Italian quinoa salad
4
Points®
Total Time
40 min
Prep
25 min
Cook
15 min
Serves
6
Difficulty
Moderate
Fresh and filling, this easy salad is ideal for packed lunches or as a dinner side dish. If you’d like to bulk it up, add sautéed tofu to keep it vegetarian or stir in chopped rotisserie chicken or sautéed shrimp. Quinoa is grain-like in nature and flavor but is actually a high-protein seed. Toasting it brings out a rich nuttiness, which gives this salad greater depth and flavor. It’s also a good idea to rinse quinoa before cooking it. Quinoa has a natural coating called saponin, that can make it taste bitter once cooked. But, you can easily get rid of that coating by rinsing it.
Ingredients
Uncooked quinoa
1 cup(s)
Celery
2 rib(s), medium, ribs, minced
Cucumber
1 medium, seedless, peeled, minced
Radishes
8 medium, chopped
Scallions
5 medium, roots trimmed and minced
Orange
2 medium, peeled and cut into segments*
Chives
2 Tbsp, chopped
Fresh basil
½ cup(s), fresh, chopped
Pine nuts
¼ cup(s), toasted
Olive oil
2 tsp, extra virgin
Table salt
⅛ tsp, or to taste
Black pepper
⅛ tsp, or to taste
