This wholesome Greek Quinoa Salad, that includes fluffy quinoa that’s dressed with Mediterranean flavors, is an easy-to-make, protein-packed, crowd-pleasing recipe!
This gentle and refreshing quinoa salad begins with completely cooked Immediate Pot Quinoa, then is dressed to perfection with briny olives, candy tomatoes, salty feta, and a Home made Greek Dressing.
Quinoa is a staple at my home, because it cooks up quick, is loaded with protein and fiber, and will be served in infinite methods.
Whereas I like to make use of quinoa rather than rice or to make Candy Potato Quinoa Chili and Quinoa Burgers, my favourite approach to take pleasure in quinoa occurs to be in a salad, like Quinoa Spinach Salad, Mexican Quinoa Salad, and this Greek Quinoa Salad.
From the salty feta to the candy roasted peppers to the briny olives to the tangy dressing, the quinoa is dressed to perfection to create an insanely flavorful quinoa salad.
why you’ll love this quinoa salad
- Nutritious. This quinoa salad is excessive in plant-based protein, filled with fiber, low in fats, and options tons of vitamins.
- Excellent for Potlucks. This flavorful Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is at all times a crowd-pleasing dish. It additionally occurs to journey nicely and will be made a number of days prematurely, making it excellent for entertaining.
- Nice for Meal-Prep. I usually make a giant batch of this Greek Quinoa Salad on a Sunday and luxuriate in lunch for the week. Not solely is it nutritious and retains me full for hours, but it surely additionally packs nicely and will be loved each chilly or at room temperature.
- Allergy-Pleasant. This salad is gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, and soy-free, and might simply be made dairy-free by leaving out the feta.
Notes on Elements
- Quinoa: This recipe will be made with white quinoa, pink quinoa, or multi-colored quinoa. Whereas this recipe walks you thru find out how to put together dry quinoa, you can too throw this salad collectively rapidly utilizing leftover chilled quinoa.
- Greek Dressing: The dressing is made with pink wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, dried herbs, and capers. It’s tangy, vibrant, and recent. Do not be intimidated by the capers! As a result of the dressing is mixed, the capers is not going to overwhelm the dressing, as an alternative, they only add a pleasant briny taste.
- Feta: The addition of feta cheese is non-obligatory. Whereas crumbled feta provides a pleasant salty, creamy taste, be at liberty to omit it to maintain this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad dairy-free and vegan-friendly.
- Olives: I strongly suggest utilizing Kalamative olives, fairly than Spanish olives or black olives, as they communicate essentially the most genuine Greek taste to the salad.
- Cucumber & Tomatoes: Cucumbers and tomatoes add a pleasant recent contact to the quinoa salad. I like to recommend utilizing a seedless or English cucumber and grape or cherry tomatoes for one of the best texture and taste. Needless to say if utilizing an everyday cucumber or vine-ripened tomatoes, it would be best to take away the seeds from them to maintain the salad from changing into watered-down.
- Parsley: Use flat-leaf or curly parsley to impart recent taste to the salad.
- Optionally available Additions: Be at liberty to make use of your creativeness and choose and select any greens and herbs you want for this Quinoa Salad. I like to additionally add roasted pink peppers and artichoke hearts for a further Mediterranean taste. Diced pink onions, pickled pink onions, or Giardiniera.
Easy methods to Make Greek Quinoa Salad
Step One: Put together Quinoa
To cook dinner the quinoa, you possibly can choose to simmer it on the stovetop or use my technique for Immediate Pot Quinoa. I want utilizing the moment pot technique, as it’s a bit quicker and hands-off, however I’ve included directions within the recipe card for each strategies.
- Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse rather well. Do not skip this step. Rinsing the quinoa will rid it of its pure coating, referred to as saponin, which might make it style bitter.
- Simmer the quinoa on the range till tender and fluffy or put together quinoa utilizing the Immediate Pot.
- As soon as the quinoa has cooked, fluff it with a fork, to separate the grains. Fluffing the quinoa with a fork will assist to maintain the quinoa and preserve it gentle and fluffy.
