Cold quinoa salad filled with fresh vegetables and chickpeas. Learn how to make a quinoa salad with our super easy recipe. It’s a great side dish for summer BBQs. Leave out the feta cheese to make this a vegan recipe.
Ready to make one of the best quinoa recipes ever? Quinoa can be quite bland on its own, but once you pair it with flavorful ingredients it’s going to be a staple in your home.
This quinoa recipe is a mix of Mediterranean Quinoa Salad and Greek Quinoa Salad. You could absolutely add some fresh olives to this salad, but some may not like them so we serve them on the side. You can also easily swap out the chickpeas for black beans to make this a black bean quinoa salad. We like adding some sweet potatoes with the black beans too. Great way to use up roasted beets and roasted sweet potatoes.
how to cook quinoa perfectly
Most often you can just follow the instructions right on the package of your favorite quinoa. We purchase sprouted quinoa or regular organic quinoa. There are roughly 120 known varieties or quinoa. Which type of quinoa is best? That’s a personal preference. 1 cup of dry quinoa will result in 3 cups of cooked quinoa.
- Measure the desired amount of quinoa.
- Place your desired amount of quinoa into a mesh strainer and rinse with cool water. Once your quinoa is fully rinsed you can place into the saucepan.
- Sprinkle the quinoa with a little salt and pour in the water, you could also use flavored broths to give the quinoa some flavor. For every 1 dry cup of quinoa, you’ll add in 2 cups of water.
- Place a lid on the quinoa and bring the liquid to a boil. Once it’s boiling you’ll want to reduce the heat to low and cook covered for 15 minutes.
If you’re wondering how long does cooked quiona last, we typically use all of our cooked quinoa within 2-3 days. If you’re going to cook a large batch you can’t finish you can freeze quinoa for later use.
quinoa salad dressing
Our cold quinoa salad dressing consists of healthy and good for you ingredients, all you need is:
- Parsley
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Lemon Juice
You can also use your favorite vinaigrette for this quinoa salad if you prefer.
recipes to serve with quinoa salad
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How to make quinoa salad
Cold Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups quinoa cooked
- 1 cup chickpeas cooked
- 1 cup cucumber chopped
- 3/4 cup bell peppers chopped
- 2 tablespoons parsley fresh, chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup feta cheese optional
Instructions
- Place the cooked quinoa in a large bowl and fluff if it's stuck together.
- Pour the remaining ingredients into the bowl with the quinoa.
- Garnish with some extra feta cheese and chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Breana says
March 18, 2018 at 4:40 pmAmazing!! I put a decent amount into a wrap with fresh spinach and it was delicious! I will always make extra quinoa so I can make quinoa salad now!