A delicious roasted broccoli quinoa salad with sweet potatoes, kale and a flavorful lemon dressing. Great as a gluten-free vegetarian main!
Oh my, do I have a treat for you today. This salad recipe is my new obsession and I have a feeling you’re going to be obsessed too!
I have to thank my old boss for sending me the original recipe that I used as an inspiration when making this dish. She and I have the same taste when it comes to food and she’s always finding some of the best recipes so whenever she mentions that she made something that was delicious, I pretty much immediately put it on my to-make list.
Since this salad is jam-packed with so many of my favorite foods, I knew I was going to fall in love with it. You can never go wrong with roasted veggies and I love the fact that the kale is also roasted and gets a little crunchy. It’s like having kale chips in your salad!
Broccoli Quinoa Salad Ingredients
quinoa
water or veggie broth
broccoli
sweet potato
chickpeas
kale
olive oil
fresh parsley
feta cheese
lemon juice
apple cider vinegar
maple syrup
salt and ground pepper
crushed red pepper (optional)
Substitutions & Notes
Roasted Veggies – Have different veggies on hand or want to add your favorite roasted vegetable? Go for it!
Lacinato kale – I prefer Lacinato kale (also known as Dinosaur kale, Black kale or Tuscan Kale) for this salad, but you can use curly kale if that’s all you can find.
Chickpeas – I love the addition of roasted chickpeas in this salad but you could try a different type of bean!
Protein – The chickpeas and quinoa do add a good amount of plant-based protein to this salad but you could absolutely add a grilled protein to this salad to make it even more filling! This apple cider vinegar chicken would be delish.
Feta cheese – I love the addition of feta cheese, but if you’d like to make this salad vegan you can totally skip the cheese or use a dairy-free cheese.
How to Store Broccoli Quinoa Salad
This salad tastes wonderful warm, right after mixing the warm roasted veggies with the quinoa, but it also tastes great cold. I made one batch, ate it for dinner one night and then ate it for lunch and snacks several days in a row.
Store any leftovers in the fridge for 4-5 days. As the salad sits it tends to soak up the dressing and become dry. If needed, add an extra splash of lemon juice to brighten it back up before serving.
Rinse and drain quinoa if needed. Place quinoa and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let it cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat after 15 minutes and place quinoa in a large bowl to cool.
Drain and rinse your canned chickpeas. Place the chickpeas on a paper towel or hand towel to dry.
Toss broccoli and sweet potato chunks with enough olive oil to coat and season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast veggies at 425ºF for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add your kale and chickpeas to the roasting pan. Add a bit more oil, salt and pepper, if needed and toss. Roast for another 15 minutes. Stirring the veggies around at least once during the roasting process.
Once your veggies are nice and roasted, remove from the oven and combine them with the quinoa.
Chop parsley, crumble feta and add to the quinoa and vegetable mixture.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, vinegar and maple syrup. Gently stir in oil, and add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Toss dressing over quinoa/vegetable mixture. Taste and season with more salt and pepper before serving, if needed.
Store any leftovers in the fridge for 4-5 days. As the salad sits it tends to soak up the dressing and become dry. If needed, add an extra splash of lemon to brighten it back up before serving.
Hi Tracey – This salad tastes wonderful warm, right after mixing the warm roasted veggies with the quinoa, but it also tastes great cold. I made one batch, ate it for dinner one night and then ate it for lunch and snacks several days in a row. Enjoy!
Already had roasted, sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and fresh kale mixed them with olive oil, roasted in the air fryer, doubled the dressing, delicious salad
Leave a Comment
Do you serve this warm or cold?
Hi Tracey – This salad tastes wonderful warm, right after mixing the warm roasted veggies with the quinoa, but it also tastes great cold. I made one batch, ate it for dinner one night and then ate it for lunch and snacks several days in a row. Enjoy!
Already had roasted, sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and fresh kale mixed them with olive oil, roasted in the air fryer, doubled the dressing, delicious salad
YUM! Sounds delicious, Edith. Glad to hear that you are loving this salad. Thank you for your review + star rating, I really appreciate it.
This was so good! My new favorite! The roasted kale took it to the next level.
Ahh that’s great Tracy! Thank you for leaving me a comment and review, I truly appreciate it!
This looks like a tasty salad. Just looking for some new salad ideas.
Thanks, Mary! Let me know how it turns out if you try it 🙂
I made this tonight and oh my goodness!!!! This is so good! I’m definitely making this again! Thank you for the recipe!
Yay! So glad to hear that, Ana! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review, I appreciate it so much.