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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, and a lemon vinaigrette. This healthy salad recipe makes the perfect light vegetarian meal, or side dish for sharing with friends and family.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with spinach, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, and lemon vinaigrette - a healthy vegetarian meal or side dish!

Mediterranean quinoa salad is that picture perfect side dish to go alongside virtually any meal.

No matter the season, this hearty, flavorful salad recipe is well-loved! 

Particularly lovely for family dinners, picnics, barbecues, or gatherings, this recipe serves 6 to 10 (depending on how many other side dishes are available).

In this sense, this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad also makes for an amazing meal prep recipe. It saves very well and tastes even better after sitting for a day or two!

Let’s chat about the ingredients.

Ingredients for Mediterranean Quinoa Salad:

Uncooked Quinoa: The star of the show here! We cook up a couple of cups of quinoa for the base of this Mediterranean quinoa salad.

Baby Spinach: This is how we know the salad is healthy. Just kidding. Spinach is added for a superfood vitamin infusion to boost the nutrition of the salad.

Red Onion: For added flavor, we sauté the onion for a generous amount of time to give it that caramelized flavor. If you love the bite of raw red onion, feel free to skip the sautéing step, and leave the onion raw.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Feta Cheese: The briny, tangy ingredients that add so much flavor, texture, and spunk to this side dish.

For the dressing: Olive oil, cider vinegar, lemon juice. This combination is a simple dressing that brings everything together and adds a pop of flavor. If you love fresh garlic in your dressings, feel free to add one minced clove.

How to Make Mediterranean Quinoa Salad:

  1. Prepare the quinoa according to package instructions. Use a larger pot than necessary so that you have room to add spinach once the quinoa is finished cooking. Note: the key to a great quinoa is rinsing it very well and/or soaking it before cooking!
  2. While the quinoa is cooking, sauté the red onion over medium heat in a couple teaspoons of olive oil, until it is completely soft and golden-brown, about 10 to 15 minutes (Note: If you like the bite of raw onion, you can skip this step and leave the onion raw).
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice to make the dressing.
  4. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, immediately remove it from the heat and add the baby spinach to the pot. Place the cover back on to help steam the spinach. Allow the spinach to soften about 5 minutes and then stir it in to the quinoa.
  5. Transfer the quinoa and spinach, sautéed onions, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese to a large serving bowl.
  6. Pour the dressing and sea salt over the salad and toss everything together until coated. Taste the salad for flavor, and add more sea salt or lemon juice to taste.

Serve this salad alongside your main entrée, and enjoy!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with spinach, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, and lemon vinaigrette - a healthy vegetarian meal or side dish!

If you love artichoke hearts and capers, feel free to toss some in as well to ramp up the Mediterranean flair even more.

More Quinoa Salad Recipes:

Enjoy!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with spinach, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, and lemon vinaigrette - a healthy vegetarian meal or side dish!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Nutritious easy quinoa salad loaded with Mediterranean goodies like sun-dried tomatoes and feta makes for an incredible side dish!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
6 Servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dry quinoa
  • 2.5 ounces baby spinach
  • 1/2 large red onion, chopped
  • 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienne cut, drained
  • 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, to taste
  • 4 ounces feta cheese crumbles

Instructions

  • Prepare the quinoa according to package instructions. Use a larger pot than necessary so that you have room to add spinach once the quinoa is finished cooking. (note: the key to a great quinoa is rinsing it very well and/or soaking it before cooking!)
  • While the quinoa is cooking, sauté the red onion over medium heat in a couple teaspoons of olive oil, until it is completely soft and golden-brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.
  • In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice.
  • Once the quinoa has finished cooking, immediately remove it from the heat and add the baby spinach to the pot. Place the cover back on to help steam the spinach. Allow the spinach to soften about 5 minutes and then stir it in to the quinoa.
  • Transfer the quinoa and spinach, sautéed onions, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese to a large serving bowl.
  • Pour the oil/vinegar/lemon dressing and sea salt over the salad and toss everything together until coated. Taste the salad for flavor, and add more sea salt and/or lemon juice to taste.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 6 - Calories: 458kcal - Carbohydrates: 53g - Protein: 12g - Fat: 25g - Fiber: 6g - Sugar: 8g
Course: Lifestyle
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: gluten free, Mediterranean quinoa salad, Mediterranean recipes, quinoa is gluten-free, quinoa salad recipe, vegetarian
Servings: 6 Servings
Calories: 458kcal
Author: Julia
Recipe Rating




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Rosalind

Wednesday 10th of July 2019

Hi there. Looks like a good recipe. In the ingredients list, you say cider vinegar. However in the instructions, you say red wine vinegar. Which of the two do you recommend? Thanks!

Julia

Friday 12th of July 2019

Hi Rosalind! My mistake, thanks for catching that! I recommend cider vinegar :D xo Enjoy!

Debra

Sunday 20th of August 2017

Mmm, a nice simple one to make, for a busy, rushed girl! Thanks, looks good.

Julia

Wednesday 23rd of August 2017

Yeees! It's definitely a simple, yet flavor blasted affair. Glad you like it!

kay

Monday 18th of April 2016

Adding also that the recipe is not showing up. I used to have this saved on my Evernote but when viewed from there your Share buttons are over top the recipe and the recipe is overtop the comments. So I went directly to you page again and theres the initial write up and pictures but no recipes. Also, no matter how many times I X them out, the pop-up advertisments every minute make your site almost impossible to view. Where I would expect the recipe to be is all advertisments also. Unfortunate.

Mare

Friday 15th of April 2016

Hi! I can't view the recipe either, not even in reading mode :/

Tiffany

Sunday 27th of March 2016

The recipe is missing

Julia

Wednesday 30th of March 2016

Hi Tiffany, the recipe is showing up for me. Let me know if you continue having issues viewing it :)

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