This is one of my favorite quinoa salad recipes. From past few months I have published quite a few quinoa salads recipes and other summer salads and many of them you loved them. This recipe of quinoa salad is easy, full of flavor and textures, because of this I call this salad my favorite salad recipe.
It is refreshing, rich in proteins, plant-based, gluten-free, and delicious. Incredibly easy quinoa salad recipe is made with fresh cucumbers, kiwi, tender green chickpeas, fresh herbs and a classic olive oil and lemon dressing. There is another flavourful quinoa salad too you can try this Paneer Tikka Quinoa Salad.
Walnuts add proteins, nutrients, and crunch to the salad. I have added another layer of flavors with chopped lemon preserve. The sweet and tangy lemon preserve /pickle adds a unique flavour to this quinoa salad. That’s why I call it my best quinoa salad recipe ever!
The easy quinoa salad recipe comes together in 20 Minutes, especially if you do your meal prep before. I always cook quinoa on one-day per week and keep it in the fridge to make quinoa recipes throughout the week.
BTW if you like Indian recipes you may want to try this Quinoa Pulao recipe which is always a hit at my home. Even not so quinoa lovers have also become converts.
Variations Of Quinoa Salad
As usual, with swapping few ingredients here and there, you can make the various quinoa salads recipes. Instead of using walnuts you can use soaked almonds or toasted pine nuts. You can also make the salad with white quinoa, red quinoa or black quinoa. These days I am making salads with black quinoa, I simply love the nutty texture of quinoa. Nutritionally speaking all varieties of quinoa are more or less same in nutrition.
The salad is great for lunch or a light dinner and stays good in the packed lunch box. If you want to make a vegan and dairy free version of the salad, just skip feta cheese. But feta is my favorite salad topping, therefore I always like to top it with Feta cheese. The saltiness of the cheese, the crunch of walnuts, fluffy quinoa and a medley of different flavours … I do not call it my favorite quinoa salad without reasons.
Try this delicious, incredibly easy quinoa recipe with fresh ingredients and your favorite flavours. I am sure this will surely become your favorite quinoa salad recipe too.
Other quinoa recipes you may want to try - Mango and Red Quinoa Salad Quinoa Minestrone Soup (Instant Pot recipe), Thai Quinoa Soup,
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup uncooked black quinoa
- 3 cups water
- 1.5 cup green chickpeas or boiled chickpeas
- 2 kiwi chopped
- ¼ cup Walnuts
- ⅕ cup soft Feta cheese
- 2-3 Tbsp dried parsley
- ⅕ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup pomegranate pearls
- 2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- teaspoon ½sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 Teaspoon Roasted Red Pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro Coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
- To cook the quinoa, rinse it first and then cook it a saucepan along with water. Once the water starts to boil bring the heat to lowest and allow it to simmer until quinoa absorbs all the water. It will take 12-15 minutes depending on heat levels. Cover the pan with lid and leave it for 5 minutes, Fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- Allow it to cool before adding it to the salad. I always cook quinoa before and keep it in the fridge.
- In a mixing bowl combine green chickpeas, Kiwi, ½ of pomegranate pearls coriander leaves etc. Keep it aside.
- In a small bowl or small jar combine the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, seas salt, black pepper and chilli flakes. Whisk/shake until blended.
- In the mixing bowl add quinoa and toss the salad gently.
- Pour the salad dressing over the salad ingredients and mix gently.
- Allow the flavours to marinate for 5-10 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Top it with remains pomegranate pearls and feta just before serving it.
Divya
Ma’am your recipes are wonderfully good. I regularly follow up with them