This Quinoa Chickpea Salad recipe is bursting with Mediterranean flavors! Fresh, light, and lemony, packed full of nutrients; you’ll want to serve this up all summer long! Healthy, vegan, gluten-free, and great for meal prep. Video.
Why you’ll love this Quinoa Salad
Bright and punchy, this quinoa salad is a flavor explosion! Full of fresh, healthy ingredients and Mediterranean flavors, it’s one you’ll want to make over and over again. Quinoa is combined with chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, fresh dill, and loads of parsley, but it’s the incredible preserved lemon dressing that elevates it!
This was our “go-to” quinoa salad in our catering business, always a hit with our clients, and such a crowd pleaser! The salad can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 4 days, actually improving with time. Perfect for meal prep! The best thing is, you probably have everything on hand to make this right now – and please don’t worry if you don’t have preserved lemons (take a peek at the recipe notes), but they do truly elevate here.
Quinoa Chickpea Salad Ingredients
- Quinoa – dry uncooked white quinoa, red quinoa, or tricolored quinoa
- Canned chickpeas- drained, or feel free to cook from scratch!
- Fresh Veggies- red onion, English Cucumber, red or yellow bell pepper, cherry or grape tomatoes
- Kalamata olives, pitted, chopped or halved
- Herbs – flat-leaf parsley and dill ( or sub fresh mint)
- Optional additions: avocado, feta, radishes
The Lemon Dressing!
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil– for richness and polyphenols!
- Fresh lemon juice– fresh lemon juice is a must here! Don’t use bottled.
- Fresh garlic cloves- for a punchy flavor, finely minced
- Salt and black Pepper
- Optional additions: sumac and preserved lemon ( or sub lemon zest)
How to Make Quinoa Salad
Step 1. It starts with cooking the quinoa- you can use this guide to cook the quinoa.
Step 2. Make the lemon dressing. Today we are using preserved lemons to make this even more punchy and flavorful- but no worries, you can leave them out! Preserved lemons, if unfamiliar, are a flavorful Middle Eastern condiment, and in a nutshell, are lemons preserved in salt. Here they are chopped finely and added to the dressing. If you don’t have them- don’t worry- see the recipe notes!
Step 3. Prep your veggies and herbs while the quinoa is cooking!
Step 4. Assemble! Then assemble the quinoa salad, adding the chickpeas, veggies and herbs to the bowl. Give a toss with the Lemon Dressing and taste, adding more salt and lemon to your liking. Sprinkle with a little sumac if you like and fresh herbs!
Serving Suggestions
This salad pairs well with Mediterranean dishes or Middle Eastern flavors! Here are a few ideas:
- Grilled Chicken Shawarma
- Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
- Sheet Pan Mediterranean Chicken
- Grilled Tofu
- Baba Ganoush
- Homemade Pita Bread
- Authentic Falafels
- Tzatziki
Storage
This Quinoa Salad will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. If making this salad ahead, re-taste for salt and lemon right before serving and quinoa can soak up some of the salt.
I hope enjoy this fresh, vibrant salad- please leave a rating and a comment below- always appreciated! 💛 Sylvia
MORE Favorite SALADS YOU MAY LIKE!
- Thai Quinoa Salad
- Carrot Quinoa Salad
- Southwest Black Bean Quinoa Salad
- Quinoa Asparagus Salad (aka Spring Tabouli)
- Moroccan Quinoa Salad with Blood Oranges, Quinoa, Olives, Almonds and Mint
- Grilled Corn Salad
- Blueberry Salad
Watch how to make Quinoa Salad
Quinoa Chickpea Salad
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: salad, vegan salad
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Quinoa Chickpea Salad is made with chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, kalamata olives dill, parsley and Preserved Lemon Dressing. A healthy vegan salad with Middle Eastern flavors that can be made ahead!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup preserved lemons, finely chopped (or see notes)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac (optional)
- 3/4 cup quinoa (dry, uncooked)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained ( 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas)
- 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped (see notes)
- 1 English cucumber, diced (2 cups)
- 1 bell pepper (yellow is nice) diced
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved ( or chopped radish)
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped or halved
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup dill, chopped (or sub mint, or use both!)
- Other optional additions: avocado, feta, radishes
Instructions
- Place quinoa, water and pinch of salt in a medium pot, bring to a boil, cover, simmer on low 12-15 minutes until all the water is gone. Uncover, fluff, cool slightly.
- Make the dressing by mixing all ingredients in a bowl. You can make this up to 3 days ahead and store in a jar in the fridge.
- Prep all the veggies. If sensitive to onions, dice, then soak in cold salted water while you chop the rest.
- Place the chickpeas, onions, cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, dill and parsley to a large bowl. Add the cooled quinoa and the dressing and give a good toss.
