Although I generally like to plan my meals out for the week, sometimes things don’t work out as planned. At the end of this week I noticed that I had an extra bunch of spinach in my fridge that I had not used during the week and it now needed to be finished rather quickly. Luckily I had an idea of what to do with it; I had been thinking about using the spinach, feta and herb flavour combination in a quinoa salad and now was as good a time as any to try it. Well, perhaps not the best time, as I had envisioned making it with white quinoa and all that I had on hand was a mix of white and red quinoa, but that would not affect the flavour so I was good to go. This quinoa salad was pretty easy to make and once you had everything in the pot you can pretty much just sit back and wait for it to finish cooking. The spinach and feta flavour combination worked really well in the quinoa salad and the one thing that I liked the most, outside of the flavour, was how light and fresh the quinoa salad seemed. It is always nice when a last minute dish turns out so good!
Spinach and Feta Quinoa Salad
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 bunch spinach (roughly chopped)
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth or water)
- 1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
- 1/4 cup dill (chopped)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 1/4 cup feta (crumbled)
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the spinach and cook until it wilts.
- Add the quinoa, vegetable broth, parsley, dill and season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and hit it with a splash lemon juice and mix in the feta.
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Matt says
March 26, 2010 at 11:23 pmWow that looks good!
Anonymous says
March 26, 2010 at 11:42 pmI've made something similar with orzo, and it was good. I will have to try yours when I get some more quinoa! Thanks for the recipe.
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
March 27, 2010 at 12:21 ama splendid salad! Healthy, yet flavorful and highly enjoyable!
Cheers,
Rosa
Lucia says
March 27, 2010 at 12:54 amThat looks so good!
Natalie says
March 27, 2010 at 1:38 amGreat recipe, reminds me of this one that I just posted the other day and LOVED…you should try it if you liked the quinoa one! http://www.thesweetslife.com/2010/03/bulgur-salad-with-citrus-toasted.html
Maria says
March 27, 2010 at 1:54 amGreat salad! Lovely flavors and perfect for Spring.
Zoe Sotet Art Studio says
March 27, 2010 at 3:55 amLooks delicious.
I've had a packet of quinoa in the pantry for ages that my mum gave and I didn't know what to do with it.
Dylana Suarez says
March 27, 2010 at 5:46 amThis looks amazing!
Just came across your blog!
It is lovely!
colormenana.blogspot.com
Nina Timm says
March 27, 2010 at 7:37 amI always come here and expect to see something red and spicy…this brings a very nice variety to the "red Hot" site!!!
Jenn says
March 27, 2010 at 8:00 amWhat a great quick salad! I think I might sub out the feta for goat cheese, but either way it would be really tasty!
Cherine says
March 27, 2010 at 10:45 amThis is a great healthy salad!
Joanne says
March 27, 2010 at 11:13 amThis looks like the perfect accompaniment to lunch. Gotta love quinoa!
bunkycooks says
March 27, 2010 at 12:37 pmYour dishes always look so colorful! This will be something nice to try as meals lighten up for Spring.
meeso says
March 27, 2010 at 1:20 pmSpinach and feta caught my attention… this is super healthy!
Jan says
March 27, 2010 at 3:37 pmSounds good and looks good!
Rebecca says
March 27, 2010 at 4:06 pmMmmm… this looks wonderful! I have been craving healthy salads and I think this will do the trick!
Pam says
March 27, 2010 at 9:42 pmIt looks great! Love the combo of spinach and feta! Your salad is packed with flavor and I will have to buy some quinoa! Thanks!
eatme_delicious says
March 27, 2010 at 10:18 pmYum I'd love to have this for dinner or lunch or probably even breakfast! I need to get some more quinoa.
Monica says
March 29, 2010 at 12:55 amIn step 4, it says "4. Add the and spinach" – what goes before the "and"? Or is it just supposed to be "add the spinach?" I have quite a bit of spinach lying around and I intend to make this asap!
Erin says
March 29, 2010 at 7:00 pmI love quinoa, and using it in salads like this is one of my favorite ways to cook with it! This type of recipe is perfect to bring to work for lunch, too. Sounds great!
Also, I made your wheat berry, butternut squash & chickpea salad last week… it was fantastic!
Rambling Tart says
March 29, 2010 at 11:48 pmOh, I love this combination, Kevin! Quinoa is such a favorite of mine, and I like the notion of spinach AND feta. Mmm. 🙂
Carter @ The Kitchenette says
March 30, 2010 at 5:28 pmOh, this looks perfect for me. I have, what's scientific term for a lot? Oh yes, I have a crapload of quinoa to use up and this looks like it could make a dent in my stash!
Love it!
Kevin says
March 31, 2010 at 2:55 amMonica: Sorry about that, I cleaned it up in the recipe.
monica, sometimes known as koolaidmom says
March 31, 2010 at 3:18 pmI changed out the feta
for blue cheese crumbles
and this is wonderful! I've been eating it all week.
Meghan says
April 1, 2010 at 1:37 amI made this tonight for the weekly girls night dinner. It was fantastic…even though I missed a step and added herbs later. Oops!
Peggy says
April 2, 2010 at 12:50 pmThis looks mighty tasty!
free lesson plans says
April 8, 2010 at 2:20 pmWow, this looks delicious. I bet my family would love it, we all like spinach a lot. I will have to try it.
dining table says
November 13, 2010 at 2:24 amThis is good! I just tried it yesterday and it was really nice.
ter@waaoms says
April 9, 2011 at 1:53 amjust tried this tonight. Very quick and tastes great. I love that it only uses one pot to make.
kristen @ just-iced cookies says
May 16, 2011 at 6:19 pmYUM! Made this for lunch today and it's awesome 🙂 Thank you!
Claire says
June 20, 2011 at 3:09 pmI made this for Father's Day lunch and everyone loved it. Thanks for helping my family enjoy Quinoa!
Indi says
September 10, 2012 at 12:21 amthis recipe is great, i've already made it 3 times! the spinach/lemon/feta/quinoa combination is delicious.
Joanne Voth says
January 19, 2014 at 10:58 pmThis salad looks so delcious! Thanks Kevin!
AJ says
April 8, 2014 at 5:24 pmTrying to figure out…. is this intended as a hot or cold dish? Or either? I want to make it tonight, but can't figure out if I should figure chilling time into it. Looks delish!
kevin says
April 11, 2014 at 4:12 amAJ: This salad can be enjoyed either hot or cold!
AJ says
April 28, 2014 at 4:13 pmYou're right, its great both ways! Thanks!