Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Feta and Lemon Herb Dressing (30 Minutes)

This Mediterranean quinoa salad is the one I bring to every potluck and pack for lunch all week: fluffy, properly cooked quinoa tossed with crunchy cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, red onion, chickpeas, salty feta and a big handful of parsley and mint, all pulled together with a sharp lemon, garlic and oregano dressing. Thirty minutes, 13g of protein and 7g of fiber a serving, and unlike a green salad it only gets better after a night in the fridge. It is the grain-salad sibling of my Mediterranean chickpea salad, the perfect base under the new chicken shawarma bowls, and the side I serve with Mediterranean baked cod and Greek lemon chicken all summer and fall.

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Why this Mediterranean quinoa salad is the one people ask me to bring.

• The quinoa is rinsed, toasted dry and then left alone. Bitter, soggy quinoa is what turns people off quinoa salad. Rinsing removes the bitter saponin coating, cooking it in slightly less water than the package says and letting it steam off the heat for 5 minutes gives you separate, fluffy grains that actually absorb dressing instead of swimming in it.
• The dressing is bold on purpose. Quinoa and chickpeas are mild and soak up flavor, so a timid dressing disappears. Fresh lemon juice, red wine vinegar, grated garlic, dried oregano and good olive oil, whisked sharp enough to make you wince a little, is exactly right once it is tossed through the salad.
• Feta, olives and two fresh herbs carry it. Salty feta and Kalamata olives give it the Mediterranean punch, and the combination of parsley and mint — not one or the other — is what makes people ask what is in it. This is the same formula behind my Greek chicken bowls and cucumber salad, and it is one of the most made healthy recipes on the site for a reason.

Here's what you'll need.

Sixteen ingredients, all easy to find: quinoa, an English cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives, red onion, a can of chickpeas, a block of feta, parsley, mint, lemon, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, dried oregano, salt and pepper.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — Rinse the quinoa.

Put the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold running water for a full 30 seconds, rubbing the grains with your fingers, until the water runs clear and stops foaming. This washes off the naturally bitter coating. Shake it dry.

STEP 2 — Cook and fluff the quinoa.

Combine the rinsed quinoa, water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer 15 minutes until the water is absorbed and the little spirals have popped out. Take it off the heat and leave it covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and spread it on a sheet pan to cool quickly.

STEP 3 — Chop the vegetables.

While the quinoa cooks, dice the cucumber, halve the cherry tomatoes, halve the olives and finely dice the red onion. If raw onion is too sharp for you, soak the diced onion in cold water for 10 minutes and drain.

STEP 4 — Whisk the lemon herb dressing.

In a small bowl or jar, whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, grated garlic, oregano, salt and pepper until the dressing looks creamy and slightly thickened. Taste it on a cucumber slice; it should be noticeably tart.

STEP 5 — Combine the quinoa, vegetables and chickpeas.

In a large wide bowl, combine the cooled quinoa, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, red onion and chickpeas. Pour over about two-thirds of the dressing and toss well.

STEP 6 — Fold in the feta and herbs.

Add the crumbled feta, parsley and mint and fold gently so the feta stays in pieces. Taste, add the rest of the dressing if it needs it, and season with more salt, pepper or a squeeze of lemon. Serve right away or chill for an hour so the flavors settle.

If high fiber, make-ahead salads like this are your lunch style, there is a whole chapter of grain bowls and salads like it in the Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Cool the quinoa before you dress it. Warm quinoa wilts the cucumber and herbs and melts the feta into a paste. Spreading it on a sheet pan brings it to room temperature in about 10 minutes.
• Use a block of feta in brine, not pre-crumbled. Block feta is creamier and far less salty-dry than the crumbles in a tub. Crumble it yourself with your fingers into big, uneven pieces.
• Seed the cucumber if it is not English. A regular cucumber has watery seeds that will thin the dressing by day two. Scoop them out with a spoon, or stick with an English or Persian cucumber.
• Add the herbs last and whole-leaf chopped. Chop the parsley and mint just before folding them in. Pre-chopped herbs blacken and lose their fragrance in the fridge.

Why this is my go-to make-ahead healthy salad.

• 13g protein and 7g fiber a serving, from plants and feta. Quinoa is one of the few grains that is a complete protein, and with chickpeas and feta on top this lands at 13g protein and 340 calories a serving — enough to be a satisfying side or a light lunch. Top it with grilled chicken or the shawarma chicken from today’s other post for a 40g meal; the protein calculator will tell you how much you need.
• It is better on day two. The quinoa and chickpeas keep absorbing the lemony dressing overnight, and the vegetables hold their crunch for days. It is the rare salad you can meal prep on Sunday and genuinely look forward to on Thursday.
• It travels and feeds a crowd. No greens to wilt, no mayo to worry about, and it tastes right at room temperature. Double it for a potluck and it will be the first bowl emptied.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Mediterranean baked cod — the dinner I make with this salad most often
• Greek lemon chicken and potatoes — serve the salad cold alongside the hot, lemony chicken
• Za'atar chicken — slice it over the top for a complete bowl
• Air fryer salmon — flake a fillet over a bowl of salad for a 35g protein lunch
• Chicken shawarma bowls — also new today — swap this salad in for the rice

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The flavors improve overnight. If you are prepping it for the whole week, keep the feta and herbs in a separate container and fold them in the morning you eat it. Do not freeze it — the cucumber and tomatoes turn watery.

Reheating: This salad is served cold or at room temperature and does not need reheating. Take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving, give it a toss and add a fresh squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt to wake it up.

More easy healthy recipes...

Mediterranean chickpea salad Greek chicken bowls Mediterranean baked cod Greek yogurt chicken salad

Also new today: chicken shawarma bowls — charred yogurt-marinated chicken with garlic sauce that is incredible over this salad — and a hearty healthy vegetable soup for soup-and-salad night.

More make-ahead salads and grain bowls

If a salad like this one — fiber-rich, filling and ready for the whole week — is how you like to eat, the Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook is full of grain bowls, bean salads and simple sides built the same way.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

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