It goes so well with the roasted vegetables and goat cheese! It will seem like a lot of volume at first, but the couscous and vegetables soak it all up quickly.

Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:

• Fresh lemon juice – we love using Meyer lemons, but any lemon will do fine.
• Olive oil – you’ll want to use a good-tasting, extra virgin olive oil here.
• Maple syrup – this helps provide balance to the dressing. If you don’t have maple syrup, you can add a small pinch of sugar (no more than ½ or 1 tsp).
• Spicy brown mustard – we use this in most of our vinaigrettes. It helps emulsify the dressing and give it a nice viscosity and thickness.
• Salt and pepper to taste

To Make the Roasted Veggie Couscous

Preheat oven to 400F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the veggies, olive oil, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper until the vegetables are fully coated.

Distribute the veggie mixture onto both trays and roast in the oven for 30 min or until vegetables have taken on extra color and are slightly soft. We placed each tray on a different rack and swapped the trays after 15 min so they’d both get an even bake. If your oven is larger or cooks more evenly, you may not need to do this.

To Make the Lemon Vinaigrette

In a salad dressing container or jar, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, maple syrup, mustard, salt, and pepper and shake or whisk until emulsified and smooth.

To Assemble the Couscous

In a large serving bowl, add the cooked couscous and the roasted vegetables. Add the crumbled goat cheese and carefully toss everything together. Drizzle the vinaigrette over (it may seem like a lot at first, but the couscous will soak it all up quickly) and gently mix to combine.