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The Best Quinoa Salad
This is no ordinary quinoa salad. Featuring crispy toasted quinoa tossed with marinated chickpeas and seasonal vegetables, it’s a textural triumph with layers of complex, mouth-watering flavors! It’s gourmet but easy to make, and works great for weeknight dinners, make-ahead lunches, picnics, and potlucks.
Prep
—
Cook
50 min
Total
50 min
Serves
4
Instructions
- 01
Bring 1 ¼ cups of water (300 mL) to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve under cool running water.
- 02
Once the water is boiling, add the rinsed quinoa and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, until the liquid has evaporated and quinoa is tender, about 12 minutes. Open the pot and fluff with a fork. Transfer quinoa to a sheet pan and spread out in an even layer. Allow to cool somewhat.
- 03
Preheat the oven to 425ºF/218ºC. Arrange a rack in the bottommost and in the top third of the oven.
- 04
Meanwhile, slice your vegetables (see Note 1).
- 05
Spread the vegetables out on a sheet pan in a single layer as much as possible. Drizzle with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.a. If the quinoa is not done yet, start on the chickpeas (step 8).
- 06
To the cooked quinoa on the other sheet pan, toss with 1 ½ tablespoons oil and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Mix with your hands to coat. Spread out with as little overlap as possible.
- 07
Roast the quinoa and veggies: Transfer the vegetables to the bottom rack and quinoa to the upper rack. After 15 minutes, toss the quinoa (no need to toss veggies). Continue baking, checking the quinoa every 5 minutes until the quinoa is crispy and golden brown in spots and the vegetables are tender and browned in spots (they both should take about 25 minutes).
- 08
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, shallot, 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons juice, pomegranate molasses, herbs, garlic, salt, pepper to taste, and red pepper flakes if using. Toss well and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes or longer. Toss a few times.
- 09
Add the roasted vegetables, toasted quinoa, and toasted nuts to the marinated chickpeas. Gently toss. Crumble in the feta if using and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, squeeze a little lemon juice on top if you have leftover lemon from the marinated chickpeas.
Nutrition
per serving · 1 serving
- Calories
- 443
- Protein
- 15g
- Carbs
- 56g
- Fat
- 19g
- Fiber
- 11g
- Sugar
- 6g
- Sat. fat
- 3g
- Sodium
- 907mg
Variations & swaps
Variations
- You can make this quinoa salad with any combination of in-season vegetables and mix-ins that you like! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
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