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Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!
Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!
We’ve been loving this Chicken Quinoa Salad lately!  Filled with protein from quinoa, chicken and chickpeas, it is extra fueling! I think of this as a good “end-of-summer salad” when tomatoes are sweet and ripe and bursting with flavor.  It’s hearty enough to be a meal, yet light and energizing! Perfect for lunch or dinner, or Sunday meal prep.

What you’ll love about Chicken Quinoa Salad!

  1. It’s high is protein!
  2. It can be made ahead and keeps up to 4 days in the fridge!
  3. It’s very packable and easy to transport, making it perfect for a bring-to-work lunch.
  4. It’s very versatile in that it can be modified to your personal preferences.- easily made vegan by substituting chickpeas for the chicken or just leaving it out.
  5. Great way to use up leftover chicken!
quinoa

What you’ll need

Cooked quinoa, chicken breast or chickpeas (or both!), vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh herbs like flat leaf parsley and mint, and optional greens like arugula. Sometimes I’ll add fresh little mozzarella balls for extra heartiness as well. The lemony vinaigrette is made with simple ingredients.
ingredients in quinoa chicken salad

Once the Quinoa is cooked and cooled, then it’s easy to whip up. Just place everything in a bowl and toss.

making the quinoa chicken salad.
Lemon zest gives the salad a nice brightness.
tossing the chicken quinoa salad.

Then just toss and taste!

Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!

Serve the quinoa salad just like it is- or over a bed of greens. Add mozzarella balls if you like!
Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!

On the homefront: Last year I planted an herb patch. It has become one of the best investments ever. Our backyard gets a little sun and the only thing that seems to thrive are herbs, so most of our garden boxes have been slowly replaced with herbs, which we use prolifically at home and in our catering business.

One part of my garden has a patch of mint. This is no ordinary mint. When I was a little girl, my parents bought a home in Southern California, and my mom planted a big mint patch on the side of the house for when she would make tabouli. Well, eventually, after years and years, the mint spread and overtook the entire side of the house. When the windows were open, we could smell the fragrant mint wafting through the air.

Thirty-five years later, when we had to sell my parent’s house, as a keepsake, I dug up a little bit of my mom’s mint and brought it back home and planted in my own garden. Today, I have the same mint growing here, that my mom planted all those years ago. I wish she could feel how happy it feels to cook with something that originated from her. Perhaps she can.

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Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!

Quinoa Chicken Sald

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
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Description

Quinoa Chicken Salad with tomatoes, chickpeas, arugula, fresh herbs & optional mozzarella or feta cheese, in a tangy Lemon Dressing. Great for meal prep!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 cup quinoa- rinsed
  • 8 ounces of cooked chicken breast (baked chicken, crispy tofu, or extra garbanzo beans)
  • 16 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes- halved
  • 14 ounce can chickpeas ( optional)
  • 1 cup Italian parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup mint, chopped
  • 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
  • zest from one lemon
  • handful of Arugula or Spinach (optional)
  • 8 oz small mozzarella balls (halved)- optional or sub-feta or goat cheese!

Lemony Dressing:

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more to taste
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Cracked pepper to taste
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

Instructions

  1. Rinse Quinoa and place in medium pot with 1 3/4 Cup water and 1/2 tsp salt on high heat. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to low, and cook covered 15-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with fork and cool in fridge, overnight or for 1 hour.
  2. To make dressing, mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
  3. When quinoa has chilled, place in large bowl, fluff with fork. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, chicken or tofu, herbs, zest, onion and mozzarella balls (optional).
  4. Toss with dressing. If you like, place it on top of a bed of greens like arugula or mixed lettuces.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cup
  • Calories: 300
  • Sugar: 2.3 g
  • Sodium: 678.7 mg
  • Fat: 12.7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 1.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 26.2 g
  • Fiber: 5.7 g
  • Protein: 22 g
  • Cholesterol: 25.8 mg

Keywords: quinoa chicken salad, chicken quinoa salad, quinoa salad with chickpeas, quinoa salad with chicken, quinoa chickpea salad

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Comments

  1. This salad is SO good, I’m absolutely obsessed. I swapped the red onion for shallots (cooked in olive oil and used in the base for the dressing). I’ve made it twice this week, it’s really a whole other level. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  3. Love your recipes but have to have nutritional breakdown of all ingredients in the recipes for husband health
    Please unsubscribe me
    Thank you

    Reply

    1. Hi Carole, the nutritional info is listed below the recipe card. Do you see it? If you would still like to unsubscribe, please do so at the bottom of the next email you receive. 😉

      Reply

  5. I’ll be watching for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it for my friend. Thanks for all you do.

    Reply

  6. I came across this recipe on Pinterest and sent it to my mom to try out. Thank you for posting this delicious-looking recipe!

    Reply

  7. I made this last week, but with brown gluten free couscous. It was good. Then this week I combined it with this kale salad http://jellytoastblog.com/2013/08/kale-salad-with-roasted-salmon.html/#comment-2718 . It was really good too. Thanks for the recipe

    Reply

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