Easy Quinoa Salad
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Published Apr 12, 2024, Updated Apr 04, 2025
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This easy quinoa salad is packed with spinach, tomatoes, red onion, avocado and feta with a simple lemon dressing. It’s the perfect healthy side dish!
If you know me, you know I love a good quinoa salad! I’ve made so many over the years — like this southwestern quinoa salad and this refreshing roasted broccoli quinoa salad — so it’s safe to say I’ve built up quite the collection. But even with all those favorites, there’s one quinoa salad I keep coming back to time and time again.
That’s the recipe I’m sharing today!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Salad
- Easy to make – You only need 8 main ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and once your quinoa is cooked this salad comes together in about 10 minutes!
- Customizable – I love this recipe as is, but feel free to make it your own! Use whatever veggies you have on hand, add protein, use a different dressing… the options are endless!
- Meal-prep friendly – This salad only gets better as it sits, making it perfect for meal prep.
// ★★★★★ Review //
“This is a keeper and so easy to make. I doubled the recipe and added some chopped celery for crunch. LOVED it! This is perfect as written but is also a great base salad to make and add whatever fresh vegetables I have on hand. Very versatile.” – Kyasi
Quinoa Salad Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this delicious (and super easy) quinoa salad:
- quinoa – this is the base of the recipe and you can use any type of quinoa you like from white, black, red to tri-color. Any variety will work for this recipe. When it comes to how to cook quinoa for salad, it’s basically the same process as normal, but I like to make my quinoa a day in advance, let it cool and chill it in the fridge overnight and then use it for the salad the next day.
- baby spinach – baby spinach has a mild flavor and texture that works perfectly in this quinoa salad. I like thinly slicing it or shredded it so the pieces are bite-size and easy to eat.
- cherry tomatoes – these little guys add such great flavor to the salad.
- red onion – the perfect way to add a bit of flavor and crunch. You can use yellow onion if needed.
- lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper – instead of an elaborate dressing, we’re using these four items to add a light and refreshing flavor to the salad.
- avocados – for some creaminess and healthy fat.
- feta cheese – this adds such a good flavor to the salad so I wouldn’t recommend omitting it. If needed you can use a vegan feta.
Recipe Variations
- Dairy-free: Use a vegan feta cheese like the Follow Your Heart dairy-free feta crumbles.
- Add protein: Each serving of this salad already has 8 grams of protein, but you could always add more by tossing in about 1 cup of chickpeas or white beans or adding in some chopped grilled chicken.
- Swap veggies: Have different veggies on hand? Use whatever you have! Cucumber, broccoli, bell peppers or a different green would all be great additions!
- Different dressings: I love the simplicity of olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, but there are so many other ways to dress up this salad! You could try my light and tangy apple cider vinaigrette, go with a bold red wine vinaigrette, or I bet my creamy tahini dressing would be super tasty as well.
How to Make Quinoa Salad
One your quinoa is cooked and veggies are chopped this quinoa salad recipe comes together in a matter of minutes. Here’s how to make it:
Step 1: Cook your quinoa by first rinsing and draining it. Then add the quinoa and water to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool for 5-10 minutes. This step can be done in advance!
Step 2: In a large bowl, stir together your cooked quinoa, chopped spinach, tomatoes, red onion and feta.
Step 3: In a small mixing bowl whisk together your lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the quinoa mixture and gently stir to make sure everything gets coated with the dressing.
Step 4: Add avocado chunks and serve immediately or let the salad chill in the fridge a couple hours before serving. If chilling, you can add the avocado right before serving to prevent browning.
What to Serve with Quinoa Salad
Honestly, this salad pairs well with just about anything! It’s my go-to side for cookouts and potlucks and I always get asked for the recipe. Here are some pairing ideas:
- Apple cider vinegar chicken – My go-to grilled chicken recipe!
- Grilled curry chicken – Looking for a little extra flavor? Try this curry chicken recipe.
- Blackened salmon – The creamy and refreshing quinoa salad is the perfect way to balance out the spice from the salmon.
- The best tempeh veggie burger – Make these delicious vegan burgers as your main and serve this salad alongside it!
- Baked falafel – Because this quinoa salad reminds me of tabbouleh and has Mediterranean vibes, I think it would be delicious paired with homemade falafel and creamy hummus.
How to Store Leftover Quinoa Salad
This salad stores super well, making it perfect for meal prep!
To make it in advance: I would recommend leaving the avocado out and adding that in right before serving. The rest of the salad can be fully assembled and stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
To store leftovers: Store any leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! While it’s typically served chilled or at room temp, you can enjoy it slightly warm if you’d like — just let the quinoa cool a bit before adding the veggies and feta so nothing wilts or melts.
Definitely. Rinsing helps remove quinoa’s natural coating called saponin, which can make it taste bitter or soapy. Just give it a quick rinse in a fine mesh strainer before cooking.
Use a 2:1 water-to-quinoa ratio, bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes. Once done, let it sit covered for a few more minutes, then fluff with a fork.
Technically, quinoa is a seed, but it’s often grouped with whole grains because of its similar nutritional profile and the way it’s cooked and eaten.
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Be sure to check out the full collection of salad recipes on EBF!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Easy Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup chopped baby spinach
- ½ cup chopped cherry tomatoes
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 ripe avocados, chopped or sliced
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Rinse and drain quinoa. Add quinoa and water to a saucepan and bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool for 5-10 minutes. This step can be done up to 1-2 days in advance
- In a large bowl, stir together cooked quinoa, chopped spinach, tomatoes, red onion and feta.
- In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Gently stir in dressing and avocado chunks.
- Serve immediately or let the salad chill in the fridge a couple hours before serving. If chilling, you can add the avocado right before serving to prevent browning.
- Store salad in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Want to add more protein to this salad? Toss in about 1 cup of cooked chickpeas or white beans or add in some chopped grilled chicken.
- Storage: To store leftovers: Store any leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
This post was originally published on April 5, 2021, updated on September 7, 2023 and republished on April 12, 2024.
This is one of my favorite quinoa salads! I make it all the time and it’s so so yummy! great for meal prepping, I could eat this everyday it’s so good
Oh yay!! So glad you loved this salad recipe. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
Definitely worth trying. I love this recipe. Going to be a routine.
Oh yay! I’m so glad you loved this salad. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
Doing your 7 Day Protein Meal Plan Summer and just made this. It is delicious! Had leftovers for lunch. Very filling and flavorful. It was very easy too. Will be making on repeat. Thank You!
I can’t wait to try this and a couple of your other recipes.
By the way, the print format of your recipes and the ability to scale them is outstanding!! Thank you so much!
I hope you love this salad, Pamela. Thank you so much, I am so glad that feature works great for you!
I absolutely loved this! I added some queso fresco to it also, perfect light lunch or side!
YUM! I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and it turned out amazing for you, Trinity. Thanks so much for coming back and sharing your review + star rating, I appreciate it!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Enjoy!