How To Make The Best Quinoa Salad

This quick and easy quinoa salad became a family favorite. Serve it as a side dish or as the main course with just about anything. You’ll also discover how to consistently prepare perfectly cooked, delicious quinoa.

I like dishes that you can make ahead of time and keep in the fridge for several days so you always have ready-to-eat meals. Most of the leafy green salads aren’t the best to make ahead of time as the veggies lose their texture, they become mushy, and they’re simply not as delicious as when made fresh.

The good news is that salads made with legumes and grains are ideal for meal prep ahead of time. The chickpeas, quinoa with their dense texture, keep well in the refrigerator even with dressings so you can prepare ahead of time.

What ingredients do you need to make a quinoa salad?

It has healthy ingredients and it tastes delicious.

• Garlic: you only need 1-2 cloves of garlic since raw garlic is strong. You can use either a knife or a garlic press. When pressing garlic you get more surface area of the garlic that activates all of the enzymes.
• Lime/Lemon Juice (1/4 cup)
• Extra virgin olive oil (1/4 cup).
• black pepper
• Bell pepper is so good for you as they are high in vitamin C, and fiber, and delicious. I like to cut the bell pepper about the same size as chickpeas so all pieces are about even sizes.
• Cucumber
• Red onion
• Chickpeas: drained and rinsed. I like to drain and rinse chickpeas from the can in case it has too much salt on them.
• Flat-leaf Fresh Parsley or Cilantro. If you don’t like the flavor of these fresh herbs you can add 3-4 green onions. Use the white part of the scallion and a couple of inches of green parts. The white part has the most flavor but the green part also has a good flavor.
• red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar, different kinds of vinegar have different levels of acid, sweetness, and viscosity. Wine vinegar is less sharp than white or apple cider. Rice wine vinegar is much lower in acidity than red wine vinegar. Always put in less than you think you need.

Quinoa Salad

This quinoa salad is super easy to make and delicious with great flavours from lemon juice, onion, parsley, garlic and olive oil.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

To Cook Quinoa

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups water

For the Dressing

• 2 clove garlic pressed grated or finely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice Juice from 2 medium lemons
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar

For the Quinoa Salad

• 1 can chickpeas (cooked) 15 ounce rinsed and drained well or 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 small red onion about 3/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 1 medium cucumber chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh herb flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

Instructions

 

Cook Quinoa

• Cook quinoa: Rinse 1 cup quinoa in fine-mesh strainer and place it in a saucepan. Add 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt in to the pan. The ratio is one cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Bring the water and quinoa to boil on medium-high heat without the lid. When the entire surface of the water starts to boil, bubbly and foamy, stir it with a spatula or wooden spoon for any sticky grains. Cover it with a lid and turn the heat to medium-low. Make sure to put on a timer and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes check to see if all the water has been absorbed and the grain is tender, fluffy, and translucent. If there is no water at the bottom of the pan then turn off the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and cover the cooked quinoa. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes.

Prepare Salad Dressing

• Combine lemon juice, garlic, red wine vinegar, salt, and olive oil in a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk together. Let the dressing sit and marinate in garlic.

Mix all together

• Once the quinoa is ready, in a large serving bowl combine the onion, bell pepper, cucumber, chickpeas, cooked quinoa and fresh herbs (parsley or cilantro)
• Drizzle the dressing that was prepared earlier. Toss all together until everything is mixed very well. Add 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper and add extra salt if needed. You can serve this salad right away but for best flavour let the salad rest for 10 minutes or longer.
• You can serve it as warm or cold. This salad can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days covered.

Notes

1. Instead of raw garlic, you can add roasted garlic.
2. You can make extra quinoa to save it for other recipes. It is very easy to put together something for busy nights. If you are making this for a party then you can make this the night before. It is a great party favor.
3. It goes well with feta cheese.
4. If you like a bit more spicy, you can add a pinch of cayenne pepper and roasted cumin powder.
5. Fresh Herbs Option

• ½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

Keyword quinoa salad

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