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
Units
Preserved Lemon Dressing
- 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
