Quinoa Salad

One of my go-to recipes to take for lunch for school/work is a quinoa salad! It’s very simple, easily customizable, and very nutritious. I typically make all my lunches for the week on Sundays (what some would call “meal-prepping”), and this is great to make in a batch! You can have it on its own or as a side and the only ingredient you really NEED is the quinoa, anything else is up to you!

I use this recipe to cook the perfect quinoa every time – use 1 1/2 cups of liquid instead of 1 3/4 per 1 cup of quinoa (I like chicken broth, but you can cook it in water; if you do cook in chicken broth, no need to add salt). Keep in mind that quinoa expands so 1 cup of raw quinoa will equal around 3 cups of cooked quinoa.

In terms of toppings, go wild! My go-to are:

• black beans/chickpeas
• feta
• cherry tomatoes
• spinach
• black/green olives
• mushrooms
• red onions
• broccoli
• cucumbers
• avocado

Dressing:

• olive oil
• balsamic vinaigrette
• lemon juice
• salt + pepper
• basil
• oregano
• garlic powder

As you can probably tell, I like salty, savoury and tangy tastes in my food. But if you prefer a sweeter, nutty taste, you could try dried cranberries, toasted almonds and goat cheese. But you can really add anything to it, that’s the beauty of it.

Here’s a quick quinoa salad recipe for some inspiration:

 

Let me know what your favourite toppings are on quinoa in the comments!