Quick n Easy Nutty Quinoa Salad
Our favorite nutty quinoa salad recipe is packed with superfoods. It can be made vegan, is easy to make, and tastes incredible. We have friends who don’t typically like quinoa who love this easy salad. This will become your new go-to salad, we are sure of it.This Quinoa Salad is colourful, fresh and super filling as it’s packed with protein and fibre.
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 4 or 6 as a side
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup quinoa (any colour will work)
4 spring onions, finely sliced or a small red onion, finely diced
1 small red capsicum, finely diced
2 cups kale, shredded
2 medium carrots, grated (approx 1½ cups)
½ bunch coriander, chopped
½ bunch mint, chopped
¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted
¼ cup sunflower seeds, toasted
¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
¼ cup almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
¼ cup cashews, toasted and roughly chopped
pomegranate seeds for garnish, optional
Dressing:
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼-1/2 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Start by cooking quinoa. Place in a saucepan, cover generously with cold water.
Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until soft.
Note – if using black quinoa, it could take up to 20 minutes to cook.
Drain well and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare all of the veggies, herbs, nuts and seeds for your salad.
To make the dressing – add olive oil, lemon juice, honey, garlic and salt to a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
Shake well to combine.
When the quinoa is cooked and cooled slightly, add the dressing and stir through.
Add onions, capsicum, kale, carrot and herbs and stir to combine.
Just before serving, add the seeds and nuts and stir through.
Then top with pomegranate seeds if using.
Enjoy
Notes about quinoa:
1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa expands to approx 1 1/2 cups when cooked.
Although technically a seed, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah, not quin-oh-a!) is commonly referred to and used as a grain.
It comes in 3 different colours – white, red or black. You can also often get a combination of all three.
It is popular due to it being gluten free and relatively quick and easy to cook.
If you are not avoiding gluten, you can replace quinoa in this recipe with barley.
To make this salad FODMAP friendly, use maple syrup in place of honey, omit the garlic, use the green tips only of the spring onions or swap out for chives and swap the cashews for another type of nut.
For a vegan version use maple syrup in place of honey