Seriously Good Quinoa Salad
Our delicious and filling quinoa salad recipe is packed with superfoods. It can easily be vegan, is easy to make and tastes amazing. Whether you already love quinoa or don’t cook it often, this will be your new favorite salad. For us it definitely has. Continue with Easy Quinoa Salad recipe
Contents
How to make the best quinoa salad
Quinoa is a versatile base for salads. It is nutritious, has a nutty flavor and is very easy to prepare. To prepare the best quinoa salad, keep these tips in mind:
Prepare and cook quinoa properly. We shared an entire article showing you how to cook quinoa, but these are the main takeaways. Before cooking, it is best to rinse the quinoa. Rinsing well before cooking reduces saponins and creates a delicious nutty flavor.
Choose lots of colorful vegetables and textures. add to the salad. I’m not a huge fan of the texture of quinoa, but when you mix it up with crunchy veggies and crunchy seeds or nuts, I’m a very happy girl.
Use a light and flavorful dressing.. Quinoa is a fantastic base for salads, but it doesn’t have much flavor of its own. That’s why we like to serve it with a super delicious vinaigrette. As the salad sits, the quinoa will soak up the dressing, becoming more and more delicious over time.
What to add to quinoa salad?
We love our salads full of deliciousness. Add lots of colorful and crunchy veggies, nuts or seeds, and something sweet like cranberries or dried cranberries..
Which veggies you use is entirely up to you, but here’s what we’ve added:
cucumber adds crunch and freshness. It’s weird that we don’t add cucumbers to salads here. It’s a star in our Lemon Orzo Salad as well as our Easy Chickpea Salad.
Chinese cabbage It’s one of my favorite salad ingredients. It’s a nutritional powerhouse, and thanks to its milder flavor and crunchy texture, it’s the perfect alternative to other hearty veggies like kale, broccoli, and spinach. If you love bok choy as much as we do, check out our 10 Minute Lemon Garlic Bok Choy Recipe, it’s an absolute winner.
Grated carrot They add color and are packed with vitamin A and antioxidants. Rubbing is quick too. We use our box grater, but you can buy pre-shredded carrots or use a food processor attachment.
pepper add even more color to the salad; I especially like to use yellow or red peppers for this. They also add crunch and sweetness, not to mention their high levels of vitamin C, B vitamins, and other nutrients.
fresh herbs it adds color, lots of flavor and even its nutrients to the party. We love adding a generous amount of parsley and mint.
In addition to vegetables, we add nuts and seeds; the type is entirely up to you, but we particularly like it Pine nuts with butter and pumpkin seeds. Walnuts, pistachios, almonds, or seeds like sunflower seeds are also great options.
We also like to add something sweet. In the photos we have added dried wild cranberries. Cranberries or raisins also work. When it’s in season, so does fresh fruit. I can’t wait for summer so I can add a handful of fresh blueberries to this salad.
As the last ingredient add the chickpeas, making the salad even heartier and more filling. You can use canned chickpeas or homemade chickpeas – here’s our tutorial on how to cook dried chickpeas if you’re interested. Other beans, like black beans, will also work. In fact, you can enjoy our Black Bean Quinoa Salad, which is loaded with veggies and a tangy lime dressing.
What dressing goes with quinoa?
As I mentioned before Everything is light and delicious when it comes to quinoa dressing. We keep it simple with a combination of apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, a touch of honey to balance it out, and extra virgin olive oil. (Substitute maple syrup for the honey for a vegan dressing.)
When we have them in the kitchen, we like to add a last-minute squeeze of fresh lemon to the salad. Shed things even more.
Here’s another quinoa-based recipe: Delicious Vegetarian Chili with quinoa and black beans.
Quinoa salad variations
As written, this is a vegan quinoa salad – it’s delicious, hearty, and that way, super filling. That being said, there are many variations you can make to customize this salad.
- Serve as a cold or warm quinoa salad.
- Give it a Mediterranean or Greek twist with feta cheese and sliced olives.
- Add some cream with chopped avocado.
- Add additional protein with shredded chicken or grilled shrimp.
- Use a different grit. We love farro and show you how to cook it in this Apple Farro Salad recipe.
Very good quinoa salad
- PREPARATION
Our delicious and filling quinoa salad recipe is packed with superfoods. It’s easy to make and tastes amazing. Whether you already love quinoa or don’t cook it often, this will be your new favorite salad.
We share in the recipe how to cook quinoa on the stove. For more methods that involve cooking quinoa in the microwave or in a pressure cooker/rice cooker, see our article: How to Prepare and Cook Quinoa. If using leftover cooked quinoa, one cup of raw quinoa makes three cups of cooked quinoa.
Makes about 8 cups
Watch us at the recipe
will need
For the salad
1 cup raw quinoa
2 cups of water
1/2 medium English cucumber, diced (1 cup)
1 medium bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1 baby pak choy, chopped (2 cups)
1 cup additional shredded or chopped vegetables like carrots or broccoli stalks, optional
1/2 cup (65 grams) nuts and seeds such as walnuts, pine nuts, chips, or sunflower seeds
1/4 cup (35 grams) dried fruit, blackberries or cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh herbs; Use any combination of fresh parsley, cilantro, basil, dill, or mint
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
For the dressing
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 2-3 lemon slices, optional
addresses
- Cook quinoa
- make the salad
Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer, then rinse under cold water for 30 seconds to a minute. Alternatively, place quinoa in a bowl and cover with cold water. Swirl the quinoa around in the bowl, drain the water and repeat the process one more time so the quinoa has been rinsed.
Shake off excess liquid from the quinoa. Combine the rinsed quinoa and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the quinoa absorbs the liquid, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the pot from the stove and cover for five minutes. This extra time allows the quinoa to steam and “puff.” Uncover the quinoa and fluff it up with a fork. Cool down a bit.
When the quinoa has cooled slightly, in a large bowl, mix together the quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, bell pepper, bok choy, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and herbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, honey (or maple syrup), salt, and pepper until well combined.
Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed. For an extra flavor kick, drizzle the juice of a few lemon slices over the salad. To serve.
Advice from Adam and Joanne
- Quinoa salad will keep, tightly sealed, in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
- As a substitute for dried fruit, you can add 1/2 to 1 cup fresh fruit, such as blueberries, diced apples, or chopped mangoes.
- For a vegan quinoa salad, substitute maple syrup for the honey.
- Nutritional Information: The nutritional information below is an estimate. We use the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, take a picture and use the hashtag #inspiredtaste. We love seeing your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutritional value per serving: Part 1 cup / calories 282 / total fat 14g / Saturated Fatty Acids 2 g / cholesterol 0 mg / sodium 274.5 mg / carbohydrates 33g / fiber 6.5g / total sugar 7.3g / protein 8.8g
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Source : inspiredtaste.net
