Vegan Quinoa Salad is delicious and super easy to make! Comes together in under 20 minutes and is perfect for get togethers, quick lunches, and more!
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We all know that pasta salads are amazing, but this vegan quinoa salad is absolutely a hit and a great gluten free replacement for pasta salad.
It’s perfect for a summer salad or meal to take to a get together!
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Why You’ll Love This Dish
- Simple – Most of the ingredients are things you likely have in your fridge and/or pantry already and it only takes 20 minutes to come together!
- Versatile – You can switch up the sauces, the vegetables used, or even the grain if you prefer. It can also be served warm or cold depending on the eater’s preference!
- Great for Meal Prep – This recipe is easy to prep and lasts the whole week making it perfect for lunches all week long!
🥘Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients!
- Quinoa – We are used dried quinoa that has been rinsed and then cooked and cooled for this recipe. It’s a great grain that has a lot of health benefits while being gluten free.
- Chickpeas – you can use canned or premade and cooked chickpeas for this dish. This is the protein we are using as it pairs nicely with everything else.
- Vegetables– we are using a variety of flavors and textures out of our veggies to make sure we have soft and crunchy bites, lots of color, and some sweetness and savoriness out of each bite
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Quinoa – Another grain or pasta could be used with the other ingredients in this recipe
- Chickpeas – something like tofu or white beans would be a good sub
- Peanuts – if you are allergic, you can sub with sunflower seeds
- Vegetables– we are using a variety of flavors and textures out of our veggies to make sure we have soft and crunchy bites, lots of color, and some sweetness and savoriness out of each bite
- Stretch this meal – Feel free to add tofu, mushrooms, or even more vegetables if you’d like!
Step by Step Instructions for vegan quinoa salad:
Step 1. Cook your quinoa according to the package instructions. We prefer to cook in vegetable stock so that it adds more flavor.
Step 2. Pour cooked quinoa into a large bowl and fluff up with a fork. Let cool to touch, then pour some of your sauce in and stir together.
Step 3. Add all your remaining ingredients into the large bowl with the quinoa.
Step 4. Stir together well, making sure your sauce is evenly distributed. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Place in the fridge and all the flavors to come together even more.
Recipe FAQs:
Yes. The soy sauce can be subbed with tamari, coconut aminos or no soy soy sauce depending on your needs. Peanuts can be subbed with pepitas, sunflower seeds, or another nut if you can have them. Lastly, you can just omit the sesame seed oil or add another oil like olive or avocado in its place with a hint of liquid smoke.
Yes. Once cooled, place in a sealed container and in the fridge for up to 5-6 days.
Yes! This recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc to be what you need.
We don’t recommend freezing this dish.
Other Vegan Salad Recipes to Consider:
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🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth (or water)
- 1 15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup red cabbage, diced
- 1 cup mini cucumbers, sliced
- 1 cup carrots, shredded or julienned
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- ⅓ cup green onions, chopped
- ⅓ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
Peanut Dressing (for lighter dressing option see notes)
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter (natural preferred)
- 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon agave
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Optional Additions
- 1 lime, juiced
- ½ cup vegan feta cheese
- cherry tomatoes, quartered
Instructions
- Cook rinsed quinoa in the vegetable broth according to directions.
- While quinoa is cooking, combine all the ingredients for dressing. Whisk together. Place in fridge to set aside.
- Once quinoa is done, allow it to cool. Pour in ¼ of the dressing and stir together. Add the chickpeas, all the vegetables, peanuts, and remaining dressing and stir to combine again.
- Can be served immediately, but best if let sit in the fridge for at least an hour to cool down and let the flavor come together.
Notes
- 3 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (more or less to taste)
- 1 Teaspoon Fresh Ginger – grated
- ½ Teaspoon Garlic – minced (about 2 cloves)
- 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce or Tamari
- 2 Tablespoon Maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- Salt to Taste
- ¼ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper, optional (more or less to taste)
this is one of the best salads I have ever eaten! made it twice in one week…made it exactly as recipe stated. trust me you never change one of this chef’s recipes. stays crisp in fridge for next day if you have any leftovers. EXCELLENT!!!!!
Awwww, thank you so much! We’re so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying the recipe enough to make it more than once! Totally agree that this one is great for leftovers as well. Thank you again for giving the recipe a try and sharing your experience here with us!
Wow! Made this for the first time today. So good! I added some chili paste to the dressing. Healthy, delicious and satisfying. Love your recipes! Thank you!
Aww, thank you so much! Love the idea of adding that chili paste to bring a bit of spice to the recipe!
Made this just after seeing your post! Delicious! My husband said he’d eat every day! He also requests your broccoli, cashew, chickpea recipe on a regular basis.
Used honey in place of agave and a little less red onion, but otherwise made as written.
This is amazing to see! Thank you so much for giving our recipes try! We’re happy to hear that they have been a hit for you and your husband!
Pretty much everything but there is NO way, without doing mise en place first could you prep this in 5 minutes. I’ve made this 2x and 3rd coming u. Your recipes give excellent results but prep time given is unrealistic for the home cook. Now I know to read instructions before deciding when to start making. 🙂 Thank you – appreciate your work!
Thanks for your feedback. Glad you’re enjoying the recipes
The dressing was divine, I didn’t have any agave so I substituted maple syrup. Didn’t have red wine vinegar so I used rice vinegar. Added some frozen edamame and some water chestnuts that I had on the shelf. 10/10 yum factor.
YAY, Yay and yay! So glad it worked well for you