- Taste, adjust salt and lemon to your liking. If making ahead, taste once more right before serving as the quinoa and chickpeas have a tendency to soak up the salt and lemon, so you might want to add a little more.
Notes
No preserved lemons? Substitute lemon zest from one medium lemon plus 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add more lemon juice to taste.
Salad will keep 4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 253
- Sugar: 3.4 g
- Sodium: 607.4 mg
- Fat: 12.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.3 g
- Fiber: 6.1 g
- Protein: 7.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Fantastic salad!!! I put a little extra fresh dill in as I love dill. It is a meal in itself!!!
Great to hear Sharon!
This is a must try. Just started experimenting with preserved Lemons too. I love these clean and flavorful recipes.
Thanks so much Terry!
Love this. Best dressing!!
Quinoa is one of my favorites and I love your recipes. Can’t wait to try this one!
Did a cauliflower rice version that was FABU!!!!
Modified slightly as my stomach cant handle raw garlic or onions:
Diced and carmelized half red onion (added a bit of sugar). Once golden and lovely, added salt and garlic. Cooked Well. Added a bag of frozen cauliflower rice and cooked (adding chicken broth as needed). Let cool slightly.
Dressing: Did not have preserved lemons. Halved recipe used lemon juice and zest (a bit more lemon juice than advised). Thinned slightly with a bit of water. Was plenty of dressing.
Salad – as written. TONS of herbs:Dill, Mint and Parsley and a touch of sea salt to finish.
Cant wait to make again !! Thinking pine nuts or pistachios might be a nice garnish. Really love this recipe !!
Thanks Donna! Loved that you used cauliflower rice- great idea!
Fabulous. Bursting with flavor, quick and easy to make, healthy, and will last a few days in the fridge…this one is going into regular rotation this summer!
I keep coming back to your website for inspiration. This salad was amazing. Post lockdown making this and Thai noodle salad for our outdoor lunch. Thanks for sharing healthy flavourful recipes.
Amazing, fresh and delicious
it’s SO delicious omg, thanks a lot for such an easy and quick cooking idea, we all loved the fresh taste of the salad
Delicious quinoa salad recipe! I have made several other recipes from this site I cook a lot and have to say, I know a good cook when I try her recipes and they are fantastic. I am so impressed by all the recipes I have done on this site. This chef is truly amazing.
thanks so much Wendy.
This recipe has become a staple in our repertoire! It is delicious and can be consumed over several days. The preserved lemon dressing is diving! Thank you for helping to convert the COVID-era vegan curious!
Simple and wonderful!
I love this combination of preserved lemons, feta cheese, olives, quinoa, chickpeas, and crispy vegetables. Perfect, delicious, thank you! This will be a standard for us.
I made this for a group of burly, meat eating geologist working 14 hr. days in the field as a way to get some veggies and protien into their diet. It was the only salad that they cleared the enitre bowl of everytime. It’s delicious and never got old over a 3 month span. Thanks for sharing and I am so glad I found this post.
This looks so good – a while ago I bought a jar of preserved lemons on sale but have never quite known what to do with them – looking forward to trying them out in this recipe. Of all the food blogs I’ve ever signed up to, yours is the one that most matches my taste – love your recipes!
Made the quinoa salad and the flavor and aroma is sensational!
This is a great recipe. I added a little bit of shredded chicken to it. Delicious!
I made this refreshing, healthy, salad today and enjoyed it with my husband on this sunny San Diego afternoon. I’m always looking for recipes with preserved lemon to use up my stock of it. Everything I’ve tried so far from your recipes, Sylvia, has been delicious. Thank you!
Love this salad! Also love that you include recipes to pair it with.
Can’t go wrong with this combination. Especially love having another good recipe for my preserved lemons.
Do you think it necessary to rinse Quinoa?
Some people like to rinse to remove the bitterness. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Up to you. 😉
I love this quinoa salad recipe so much, particularly because it is so seasonally adaptable and the flavors and textures work so effectively together. But it is the Preserved Lemon Dressing that elevates everything perfectly. There’s something magical about its bright, citrusy notes that pairs so brilliantly with chickpeas. I keep pre-cooked chickpeas in their cooking liquid on hand to use for so many of your recipes, but more often than not, I find myself turning to this salad for its ease of preparation and overall deliciousness.
thanks Catherine!
This is wonderfully tasty and healthy!The dressing is timely, as in winter we have lots of lemons on our tree! Thank you for constantly inspiring me to be a better cook and enjey it,too!
I’ve made this salad and mix up the veggies differently, depending on what I have on hand. It introduced me to sumac, which has become a staple in my pantry. Leftovers are great in my Buddha bowls.
This is a great recipe on its own, and can be amped up for my non- plant based eaters by adding a protein like tuna or chicken for a lunch the whole family enjoys! Thanks for another wonderful salad recipe!