This Quinoa Salad Bowl makes for such a perfect lunch. Make my lemony hummus dressing for it, or use your favorite.
My Quinoa Salad with Lemon Hummus Dressing makes a quick and easy plant-based lunch or dinner. Plus, it’s perfect for meal planning weeks since everything can be prepared ahead of time and assembled later.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Video: Creating Hummus Based Dressings
What Ingredients Do I Need?
With the exception of cooking the quinoa, the entire recipe combines fresh and prepared ingredients with little prep needed. You can read all about how to perfectly cook quinoa on the stovetop here, where I break it down step-by-step, with all of my ah-ha moments. Like, how long you really need to rinse it for and why toasting with oil isn’t the best option for the best flavor.
For the salad greens, I like to use arugula. Cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, pimento peppers, and olives round out the salad. Of course, if you don’t like some of those, you can leave them out or substitute in your favorites.
The dressing couldn’t be easier either. It uses prepared hummus, which you can buy or make yourself, which contains all of the flavors you’d ever need in a salad dressing, like garlic, spices, and tahini, thinned out with a little lemon juice and olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. So easy, right?! I use this trick all of the time, and not just with hummus. It works with guacamole and dip, too.
Finally, the salad gets topped with feta cheese and roasted chickpeas for extra flavor and texture. So good. Want to keep this salad vegan? Just leave off the feta.
How To Make A Quinoa Salad Bowl
To make the salad, begin with the quinoa. In a medium saucepan, add the well-rinsed quinoa. The quinoa can be dry-toasted at this point, too, for a more nutty flavor, which I explain in my how to cook quinoa post. Add the garlic powder, salt, and broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Cover the pan and set it aside for 10 minutes to allow the quinoa to fully absorb the liquid.
If you’re roasting chickpeas, you can get those going at the same time as the quinoa. I like to make them in the air fryer and you can find my Air Fryer chickpea instructions here.
While the quinoa is cooking, make the dressing and assemble the salad. In a large bowl, whisk together the hummus, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper for the dressing. Add the arugula, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, pimentos, and olives. Use tongs to toss it all together until everything is well-coated.
When the quinoa is ready, divide it evenly between four bowls. Top each bowl with some of the dressed salad, feta, and roasted chickpeas.
More Weeknight Recipes
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for new weeknight recipes like this one to try. I’m linking below to a few that are similar to this salad bowl, and you should definitely go and browse through all of my weeknight recipes over here.
- Cauliflower and Quinoa Bake
- Quinoa and Feta Side Dish
- How to Cook Farro
- Beef and Farro Soup
- The Best Baked Pasta
- Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Dinner
Podcast Episode About Making Quinoa Salad Bowls
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this salad, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
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Quinoa Salad Bowl with Lemon-Hummus Dressing Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Rest Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This Quinoa Salad Bowl makes for such a perfect lunch. Make my lemony hummus dressing for it, or use your favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
- 2 tsp. garlic or onion powder
- 1 + 1/8 tsp. salt, divided
- 2 cups vegetable broth or water
- 1/2 cup prepared hummus
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
- 4 cups loosely packed arugula
- 1/2 cucumber, sliced thin
- 4 small tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1/2 small red onion, peeled, sliced thin
- 1 (4 oz.) jar sliced pimento peppers, drained
- 12 pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- 2 cups roasted chickpeas
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add quinoa, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, and broth. Bring to boiling, reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Cover and set aside 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together hummus, lemon juice, olive oil, ⅛ teaspoon of salt, and pepper.
- To the hummus mixture add the arugula, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, pimentos, and olives. Toss to coat well.
- Divide quinoa evenly between four bowls. Top each bowl with ¼ of the salad, ¼ of the feta, and ¼ of the roasted chickpeas.
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