71 minutes•Easy•Serves 2
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
By @chef1
A vibrant and flavorful salad perfect for a light lunch. It's quick, healthy, and satisfying with quinoa, fresh vegetables, and a lemon-herb dressing.
Recipe Rating
Not yet rated by chefs
Ingredients
- ●1/2 cup Quinoa
- ●1 cup Water
- ●1/2 cup, diced Cucumber
- ●1/2 cup, halved Cherry Tomatoes
- ●1/4 cup, halved Kalamata Olives
- ●1/4 cup, finely chopped Red Onion
- ●1/4 cup, crumbled Feta Cheese
- ●2 tablespoons, chopped Fresh Parsley
- ●1 tablespoon, chopped Fresh Mint
- ●2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- ●1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- ●1 clove, minced Garlic
- ●1/4 teaspoon Salt
- ●1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- 1Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve under cold water.
- 2Combine the quinoa and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked and the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let it cool slightly.
- 3In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, red onion, feta cheese, parsley, and mint.
- 4In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
- 5Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine.
- 6Serve immediately or chill for later.
Recipe details
- Cuisine
- Mediterranean
- Category
- Salad
- Preparation
- 44 minutes
- Cooking
- 25 minutes
Estimated total: 71 minutes. Planning estimate: stated duration ranges use their midpoint; standard preparation, heating and handling allowances are included. Overlapping tasks are counted once. Resting/chilling is included in total time.
How these estimates were calculated
- Setup: 5 min planning allowance (setup)
- Prep vegetables and herbs: 10 min planning allowance (vegetable_prep)
- Crumble feta: 5 min planning allowance (simple_prep)
- Rinse quinoa: 5 min planning allowance (simple_prep)
- Combine quinoa and water: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- Bring quinoa to boil: 10 min planning allowance (boil_heat)
- Fluff quinoa: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- Cool quinoa slightly: 5 min planning allowance (brief_cool)
- Whisk dressing: 3 min planning allowance (mix)
- Combine salad ingredients: 5 min planning allowance (assemble)
- Pour dressing: 2 min planning allowance (transfer)
- Toss salad: 3 min planning allowance (mix)
- Serve salad: 2 min planning allowance (garnish)
- Dice cucumber, halve tomatoes and olives, chop red onion, mince garlic, chop parsley and mint.
- Cook until water absorbed
- Quinoa: USDA cup portion weight
- Dry quinoa uses USDA uncooked quinoa, 170 g per cup.
- Water: USDA cup portion weight
- Selected generic bottled water as the first available option for water.
- Cucumber: USDA cup, pared, chopped portion weight
- Matched 'diced' to 'cup, pared, chopped' for peeled cucumber.
- Cherry Tomatoes: USDA cup cherry tomatoes portion weight
- Kalamata Olives: USDA FoodData Central Branded: DIVINA, published 2022-09-15; product-label estimate, formulation and label rounding may vary (https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/2339231/nutrients)
- Kalamata Olives: Volume estimate uses USDA pitted ripe-olive tablespoon weight with Divina Kalamata nutrients; variety and packing density differ (https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169094/nutrients)
- Divina Kalamata reference with separately disclosed standard pitted-olive volume weight.
- Red Onion: USDA cup, chopped portion weight
- Used generic raw onion as an approximation for red onion.
- Feta Cheese: USDA cup, crumbled portion weight
- Fresh Parsley: USDA tbsp portion weight
- Fresh Mint: USDA tbsp portion weight
- Used Spearmint, fresh as the first available option for Fresh Mint.
- Olive Oil: USDA tablespoon portion weight
- Lemon Juice: USDA cup portion weight
- Garlic: USDA clove portion weight
- Salt: USDA tsp portion weight
- Table salt; unknown quantity means sodium is omitted, not guessed.
- Black Pepper: USDA tsp, ground portion weight
- USDA black pepper; documented seasoning allowance applies only to to-taste/pinch amounts.
- Quinoa: 85 g · USDA reference 168874
- Water: 237 g · USDA reference 174158
- Cucumber: 66.5 g · USDA reference 169225
- Cherry Tomatoes: 74.5 g · USDA reference 170457
- Kalamata Olives: 33.6 g · Food reference · Portion reference
- Red Onion: 40 g · USDA reference 170000
- Feta Cheese: 37.5 g · USDA reference 173420
- Fresh Parsley: 7.6 g · USDA reference 170416
- Fresh Mint: 5.7 g · USDA reference 173475
- Olive Oil: 27 g · USDA reference 171413
- Lemon Juice: 15.25 g · USDA reference 167747
- Garlic: 3 g · USDA reference 169230
- Salt: 1.5 g · USDA reference 173468
- Black Pepper: 0.57 g · USDA reference 170931
quinoa · cucumber · feta · lemon herb dressing
Estimated nutrition per serving
401 calories · 9.8 g protein · 34.9 g carbohydrate · 25.4 g fat · 5.6 g fiber · 730 mg sodium
Source and basis: USDA FoodData Central and reviewed product references; ingredient-based calculation per serving. Documented USDA or manufacturer portion weights; all listed ingredient mass included before cooking losses. Full ingredient matches and assumptions below.
Recipe Context
This recipe was created with the following context in mind:
Friday
lunch
winter
Requested: 30 min