- Set it apart and permit the quinoa to chill barely when you put together the dressing.
Step Two: Put together Greek Dressing
Whereas you should use a store-bought Greek dressing, this recipe for home made Greek dressing comes collectively in minutes and is rather more flavorful.
- Place the pink wine vinegar, capers, garlic, olive oil, and seasonings right into a blender or mini meals processor and mix or course of till nicely mixed and the capers are damaged down.
Step Three: Gown Quinoa
Earlier than the quinoa is cooled absolutely, I like to decorate it with a portion of the Greek dressing. The marginally heat quinoa will take up the dressing instantly, flavoring the quinoa from the within out.
- As soon as the quinoa is cooled barely, pour half of the dressing over the quinoa and toss to coat.
- At this level, enable the quinoa to chill absolutely to room temperature, or switch it to the fridge for as much as 24 hours earlier than including the remaining elements.
Step 4: Assemble Greek Quinoa Salad
As quickly because the quinoa is at room temperature, you possibly can add within the remaining dressing, herbs, cheese,
- As soon as the quinoa is cooled, add within the remaining dressing, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, artichoke hearts, and roasted pink peppers.
- Toss the whole lot collectively till the elements are nicely distributed all through the quinoa.
- At this level, it’s best to cowl the quinoa salad and chill for a minimum of half-hour to permit the flavors to meld collectively.
- When able to serve, give the salad stir after which sprinkle with feta cheese if utilizing.
Storage
This Greek Quinoa Salad will be assembled and saved in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 5 days. I like dividing the salad into particular person serving dishes for fast lunches excellent for on-the-go or workdays.
Recipe Modifications
- Vegan-Pleasant: Depart the feta cheese off this Greek Quinoa Salad, and it turns into dairy-free and vegan-friendly.
- Add Extra Protein: To actually amp up the protein on this Quinoa Salad, add diced-up Greek Rooster or canned, rinsed chickpeas to the salad.
- Change up the Dressing: As a substitute of dressing this quinoa salad with home made Greek dressing, preserve it easy and gown the salad with recent lemon juice, olive oil, and pinch of salt.
Extra Hearty & Flavorful Salad Recipes
In the event you loved this easy Greek Quinoa Salad, I might love so that you can go away a remark and evaluate under.
Greek Quinoa Salad
This gentle and refreshing quinoa saladis dressed to perfection with briny olives, candy tomatoes, salty feta, and a Home made Greek Dressing.
Servings: 8
Energy: 156kcal
Prevents your display screen from going darkish whereas getting ready the recipe.
Directions
Stovetop Quinoa Directions
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Mix the quinoa and salt with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Convey the combination to a boil. Place a lid on the pot and cut back the warmth to medium-low and simmer for quarter-hour. Take away from the warmth and let it sit, coated for 10 extra minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Quinoa Salad
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Whereas the quinoa is cooling, put together the dressing by putting the pink wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper right into a blender or meals processor and mixing till the capers are damaged down and nicely mixed.
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As soon as the quinoa is cooled barely (about 10 minutes), pour half the dressing over the cooked quinoa and permit it to chill to room temperature.
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As soon as the quinoa has reached room temperature, pour the remaining salad dressing over the quinoa. Add within the cucumbers, feta, olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, roasted peppers, and parsley. Toss collectively till the whole lot is nicely distributed.
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Cowl and refrigerate for half-hour, permitting the flavors to return collectively.
Notes
Cucumber: In the event you select to make use of an everyday cucumber over an English cucumber, you should definitely peel your cucumber and de-seed it earlier than including it to the salad.
Tomatoes: In the event you use vine-ripened or Roma tomatoes, de-seed earlier than including the salad as nicely.
Storage: You possibly can retailer Greek Quinoa Salad within the fridge in an hermetic container for as much as 5 days.
Vitamin
Energy: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 3g | Fats: 9g | Saturated Fats: 1g | Sodium: 471mg | Potassium: 209mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 4.6mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1.3mg
This recipe was orginally revealed in 2018 however was up to date in 2022 with new ideas.
