Quinoa salad with mixed vegetables is a rich and complete vegetarian dish perfect for summer as a single dish.
It’s a simple, fresh, and colorful recipe suitable for hot days, made with a mix of seasonal vegetables, perfect to bring to the beach, work lunch, or to serve for an aperitif or buffet!
For this recipe, I used potatoes, carrots, zucchini, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes, but you can enrich it creatively with other ingredients, also great with cheese cubes.
Quinoa is highly appreciated for its nutritional values, contrary to what you might think, it is not a cereal, it is gluten-free, even if its seeds have the appearance and properties of a real cereal, but it is an herbaceous plant that belongs to the Chenopodiaceae family.
Now let’s see how to prepare it!
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients for the Quinoa Salad with Mixed Vegetables
- 1.5 cups quinoa
- as needed water
- as needed salt
- as needed olive oil
- 1 onion (small)
- 1 potato
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 bell pepper
- 1/2 eggplant
- 1 zucchini
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- as needed basil (or mint)
Tools
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Pan
- 1 Pot
- 1 Stovetop
Steps for the Quinoa Salad with Mixed Vegetables
Wash the quinoa well several times under running water, the grains are covered by saponin, a bitter substance.
Take a pot, fill it with water, and bring to a boil, add salt, pour the quinoa, and cook according to the minutes indicated on the package.
Once cooked, drain, pour into a bowl, add a few tablespoons of oil, mix and fluff a little, let cool, and start preparing the vegetables.Peel the onion, carrot, and potato and cut them into cubes, take a pan, pour some oil, and start browning these three ingredients, lower the heat.
Then gradually add the rest of the vegetables, eggplant, bell pepper, and zucchini, always cut into cubes, sauté together with the other vegetables, then add salt, half a glass of water, and cook.
After cooking, add the cherry tomatoes cut into small pieces, the basil leaves, or fresh mint.Take the bowl with the quinoa, mix and fluff again, add all the cooked vegetables, and mix well, add a drizzle of olive oil, let the quinoa rest and cool well, or if you like it served warm, then plate and serve the quinoa with fresh mint leaves… and enjoy your meal!
Storage, Tips, and Variations
Before cooking, wash the quinoa well, which contains saponin, a bitter substance!
Quinoa can be stored in the fridge for about 2 days, it’s even better after resting.
You can prepare the salad with what you like most, also add cheese or mozzarella cubes, it’s also great with shrimp, arugula, and cherry tomatoes.
