Quinoa Chickpea Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
This quinoa chickpea salad features quinoa tossed with spinach, chickpeas, and cucumber in a lemony vinaigrette and topped with cubes of creamy Brie cheese.
Servings: 4
Calories: 516kcal
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
Calories: 516kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 27g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 643mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 6g
