This quinoa chickpea salad features quinoa tossed with spinach, chickpeas, and cucumber in a lemony vinaigrette and topped with cubes of creamy Brie cheese.
This Quinoa Chickpea Salad is so simple—just quinoa, spinach, chickpeas, and cucumber tossed in a splashy lemon vinaigrette with some chopped Brie on top. It's a staple in our house, as it's perfect for a budding vegetarian and her parents.
Why Make This Dish
- Ingredients can be changed according to what you have in the house, or what’s in season at the market, so this salad is super versatile.
- It works as both as a side salad or as a main course. Plus, it's vegetarian (or vegan without the Brie!) with plenty of protein from the quinoa and chickpeas!
- Best of all, it keeps for a few days in the fridge, and is perfect for make-ahead lunches.
🥗 Ingredients
There are only a few ingredients in this dish, and many can be substituted if you don't have them on-hand.
Quinoa: You can easily make this into another kind of grain salad by replacing the quinoa with brown rice, farro, or another grain. Choose one where the grains don't stick together when cooked (for example, avoid using sticky white rice).
Chickpeas: I love chickpeas in this salad, but you could also try this dish with black beans or white beans, or even black-eye peas.
Brie: Feel free to replace this with cubes of whatever cheese you prefer, or with crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese.
Spinach: You can also use baby kale, mâche, arugula, or any other tender baby greens you can find!
Dried Herbs: I love Penzey’s Sunny Paris Seasoning in the vinaigrette for this dish, but you could replace with Herbes de Provence, dried oregano, dried Italian Seasoning, or dried basil.
🥣 Instructions
Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer. (This will help take the bitterness out of the quinoa’s outer coating.) Pour quinoa into a small saucepan with 1 ¾ cups of water and ½ teaspoon of salt.
When the water comes to a boil, turn down the heat to medium-low, cover pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then uncover it and fluff with a fork.
While quinoa is simmering, make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots, 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard, and 1 teaspoon of Herbes de Provence or Penzey’s Sunny Paris Seasoning. Then slowly whisk in ½ cup of olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground cracked pepper.
Next, rinse and pat dry 2 cups of baby spinach or mâche. Chop roughly, if you like smaller pieces of greens in your salad. Chop ½ an English cucumber into small bite-sized chunks. Slice 4 ounces of Brie, then cut into small pieces. Rinse a can of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) and drain.
Now toss the quinoa with the spinach, cucumber, and chickpeas in a large bowl. Whisk the vinaigrette again and pour half of it into the salad. Toss so that all grains are coated. Either fold in the Brie, or put it on as a garnish on the top of the salad. Or leave it off for a vegan version! Serve salad with the remainder of the dressing, for people to add to taste.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
This is a great make-ahead meal. Cooked quinoa will last several days in the refrigerator, so you can make a large batch on the weekend, and then pack for lunch that week.
The vinaigrette will last for at least a week in the refrigerator. For the freshest taste, prep all the ingredients and store them separately in the refrigerator. That said, you can prep this whole salad, and it lasts quite well for a day or two. After that, you may find the cucumbers and spinach are more wilted than you would like, though still tasty.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
Cooking Quinoa: There are many methods for cooking quinoa, and instructions often differ from package to package. While I usually recommend going by whatever your package tells you, I tend to ignore the packaged instructions with quinoa. I find that they usually tell you to simmer the quinoa in more water than you need. When quinoa absorbs that extra water, it gets stickier, and you'll find that it clumps easily. For this salad, you really want the grains as distinct as possible, so follow my instructions above for best results!
Other Dressings: This quinoa salad is delicious with other salad dressings as well. I love it with my Healthy Honey Mustard Dressing, my Honey Lime Dressing, my Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing, and my Tahini Yogurt Dressing too!
Other Delicious Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, you may want to check out three other delicious quinoa salad recipes, my Quinoa Avocado Salad with Corn, my Quinoa Grain Bowl with Sesame-Ginger Dressing and my Arugula Salad with Apples and Quinoa.
This Quinoa Tabbouleh is also packed with flavor and nutrition. And check out this round-up of even more vibrant, high-protein Quinoa Salad Ideas. You can even use quinoa in soup, as in this Instant Pot Quinoa Soup recipe!
And, if you love chickpeas as much as I do, you may want to check out some of my other favorite chickpea recipes:
If you try this quinoa salad recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa (6.4 ounces)
- 2 cups packed baby spinach or mache (2 ounces)
- ½ English cucumber (8 ounces)
- 4 ounces Brie cheese
- 1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
For the Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence or Penzey’s Sunny Paris Seasoning
- ½ cup olive oil
Instructions
- First, rinse quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer. (This will help take the bitterness out of the quinoa’s outer coating.)
- Then, pour quinoa into a small saucepan with 1 ¾ cups of water and ½ teaspoon of salt.
- When the water comes to a boil, turn down the heat to medium-low, cover pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then uncover it and fluff with a fork.
- While quinoa is cooking, make the vinaigrette. Whisk together lemon juice, finely chopped shallots, dijon mustard, and herbes de provence.
- Then slowly whisk in ½ cup of olive oil.
- Season with salt and freshly ground cracked pepper.
- Rinse and pat dry baby spinach or mâche. Chop roughly, if you like smaller pieces of greens in your salad.
- Chop your cucumber into small bite-sized chunks.
- Slice Brie, then cut into small pieces.
- Drain and rinse chickpeas.
- To assemble the quinoa salad, toss the quinoa with the spinach, cucumber, and chickpeas in a large bowl.
- Whisk the vinaigrette again and pour half of it into the salad. Toss so that all grains are coated.
- Either fold in the Brie, or put it on as a garnish on the top of the salad.
- Serve salad with the remainder of the dressing, for people to add to taste.
Notes
- Brie can be left out of this recipe for a vegan version.
- Cooked quinoa will last several days in the refrigerator, so you can make a large batch on the weekend, and then pack for lunch that week.
- The vinaigrette will last for at least a week in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Chef Mimi says
This is lovely. And with chopped brie?!!! I have a question, since you lived in France. I call a salad dressing with only lemon juice a dressing, and dressings with vinegar vinaigrettes. Am I wrong?!
Chef Molly says
Interesting question--I don't know! When I think of a dressing, I normally think of something creamy, or with more involved than the usual base ingredients of oil + acid, but I could be totally wrong! But I do think that you can replace vinegar with another acid, like lemon or lime juice, and still call it a vinaigrette. At least I hope so!
Brittani says
Delicious! Easy salad to make.
Chef Molly says
Yes! I make it frequently, and it's so delicious too.
Jeff the Chef says
I love quinoa, and so this salad sounds really good to me.I really enjoyed your post.
Chef Molly says
Thanks Jeff! It’s on regular rotation in our house!
Alexandra says
Love quinoa salads - and this sounds delicious. Well done to Piper, too!
Chef Molly says
Thanks! My kids are typically quite picky eaters, so I’m thrilled that she loves to make this recipe!