If you are on the hunt for a simple and micronutrient-dense recipe (aka packed with good vitamins and minerals) you’ve come to the right place! This Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is delicious, healthy and super easy to make. It’s the sort of salad that you’ll make for the first time and wonder how you’ve made it this long without having ever eaten this salad. Okay maybe I’m being dramatic, but seriously, your taste buds are about to fall in love with this combination of ingredients.
Why I’m Currently Vegan
This recipe is completely vegan, so if you’ve never visited my blog before you may be thinking, “Ooh a vegan blogger!” This, my friends, I am not. I definitely share all sorts of recipes, including vegan recipes, but I most certainly love a good chunk of meat.
I am currently doing something called the Daniel Fast with my church. For 21 days I am focusing my energy on intentional prayer, eating vegan (the Daniel Fast happens to be even a little stricter than vegan) and replacing cravings with time in God’s word, rather than the things of this earth. I did this last year as well and it was an incredible way to start the year. I am excited to see what God shows me in this specific season of prayer and fasting!
Most importantly, the Daniel Fast places a renewed emphasis on leaning into God for spiritual nourishment. It also has the added perk of encouraging me to experiment with more vegan recipes! One thing I love about vegan recipes is that they nearly always lean heavily on vegetables. Speaking of, let’s have a little chat about veggies…
Are You Eating Enough Vegetables?
It is recommended that adults consume 2-3 cups of vegetables per day, yet a CDC study conducted in 2015 showed that only 9.3% of adults met the daily vegetable intake recommendation. That means that less than 1 in 10 adults actually eat enough vegetables. Gulp. Yikes.
So what’s the key to getting more veggies? Here are the two biggest things that I have seen work for my clients:
1. Make your vegetables taste good. Try roasting veggies, put them in a salad like this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, dip them in hummus or your favorite high-quality ranch. Whatever you’ve got to do, find some way to make them a little more exciting to eat.
2. Meal prep your vegetables. It is tempting to think that you’ll have the time and motivation to cut and prepare your vegetables before each meal, but my friend, even as a nutrition coach I often lag on this motivation and time. You are far more likely to actually eat vegetables if they are already prepared in your refrigerator. Meal prepping your veggies could be as simple as slicing up your veggies and storing them in containers. Or maybe you make a salad just like this one!
Make Quinoa Salad for the Week Ahead
As described above, preparing your veggies ahead of time makes a huge difference in succeeding with your veggie intake goals! Recipes like this quinoa salad are perfect for your meal prep because they keep really well in the refrigerator. This is actually one of those recipes that tastes even better on the second day because the herbs and vinaigrette get incredibly flavorful!
Keep this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy for up to 1 week.
Ingredients You’ll Need for This Recipe
This recipe is really made special by the addition of fresh herbs and a rainbow of vegetables. If you don’t have any of the specific vegetables in the ingredient list below, feel free to swap it out for another veggie of choice, like chopped zucchini, or you can simply increase the amount of another vegetable in the recipe for the same total quantity of chopped veggies.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this quinoa salad:
- Cooked quinoa
- Chickpeas – Make sure that your chickpeas are drained when poured out of the can.
- Cucumber – See the note above regarding the flexibility to customize the veggies in this recipe if you don’t have one of the specific veggies in this list.
- Bell pepper
- Onion
- Tomato
- Fresh parsley – The fresh parsley and cilantro are seriously what make this recipe, so as much as this recipe still would taste good without them, I highly encourage you to run to the grocery store and get some fresh herbs for this recipe!
- Fresh cilantro – If you are one of those people who detests cilantro, feel free to simply double the amount of parsley in the recipe and skip the cilantro.
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Garlic powder
- Salt & pepper
How to Make Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
This quinoa salad is incredibly simple to make!
- Step 1: In a bowl combine the quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, tomato, parsley and cilantro. Make sure that all of your vegetables are chopped into small pieces, so you can get delicious bites with a bit of everything on your fork. Also ensure that your parsley and cilantro are finely chopped.
- Step 2: In a small container with a lid combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then shake to thoroughly combine.
- Step 3: Pour the vinaigrette over the top of the salad ingredients and mix.
- Step 4: Store the salad in your refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 1 week.
This Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is a vegan dish packed with flavor and nutritious ingredients. Quinoa, chickpeas, a rainbow of veggies, fresh herbs and a simple vinaigrette combine for a fresh and bright salad that you'll love!
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 cup chickpeas
- 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped tomato
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Dash of salt & pepper
In a bowl combine the quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, tomato, parsley and cilantro.
In a small container with a lid combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then shake to thoroughly combine.
Pour the vinaigrette over the top of the salad ingredients and mix.
PER 1 CUP SERVING
248 cals ~ 12g fat ~ 28g carb ~ 7g protein ~ 6g fiber ~ 4g sugar
Another Vegan Salad Recipe That Will Totally Hit the Spot
This High Protein Taco Chili Bean Salad is another simple salad recipe that you will love! Packed with quinoa, black beans and edamame, there are 15 grams of protein per serving to keep you satiated and nourished.
