This warm spring quinoa salad is chock-full of roasted vegetables, toasty quinoa and all the crunchy toppings. Golden, crisp quinoa is mixed with chickpeas and kale, then topped with pistachios, feta, radish and a lemon vinaigrette for the ultimate crunchy, warm salad that is satisfying and delish! HELLO spring! This warm quinoa salad is filled […]
The post Warm Spring Quinoa Chopped Salad. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.
This warm spring quinoa salad is chock-full of roasted vegetables, toasty quinoa and all the crunchy toppings. Golden, crisp quinoa is mixed with chickpeas and kale, then topped with pistachios, feta, radish and a lemon vinaigrette for the ultimate crunchy, warm salad that is satisfying and delish!
HELLO spring!
This warm quinoa salad is filled with chickpeas, kale, crunchy pistachios, creamy feta, radish, toasty quinoa and more. It’s drizzled with an incredible lemon dressing filled with herbs. And you’ll want to eat it over and over again this season.
It’s the first full day of spring and we have snow on the ground! Crazy for a year where we’ve barely had any snow.
That means it’s the perfect time of year to combine the seasons; to enjoy a salad that is filled with spring vegetables but also warm and cozy. Yes, we can have both!
If you haven’t heard of the “baked salad” trend, it was making its way around social media a few years ago. The idea of a baked salad doesn’t sound appealing to me, but that’s just because of the name!
The fact is that I’ve been toasting quinoa, roasted chickpeas and vegetables in salads for years. So what’s not to love?
Nothing! This is super delicious and a lovely way to bring in a new season when it’s still cold and gray.
It’s also a fabulous dish to make if you have leftover quinoa. The cooked quinoa gets so toasty and golden and crunchy in the oven and it’s everything. I could eat quinoa like this all the time.
This is how it comes together!
First, I throw half of the ingredients on a sheet pan to roast them. This includes kale, cooked quinoa, chickpeas and asparagus. I like to roast them at at least 425 degrees F and for about 15 minutes. And I give them a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper – then they are good to go!
I keep the seasons on that part simple because we’re making a delish, refreshing vinaigrette. A wonderful lemony herby dressing that will soak into the salad and give it even more flavor. It’s super easy to whisk up, so I do it while the vegetables and quinoa are in the oven. You can also make it ahead of time too.
There are also a few ingredients that don’t get warm up: chopped pistachios, crumbled feta and diced radish. These things add the creamiest, crunchiest texture to the salad and really elevate the flavor as well.
I can’t even express how delicious this is! The combination of the warm, crisp ingredients combined with the cool creamy cheese and the crunchy nuts – it cannot be beat. I am such a texture freak and this salad is right up my alley.
It also gets better as it sits!
The dressing sinks into the quinoa and the kale. It’s tangy and bright and tastes like a big forkful of spring.
Crunchy, cozy, crisp all while being refreshing and bright. This is how we bring spring into the air! (more…)
The post Warm Spring Quinoa Chopped Salad. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.