Simple Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese has all of my favorite things, including greens, quinoa, garbanzo beans, a handful of goat cheese, and some pine nuts. Let's not forget about the creamy balsamic dressing as well. I'm obsessed!
Course Main Dish, Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword quinoa salad
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 8servings
Calories 432kcal
Author Sue Ringsdorf
Ingredients
For the salad:
2cupsquinoa- rinsed and drained
4cupslower-sodium chicken broth
6cupsromaine lettuce- chopped
1cupEnglish cucumber- sliced
1/3cupred onion- sliced
15oz.garbanzo beans- rinsed and drained
4oz.goat cheese- crumbled
1/3cuppine nuts- toasted
For the Balsamic Dressing:
5Tablespoonsolive oil
3Tablespoonsbalsamic vinegar
1Tablespoondijon mustard
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper- to taste
Instructions
Heat chicken broth to a boil, watching it closely because it boils over easily. Add rinsed quinoa to pan, and reduce heat to simmer, partially covered with lid. When the broth is fully absorbed, remove pan, and fluff quinoa with a fork. Remove quinoa to a bowl, and refrigerate to cool completely.
Toast pine nuts until fragrant and browned. Transfer nuts to a paper towel to cool.
Prepare dressing by combining the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Shake vigorously until well combined. Set aside.
Line a large serving bowl with lettuce leaves. Arrange chopped romaine, sliced cucumber, red onion, garbanzo beans, goat cheese, and toasted pine nuts. When quinoa is cooled off, add it to the salad as well.
Add dressing to salad before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Using two cups of raw quinoa ends up to be about 4-5 cups after cooking. With the addition of all the veggies, this salad makes a huge bowl. It lasts several days in the refrigerator, but you could easily cut the recipe in half.
When toasting pine nuts, wait until they are just fragrant and browned. Then remove them from the stove.
You can buy large bags of quinoa on Amazon at a pretty good price. Link is on the blog.