I’ve been on a quinoa kick ever since it became a super popular grain back in 2014. Almost 10 years ago?! Yep. Over the years I’ve added this delicious, protein-packed grain to chili, grain bowls, granola bars, pancakes, and also in banana bread. Call me the Harry Potter of quinoa.
Wait…what.
I’m certainly no quinoa queen (or wizard), but obviously, my love for quinoa is the real deal. Not unlike my love for Twilight (it’s still real, guys), Jon Snow, or Pacey from the 90s.
All truths today.
This easy roasted vegetable pesto quinoa salad recipe is so good and something I ate for three nights straight when I first perfected it back in 2017. I paired with various proteins like chicken sausage, hardboiled eggs, and leftover shrimp, for an incredible meal prep dinner that became a new fav. Tony even said this pesto quinoa salad was good. And this is coming from a guy who still pronounces quinoa as KIN OH UH.
You know this is the real-deal delicious.
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Ingredients in this pesto quinoa salad
I whipped up this beautiful, super easy pesto quinoa salad with roasted veggies and chickpeas and MY GOODNESS IT WAS AMAZING. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Veggies: red onion, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes and baby bella mushrooms. Feel free to mix it up with veggies you have on hand!
- Chickpeas: for a delicious and affordable plant based protein.
- Spices: you’ll use garlic powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper to give the veggies and chickpeas the perfect flavor.
- Olive oil: you’ll need just a bit of olive oil to coat your veggies and chickpeas.
- Quinoa: the base of this amazing pesto quinoa salad. It gives the salad a wonderful nutty flavor and boost of protein.
- Homemade pesto: made with fresh basil leaves, fresh lemon juice, water, garlic, chopped cashews (or sunflower seeds), and a pinch of salt.
Customize this quinoa salad
The best part about this simple roasted vegetable quinoa salad recipe is that you can truly make it your own! Here are some ideas:
- Add extra protein. Chicken, shrimp, salmon, or tofu would all be delicious. Or get wild and throw an egg on it!
- Pick your veggies. Feel free to use the veggies you have on hand. Roast up different peppers, zucchini, sweet potato, and more.
- Choose your grain. Swap the quinoa for another grain like farro, couscous or even your favorite pasta noodle.
Can I make it nut free?
Absolutely! Simply swap the cashews in the pesto for pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
Roasted vegetable quinoa salad in 4 steps
- Roast your veggies & chickpeas. Start by tossing your chopped veggies and chickpeas in olive oil and seasonings on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast until the veggies are tender.
- Make the quinoa. While the veggies are roasting, cook your quinoa so that it’s nice and fluffy (see below for the BEST tips for making fluffy quinoa!) Transfer it to a bowl.
- Make the pesto. Add all of the pesto ingredients to a food processor and process until nic and smooth. Note that it will be on the thicker side.
- Toss & serve. Add your veggies to the bowl with your quinoa, pour in the pesto, toss it up and serve! This salad is delicious warm or cold.
How to cook the perfect fluffy quinoa
I have a tried and true method for making super fluffy quinoa that’s perfect for salads (like this one) and side dishes. Guaranteed to be your new go-to method. Get all of my tips & tricks for the best fluffy quinoa here!
What to serve with this salad
- Pair with these amazing pesto chicken stuffed zucchini boats (gimme all the pesto)
- Add a simple grilled chicken or salmon on top or on the side
- Side of Zucchini Mac and Cheese? YES, please.
- Nothing better than a juicy burger with a salad on the side!
Storing tips
Store this vegetarian pesto quinoa salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. It’s delicious eaten hot or cold, so feel free to dig in straight from the fridge or warm it up in the microwave!
More salad recipes you’ll love
- Famous Crunchy Cashew Thai-Inspired Quinoa Salad
- California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad
- Kale, Edamame & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing
- Grilled Carrot Arugula Salad with Fig, Goat Cheese & Avocado
Get all of my salad recipes here!
I hope you love this roasted vegetable quinoa salad recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Roasted Veggie, Chickpea & Pesto Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- For the roasted veggies & chickpeas:
- 1 red onion, cut into chunks
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into chunks
- 1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoons garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the quinoa:
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup water
- For the pesto:
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- ⅓ cup roasted or raw cashews (or can sub roasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds to make it nut free)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons water, to thin pesto as necessary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place chopped veggies and chickpeas on parchment paper.
- Cook veggies: Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil over veggies, then sprinkle on garlic powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Gently toss with your hands then spread veggies out evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until veggies are tender and roasted, flipping over halfway through to ensure even cooking.
- While the veggies are roasting, make the quinoa: add quinoa and water to a medium pot and place over high heat; bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then remove from heat, fluff quinoa with a fork and transfer quinoa to a large bowl.
- Make the pesto: In the bowl of a food processor, add basil, cashews, oil, lemon juice, garlic clove and salt. Process until smooth, about 1 minute, adding a tablespoon or two of water to thin pesto, if necessary. Pesto should be on the thicker side.
- Once veggies are done, add them to the bowl with the quinoa. Then fold in the pesto. Serve warm or cold. Makes 4 servings.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This was very tasty! I did asparagus instead of mushrooms. I also used store bought pesto instead of making my own. I did this as a vegetarian main dish instead of a side dish and would recommend doubling the sweet potato and red bell pepper. I think we could’ve eaten all the veggies in two servings.
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing 🙂
I really enjoyed this salad, but I do have one small critique—the sweet potatoes weren’t cooked enough. I would cut them smaller if I made this recipe again. I already had store-bought pesto on hand so I used that rather than make my own.
