Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
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This Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is a healthy and easy meal – filled with quinoa, avocado, roasted red peppers, chickpeas & vegan feta.
This quinoa salad is great for make ahead lunches or to bring to a party. Cooled quinoa is tossed with roasted red peppers, avocado, chickpeas, parsley, vegan feta, red onion and a basil dressing. A healthy and tasty vegan recipe that comes together quickly!
How to Make the Creamy Basil Dressing
The dressing for this recipe is creamy, fresh and bright. Here’s what you need:
- vegan feta
- basil
- garlic
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
- pepper
Add everything to a food processor and pulse until combined. Add water as needed to thin the dressing out. The dressing will taste super acidic, but once it is combined with the rest of the salad, it will balance out.
How to Make the Quinoa Salad
You want to make sure the quinoa you use is already cooled or at room temperature. I like using leftover quinoa to make this step even easier. Add the quinoa to a large bowl with roasted red peppers, avocado, parsley, red onion, vegan feta and chickpeas.
Pour the dressing over the salad – you don’t have to use all of the dressing, just add it to taste. Give everything a good toss and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
How to Serve
Once the salad is chilled, serve it with warm pita and lemon wedges on the side. This salad can be served chilled or at room temperature. It is a great recipe to bring to a party or a make ahead lunch.
If you are making this for meal prep, I would wait to add the avocado until serving. The salad can be stored in individual containers in the fridge for 5 days.
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Did you Make this Recipe?
If you made this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad I would LOVE to hear what you thought. Be sure to drop a comment and a rating below! You can also tag me on social media if you snapped a photo. I LOVE seeing your recreations!
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE DRESSING
- 3 ounces vegan feta
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 10 large basil leaves
- lemon juice to taste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- water to thin, I used 1/4 cup
Instructions
- Add all of the dressing ingredients to a food processor and pulse until combined. Add water as needed to thin. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed – it might taste overly acidic, but once it is mixed with the salad it will balance out.
- Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl. Pour in the dressing* and toss to combine. Cover and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Serve with pita bread and lemon wedges.
Made dressing with goat cheese, and uses shallots instead of red onion in salad. Served it on top of a bed of arugula, with a side of green beans sautéed with garlic and some leftover boiled beets. It was a very colorful and light dinner. Leftovers will be lunch tomorrow. Thanks for such an unusual salad!