This quinoa salad, became an obsession of ours earlier this year. We worked at a restaurant for a few months and it is where our love for this type of salad started, well that & sweetgreen in the city!
This quinoa salad has everything you could want!
It has leafy, powerful greens, quinoa, sweet potato, lemony apple slices, those pickled red onions we were telling you about…avocado, sesame seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds and the most mouth watering dressing that is a little bit sweet & a little bit tangy to tie it all together!
Honestly the other day we threw in some watermelon, feta & mint to this quinoa salad and it was so good. I think it’s the perfect base to create your own.
It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but it all works SO WELL together.
Also, since having Lily, I have become much more adept at having things ready made in the fridge. Such as, sweet potato, we always have sweet potato rounds (roasted) in tuppaware in the fridge. Perfect for toddler, perfect for parents! Same goes for quinoa (& rice!), I make a big batch at the start of the week & we have it handy to throw onto all salads or as a side for an evening meal! It’s honestly been a game changer.
Oh and don’t let me forget those pickled red onions I was telling you about, because seriously, they go on everything over here! I’m making another batch as we speak! And for the dressing, we make a couple different dressings a week and have them ready in the fridge. The Maple Cider Vinaigrette for this salad can be found HERE.
The seeds can be optional but they add another texture & a whole lot of good health benefits, so if you have them or you want to start incorporating them into your diet, get them & throw them on everything! We haven’t found a dish that doesn’t like them yet! haha!
Seriously, this is one of our go to salads & we hope you’ll see why! Helps that it is super pretty too & can easily be made for a crowd!
Let us know what you think!
Love, The Greens 💚
Quinoa Salad
Notes
This recipe has a few items that are much better made ahead. (Pickled red Onions, quinoa, sweet potato & maple cider dressing!)
We like to cook a double batch of quinoa early in the week to have in the fridge.
We also make a quart of dressing so that it is ready for any salads – it stays good in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
We constantly have pickled red onions in the fridge & we highly suggest you do too! They really add flavor to almost any dish!
Having a baby around means we always have chopped roasted sweet potato in the fridge!
Ingredients
- Handful of Arugula
- Handful of Spinach
- 3-4 Sprigs Cilantro
- Cup of Cooked Quinoa
- 2 Cherry Tomatoes (Quartered)
- 1/3 Roasted Sweet Potato
- 1/3 Green Apple – Cut into sticks (julienne)
- 6-8 Sliced Pickled Red Onions
- 1/3 Avocado (cubed)
- 1 Lemon (just Zest)
- Tbsp Flax/Chia/Sesame Seeds (Optional)
- Maple Cider Dressing (to taste)
Instructions
- Start by boiling your water & cooking your quinoa (to your package instructions) Usually, cup of quinoa to 1.5 cup water, bring to boil, simmer with cover for approx. 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Once cooked, we like to pour a little of the maple cider dressing and toss the quinoa in it to really absorb the flavors!
- Turn your oven to 350F and slice up a sweet potato into rounds & then quarter the rounds, spread out on a lined baking sheet with a tbsp of avocado or olive oil, sprinkle of salt & pepper and cook for 10 minutes on each side.
- See pickled onion recipe in the notes section (best made in advance)
- See Maple Cider Dressing in the notes section (best made in advance)
- Whilst these two items are cooking, chop up your veggies!
- Assemble your salad!
- To Start, put a handful or spinach & arugula into a bowl & top with a cup of cooked quinoa.
- Sprinkle all of your chopped veggies around the bowl
- Top with your sprigs of cilantro, lemon zest & your seeds (if adding).
- Finish with a small or large drizzle of our Maple Cider Dressing and ENJOY!
