This Greek Inspired Quinoa Salad is something I make very often but never thought to share the recipe. I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s not a decked out dessert or boozy cupcake like the recipes I usually share. Nevertheless, this salad is totally worth sharing. I’d even consider it a must make!
It’s a powerhouse salad packed with ingredients that are fresh, nutritious and delicious.
It’s fresh, light, a little tangy, filling, and so flavorful! It’s made with fluffy white quinoa, fresh lime juice, cucumber, my homemade almond feta, pine nuts and fresh dill.
The quinoa gives this salad a bunch of protein, and, paired with the healthy fats + the extra protein from the almond feta, you’ll be very please with how filling this salad is.
I recommend making the almond feta and quinoa ahead of time. If you do, you can whip this up in just a couple minutes!
This salad is great for prepping meals for the week, packed lunches, picnics, potlucks and any other on-the-go meals!
I hope you love it as much as I do!! When you try it out, I would loooove to hear about it! Snap a photo of your results and tag @bunnysbite or #bunnysbite to make my day!
Greek Inspired Quinoa Salad (V/GF)
This Greek Inspired Quinoa Salad is the epitome of nutritious and delicious. It's fresh, light, a little tangy, filling, and so flavorful. It's also packed with plant-based protein and healthy fats! Perfect for on-the-go meals and it makes great leftovers.
Ingredients
Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup uncooked white quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- Juice from 1 lime
- Half of a medium cucumber (skin removed) diced
- Almond feta (recipe below)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 tbsp fresh dill finely chopped
Almond Feta
- 1 1/4 cups raw blanched almonds soaked in water for at least 6 hours
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Quinoa Salad
-
Add the 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water to a pot over medium-high heat. Then, stir in sea salt.
-
Cover the pot with a lid and let quinoa cook for 20 minutes. Then, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes with the lid still on. Then, remove the lid and let sit for another 5 minutes.
-
Fluff the quinoa with a fork and then gently stir in the cumin and chili powder. Make sure you don’t clump the quinoa during this process. Just keep fluffing the quinoa until the seasonings are incorporated.
-
Transfer quinoa to a large bowl. Gently stir in the remaining ingredients to the quinoa.
-
Enjoy! Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Almond Feta
-
Once almonds have soaked in water for at least 6 hours, drain the water from the almonds and transfer the almonds to a food processor or blender along with the remaining ingredients. Process/blend until smooth. You’ll have to stop the process to scrape down the sides of the processor/blender a few times.
-
Place cheesecloth loosely over a large bowl and transfer the almond mixture to the cheesecloth allowing the liquid to drain through. Wrap the cloth around the cheese and squeeze cheese to remove any excess moisture. While squeezing out any moisture, form cheese into a ball shape.
-
Keep cheese wrapped in cloth and dump the bowl of liquid.
-
Refrigerate cheese in cloth for at least a few hours (or overnight) to let the flavors marry.
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-
Remove cloth from cheese and transfer cheese to lightly oiled baking sheet.
-
Bake for 30-40 minutes. The longer it cooks the firmer it gets. You can cook it less for a creamier cheese or you can cook it longer for a firmer more Parmesan like cheese.
-
Cool before serving and enjoy!
Want more quinoa recipes, check out my Mexican Quinoa Salad, Quinoa Beet Burger, Quinoa Banana Muffins and my Chocolate Mocha Quinoa Breakfast Bowl!
