Think of this as a choose your own adventure salad. It is a quinoa chickpea salad, that’s what forms the base, but you can use just about any vegetables, herbs, or other add-ins you have on hand. I’ve been making this salad for years, this time with some veg that I had to clear out of the fridge before it turned, and my go-to mustard and white wine vinegar dressing.
While it makes a fantastic quick, light weeknight dinner, it also packs for lunches and will keep for a couple of days. I often make this for travelling and have brought it on flights between Canada and Germany, or for camping, and it was my standard lunch in undergraduate school.
If you also love quinoa salad, this Moroccan quinoa salad is a great quick recipe, but I don’t have any greens in the garden yet so it’s not on the menu here right now. If you have a pumpkin kicking around, try reader-favourite roasted vegetable salad.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Quinoa: if you can get pre-rinsed quinoa, it is ideal. I don’t know about you, but I hate rinsing quinoa – it’s just so small and gets stuck everywhere.
- Chickpeas: this can be canned or cooked, it doesn’t matter. If using canned, make sure to drain and rinse well before adding.
- Vegetables: virtually any vegetable you like raw will work well. Red peppers, cucumber as pictured, grated carrot, tomatoes (especially cherry), frozen corn are all excellent. The onion can be left out if you prefer or sub pickled onion.
- Herbs: the herbs are what make this salad excellent, and I encourage using them if at all possible. Parsley and basil are my favourites but it’s nice to use a blend.
- Add-ins: pomegranate as pictured, dried cranberries or raisins, preserved lemon, all excellent. Feta is a very good addition if you eat it.
Recipe Notes
It’s quite a big batch of vinaigrette but it’s a pretty big salad, too. If you add some of the dressing and find that it’s too much, just add how much you like and store the rest in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
This salad tastes great, maybe even better, the day after making it so feel confident to make it ahead of time. The recipe does make quite a large salad.
How to Store
Storage: the salad, with the vegetables and vinaigrette, will keep well in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this recipe, but cooked quinoa does freeze quite well.
Newsletter
Expert Tips
- Rinse it off: unless labeled as rinsed, the quinoa should be rinsed before cooking to remove the bitter saponin. Chickpeas should also be rinsed well.
- Think about balance: for an excellent grain salad, you want to have a balance of textures and flavours. Creamy chickpeas, crunchy vegetables, acidic vinaigrette, some bite from the onion – this is what makes a good salad.
- Use warm quinoa: the cooked quinoa doesn’t need to be chilled before adding to the salad. It can’t be hot, but a little warm is fine, and that means it’ll absorb the vinaigrette more effectively. Think room temperature or slightly warmer.
More Quinoa Recipes
Moroccan Sweet Potato Quinoa Bowls
Quinoa Swiss Chard Patties
Black Bean Quinoa Burgers
Chocolate Puffed Quinoa Bars
If you make this Chickpea Quinoa Salad or any other vegetarian dinner recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
For the Quinoa
- 250 grams dry quinoa
- 750 ml water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
For the Salad
- 225 grams cooked chickpeas or canned, rinsed well
- 30 grams mixed herbs roughly chopped (parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, etc.)
- 1 small red onion finely sliced
- 1 English cucumber diced
- A handful pomegranate seeds or raisins
Mustard Vinaigrette
- 125 ml olive oil
- 80 ml white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard*
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Zest and juice of a lemon optional
Instructions
- To cook the quinoa, add the dry quinoa, water, and salt to a medium pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 12 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed. Set aside to cool, while you prepare the other salad elements.250 grams dry quinoa, 750 ml water, 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Place the chickpeas, herbs, onion, cucumber and pomegranate seeds into a large mixing bowl.225 grams cooked chickpeas, 30 grams mixed herbs, 1 small red onion, 1 English cucumber, A handful pomegranate seeds or raisins
- To make the vinaigrette, add all of the ingredients to a jar or container and mix until very well combined.125 ml olive oil, 80 ml white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard*, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, Zest and juice of a lemon
- Add the quinoa to the bowl with the vegetables and top with the vinaigrette. Mix well, and serve immediately or refrigerate for up to three days in a sealed container. Leftovers keep well and the salad tastes better on the second day.
Notes
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Judy Rowett says
Thank you for the Honey Oat bread recipe and the Quinoa and chickpea salad recipe!
I’ve decided the ‘lockdown’ is a perfect time to bake and cook nutritious meals! I have just started using spelt flour because of the protein value .
I’m wondering if you can give me a good recipe, other than a pasta recipe using Semolina flour?
Thank you!
Judy Rowett
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Judy! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying the recipes. We’re working on a semolina bread over at another website I’m part of – Baked – and I can let you know when we share it!