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Super easy healthy quinoa salad with roast carrots, feta cheese and fresh herbs. A delicious healthy side dish that goes well with any summer dinner. 

What is quinoa?

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is actually a seed! A protein packed little seed that’s super easy to cook and makes a great healthy alternative to pasta or rice. Quinoa has a slight nutty taste and it’s easy to flavour up and use in recipes. 

How do you cook quinoa?

Well it’s actually really simple! 

• First rinse it well under cold running water.
• Add it to a pan with double the quantity of water – I add a pinch of sea salt flakes too
• Bring to the boil then simmer with the lid on for around 15-20 minutes (check the packet as some types do take longer) 
• The quinoa is done once the liquid is absorbed and the little seeds tender. 
• Drain using a sieve – it’s too fine for a colander.

How to make quinoa taste good

Okay I won’t lie – plain boiled quinoa is bland and pretty tasteless – you really need to flavour it up to make it good to eat. 

So add lots of fresh herbs, maybe spices, mix in a good dressing and stir through tasty salad extras. 

Of course… you could always cheat and cut out the faff of cooking it – just pick up a couple of sachets of the microwave quinoa – it cooks in minutes and they’re all pre-flavoured. 

How to make quinoa salad 

Cook the quinoa – let it cool then toss through your salad ingredients and tasty bits – so easy! 

Flavour up your quinoa salad your way

• Try adding roast peppers, courgettes or aubergines.
• Switch the feta cheese for grilled halloumi
• Add some spice with pinch of red chilli flakes or freshly chopped chillies
• Add some chorizo, bacon or prawns
• Skip the Italian dressing and pick a different one to suit

More salad recipes for you to try…

• Simple salad with lemony pesto dressing 
• Courgette salad with mint and chilli 
• BLT pasta salad 

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Yield: Serves 4 as a side dish

Quinoa Salad

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Healthy, tasty quinoa salad

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dried quinoa
• pinch of salt
• 4 large carrots - scrubbed and sliced
• 1 tbs olive oil
• drizzle of honey
• 200g feta cheese - cut into cubes
• 2 handfuls of fresh herbs - I used flat leaf parsley, coriander and basil
• Salad dressing of your choice - I used simple Italian style
• lemon  wedges to serve

Instructions

1. Cook the quinoa as per the packet instructions - place on one side to cool once cooked
2. Heat the oven to 200C
3. Toss the carrot slices in the olive oil and honey - season with salt and black pepper to taste.
4. Roast on a baking tray in the oven for around 20 minutes or until cooked
5. Once cooked - assemble the salad - gently stir together the quinoa, carrots, feta and herbs pour over the quantity of dressing you like and fluff up the quinoa salad just using a fork.
6. Serve with lemon wedges

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 296Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 592mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 4gSugar: 9gProtein: 11g

Nutritional content will vary depending on the exact ingredients you use and how careful you are with measuring - this nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate - you should always calculate your own nutritional information especially if you have specific dietary requirements.