Mediterranean Quinoa Salad (30-Minute Easy Meal Prep Recipe)
This quick and easy quinoa salad is crunchy, bright and fresh - it's the perfect summer salad and it's ready in 30 minutes. Serve it as a main with chicken breast or as a side dish!
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 416kcal
Equipment
- 1 large sauté pan or skillet with a lid
- 1 large bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast (about 2 large chicken breasts; see Note 1)
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- Cooking spray or 2 tsp olive oil
- ¾ cup dry quinoa
- Zest of 1 large lemon (about 1 ½ tsp)
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ⅓ cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups cucumber, diced (see Note 2)
- 1 cup tomatoes, diced (see Note 2)
- ⅓ cup red onion, diced
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped (fresh dill works great too)
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- Juice of 1 large lemon (about 3 tbsp-¼ cup)
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Season the chicken breast on both sides with the dried parsley, garlic powder, freshly cracked black pepper and salt
- Heat a large sauté pan or skillet over medium high heat then spray with avocado oil cooking spray or add the olive oil
- Sear the chicken on each side for 1 minute, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to medium low
- Cook for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through then set aside to cool; after 10 minutes, dice the cooled chicken
- Cook the quinoa according to package directions then transfer to a large bowl
- While the quinoa is warm, add the extra virgin olive oil and the lemon zest and mix well then let sit for 10 minutes - the quinoa will absorb the lemon oil
- Add the chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, parsley, feta, chicken and lemon juice (see Note 3)
- Toss to combine and season with salt to taste
Notes
Note 1: If you're making this salad as a side dish, you can skip the chicken breast.
Note 2: English or Persian cucumbers both work great here. Use either 1 large English cucumber or 4-5 Persian cucumbers. For the tomatoes, any kind such as vine tomatoes, Roma tomatoes or cherry tomatoes all work great.
Note 3: For meal prep, I prefer to store the chicken separately so I can warm it up slightly before tossing it with the salad.
Nutrition Facts in the recipe card below are calculated automatically and may be inaccurate. For more accurate nutrition information, refer to the macros below. Macros in the Recipe Notes section are calculated using a Macro Calculation App but will differ slightly based on ingredients used in individual variations. Nutritional information for this recipe is based on one serving.
Macros per serving: 482 calories/42g carbs/40g protein/17g fat
Nutrition
Calories: 416kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 90mg | Sodium: 1117mg | Potassium: 960mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 958IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 4mg