Looking for nice Quinoa Salad recommendations

Question

Hi all, looking for a basic but flavorful quinoa salad where the grains are cooked and then added to a simple dressing. Nothing with exotic or out-of -the-ordinary ingredients. Simple add-ins are fine. Trying to appeal to someone with a very limited range of likes.     Thanks in advance!!   Gammy

Emily K. · Answer

Oh wow! So glad you liked it, Gammy!

Gammy · Answer

Thank you F52 Community!  That recipe is a great one and believe it or not, I actually made it and commented on it years ago. Why didn't I save it... who knows?  I love the way ingredients can be added or left out to taste.

Emily K. · Answer

Hi Gammy! LOVE Wendy and Nancy's suggestions for nice quinoa salads, and will add that this one is really great: https://food52.com/recipes... It pulls from pantry staples and can be easily adjusted to suit someone's preferences, too.

Gammy · Answer

Thanks Wendy, I love Greek salad and the dressing is basic enough I think it would definitely work and the add-ins could be 'most anything!

Wendy · Answer

Hi Gammy,I am sorry, I never write down my recipes, but hope this is helpful.My family’s favourite quinoa salad is Mediterranean flavoured, so a basic Greek salad dressing would work. To move it farther east just add chopped fresh mint to the salad. They also enjoy an Asian inspired quinoa salad I do with snow peas, carrots, peppers, baby bok choy, tofu, etc... I just swap out wine vinegar for rice vinegar, swap out garlic for minced ginger, add a little low sodium soy or tamari sauce, add a tsp or two of sesame oil with grape seed oil.

Nancy · Answer

Gammy  - glad you like the "build your own" idea. On the dressing, the one I use most often for quinoa salad is like a tabbouleh dressing...vinaigrette with fresh garlic  see cookiesandkate website for details.

Gammy · Answer

Thanks Nancy for the great ideas!   This is exactly what I had in mind, and I can put together those elements that will be favored and work with the rest of the dish.  What I REALLY need is a recipe (or ingredient list) for just the dressing that someone has already made and loves in their personal "recipe box".  I  have had some knock-out quinoa salads in the past, just too long ago to remember what exactly it was I loved about them.  I can use a simple vinaigrette, but think there was something else in those dressings and would rather not have to experiment with this dish.

Nancy · Answer

Why not build one, customized to the preferences of the person with a short list of like?
Work with these preferred elements:
• Salad format (e.g., green chef's, composed, chopped)...includes proportions of key ingredients
• Dressing
• Produce (vegetables and optional fruits)
• Protein (grilled fish, roasted or deli meat, cooked legumes)
• Starch proportion (ok, quinoa is not a starch but holds that place in the salad).
You may need to go through a couple versions, but that could be fun.

Looking for nice Quinoa Salad recommendations

8 Comments

Popular on Food52