A healthy gluten-free quinoa salad made with simple fresh ingredients and a bunch of herbs in it. This healthy cold quinoa salad is perfect for meal prep. One of the quickest and easy lunch recipes. I love to prepare a bowl of this gluten-free quinoa salad and keep it in the fridge for whenever I need a quick bite. This recipe was originally posted Nov/2009, 12 years later it was time to update.
Quinoa is a great base for salads because it will soak up all the fresh flavours you add to it, while not getting soggy or mushy. This gluten-free quinoa salad has crunchy cucumbers, red peppers, saltiness of feta cheese and herbs like fresh mint, cilantro, dill and parsley.
I like to make a big batch of this quinoa salad and eat it for lunch throughout the week. In the summer I will portion it out into medium glass jars and it becomes a great grab-and-go lunch. Perfect for hikes, bike rides and picnics in the park. This really is a favourite salad of mine. A gluten-free quinoa salad that is refreshing crisp and oh so delicious.
My quinoa salad is very similar to a tabbouleh salad which normally is made with bulgar wheat. My gluten-free version is made with quinoa instead.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS QUINOA SALAD:
- Quinoa
- 1-2 Lemons
- Avocado or Olive Oil
- Cucumber
- Red Pepper
- Grape Tomatoes
- Feta Cheese ( I like to use a goat or sheep feta in my salad)
- Fresh herbs: Mint, Cilantro, Dill and Parsley
This gluten-free quinoa salad is a staple in my kitchen in the summertime. I hope that is becomes your go-to salad recipe too!
Health Benefits of Quinoa:
Quinoa is gluten-free and high in protein. It is one of the few plant foods that contain a sufficient amount of essential amino acids. It is also high in fibre, magnesium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium and vitamin E. Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wah, is basically a seed, prepared as a grain. These days you can find quinoa and quinoa products in most grocery stores all over the world.
An easy quinoa salad that takes about 20 minutes to make in total. In the time it takes for the quinoa to cook you can have all the chopping done. let the quinoa cool for about 10 minutes and you can then toss all the ingredients together. The recipe calls for 1 lemon, but I like a lot of lemon in my salad so I usually use 1 1/2 lemons.
This gluten-free quinoa salad is a part of my summer meal preps for the week. I like to have it on hand for a side salad with grilled meats, but also for last minute hikes or bike rides. We live about an hour from the mountains, so when the weather is good we can decide at the last minute to head out. We will throw our bikes on the back of the vehicle and drive to Canmore. After a 2 hour bike ride it is nice to have this salad packed in my bag for a picnic lunch.
HOW TO MAKE THIS SALAD:
- In a small pot, add the 1 cup quinoa and 1 1/2 cups water.
- Bring the pot to a boil, cover with a lid and turn down the heat to simmer.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove quinoa from the heat and fluff with a fork and let cool.
- Once cool transfer quinoa to a bowl.
- Chop the cucumber and red pepper into bite size pieces.
- Cut the grape tomatoes in half.
- Chop about 1/2 bunch of each herb and add it to the bowl of quinoa.
- Add the cucumber, red pepper and tomatoes to bowl.
- Add juice from 1 lemon, avocado oil and crumbled feta to quinoa bowl and toss.
- Store in refrigerator.
Here are some more quinoa recipes to try:
- Quinoa Granola Bars
- Quinoa Dark Chocolate Chunk Muffins
- Quinoa Chocolate Cake (a family favourite recipe)
- Rice, Lentil and Quinoa Salad
- Quinoa and Dried Fruit Salad
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Quinoa Salad
Equipment
- chopping board
- knives
- bowl
- saucepan with lid
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1- 1 1/2 juice of lemons
- 1/3 cup avocado or olive oil
- 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 Small pkg grape tomatoes
- 1 cup feta cheese, chopped
- 1/3 cup Each fresh herbs….mint, cilantro, parsley, dill
Instructions
- In a cooking pot, add 1 cup quinoa and 1 ½ cups water.
- Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, turn down heat to simmer.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove Quinoa from heat, fluff with a fork and let cool.
- Pour quinoa into a medium bowl.
- Chop the cucumbers and red pepper into bite sized pieces.
- Cut the tomatoes in half.
- Add cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice to the quinoa.
- Chop up all the herbs and add to the bowl and toss.