Great tip to cut them smaller!
I make this all the time. It is super healthy and absolutely delicious warm or cold. I like to use it to meal prep for lunches for the week. I make my pesto ahead of time when my basil plants are going crazy in the summer. I freeze it and take it out to use whenever I make this recipe.
So happy to hear that!
You forgot to list parm in the ingredient list for the pesto….
Sorry for the confusion! The pesto in this recipe does not have parmesan 🙂
One of my go-to lunches! So easy, and easy to make it my own!!
I already have my own pesto prepared, how much should I add? I’ve seen a couple others ask this question, too.
Thank you!!
So happy to hear that! I would say 1/4 cup, then add more if needed 🙂
This is one of my favorite go to lunch recipes. I love that I can switch around the vegggies depending on what’s in season or available fresh! I look forward to making and eating this , it is so so simple but amazing! Sometimes I make some Italian sausage to go along with it for extra extra protein!
This is the best, Nadia. Glad you’re loving this recipe and it turned out great for you 🙂❤️
I roasted zuchinni, peppers and tomatoes from the garden along with sweet onion, cauliflower and carrots with the chick peas, adding only a bit of cayenne to your recipe to spice it up mildly. OHMIGOSH this was so flavorful i didn’t even add pesto! (I also tossed in some chopped greens for added color, texture and nutrients.
I appreciated how you encourage experimenting with the recipe – I enjoyed making it as much as eating it, and shared it with my son who also loved it!
Yay! I am SO glad you loved this recipe and it turned out delicious for you ❤️
Love the ideas. Consisering the suggestions, the ingredients a nutritional balance, I definetly want to try your recipies.
Hope you give them a try and enjoy!
My family really loves to eat it.
Yum yum yum! I threw this together when I had some mushrooms that were on their last legs. I roasted veggies exactly as suggested and they turned our perfect. I also used up some pesto we had frozen from last summer’s basil harvest and tossed with barley. I was worried that barley would be too dense but it was the perfect vessel for the veggies and pesto! This sort of meal would be perfect as a side dish or topped with some grilled chicken! Thanks again for yet another stellar recipe!
Delicious! I subbed zucchini and carrots for the mushrooms and tomatoes! I also used the Kirkland Pesto to make it even easier!
That sounds delicious! And store-bought pesto is a great shortcut 🙌 Thanks for the review!
This was so delicious & definitely reheats well. I made a batch & reheated for lunch all week and it was sooo tasty every time!
Can’t wait to make it again!!!
Awesome, such a good one for meal prepping! Thanks for the review!
Love, love, love this! So perfect for meal prep! I added in chicken sausage and zucchini because I had both on hand and it’s all so delicious! I love AK for quick and easy meal prep ideas!
A meal prep fave! So delicious.
This was absolutely delicious! I cheated on the pesto and used a 7 oz container of Trader Joe’s Genova pesto (with a splash of lemon juice added). I also threw in some sauteed baby spinach. I think I prefer it slightly warm. Will definitely be making this again — and soon.
Such a good idea to use store-bought pesto–I do that often! Glad you enjoyed it, Suzanne 🙂
This recipe was delicious. Did not have mushrooms or chickpeas so i only used a red bell pepper, tomatoes and a red onion for the roasted vegetables. I also added sun dried tomato paste as well and added a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Yum!
So glad you loved it, Sashi! LOVE the idea of adding sundried tomato paste–so yummy!
This was so easy and delicious! I loved the pesto and was amazed it had no oil. In fact I doubled the pesto, not sure if I would use it all, but I did!! We might have had a few extra veggies. We also roasted veggies in air fryer to save heating up the house. It worked wonderfully.
Would you think parsley pesto is okay over basil? I have a giant batch of parsley in my garden…
I bet it would be delicious!
This was sooooo delicious! I added some ground turkey for some extra protein. I also used store bought pesto cause I don’t have a food processor but it was still amazinggggg
Love it! Easy and delicious 🙂
Added some shredded chicken thighs and some spinach, and it turned out great. The pesto sauce is incredible!
Great idea! Love this one.
Super easy and delicious! I thought I had chickpeas but it turns out they were cannelloni beans. Dumped them in at the end instead and it was delicious. Will still try with chickpeas at another time but this worked well too
Perfect! Great idea to use those beans.
We absolutely loved it! I made a big batch and we had it three days in a row and felt sad when we finished it. Thanks!
I do not care for the cherry tomatoes in this recipe, but otherwise it is a wonderful quinoa salad. I like to serve it with a bit of grilled chicken.
This was soo tasty! I had some store bought pesto so used 2 Tbl of that instead of making my own. My husband and I kept raving how yummy this was! Thanks so much for a terrific recipe!
Perfect! Such a great dinner 🙂
So yummy! We grilled instead of roasting because it was hot, and turned out great! The timing was perfect—there was the perfect amount of time while the veggies were grilling to make quinoa and the delicious pesto! My picky boyfriend even loved it!
Perfect! Love that idea. Such a great lunch or dinner!
We loved this salad! I substituted zucchini for the tomatoes, because that’s what I had on hand and used jarred pesto since I didn’t have fresh basil. It was quick and easy and delicious! 😊
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
YUM!
this is a very tasty salad and easy to do, Love the blend of flavors of the garlicky chickpeas and roasted veggies and the pesto, I used my instant pot for the quinoa and also used prepared pesto. Otherwise followed to the recipe. I will definitely be making this again (and again and again!) It’slight and filing at the same time. Five stars!
Perfect! So happy you loved it!