It’s about time I brought back this gorgeous quinoa salad. I first made it eight (yes, 8!) years ago, and Abra and I became completely obsessed. I’m pretty sure she still makes it for lunch about once a month because it’s that good.
This Moroccan-inspired quinoa salad is filled with cozy, warming flavors from spices like cumin, turmeric, and cinnamon, and packs tons of plant-based protein thanks to the chickpeas and quinoa. I can’t EVEN describe how delicious it is.
I tossed everything together with sweet dried fresh parsley, crunchy toasted almonds, and sweet dried cranberries for bursts of sweet, savory, fresh flavor in every bite. It’s perfect for meal prep and even tastes delish hot and cold, AKA the ultimate lunch goals.
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Ingredients in this Moroccan-inspired chickpea quinoa salad
This incredible quinoa salad is like little pops of flavor dancing on my tongue with sweet cranberry flavor and crunchy toasted nutty almonds, all with the freshness of herbs in every bite. It’s also vegan & gluten-free! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Onion: for a little bit of crispness in every bite.
- Moroccan-inspired spices: we’re using turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon to give this dish a wonderful, global flavor and beautiful golden color.
- Quinoa: this protein-packed, gluten-free grain truly makes this salad one of a kind. Feel free to use white or tricolor quinoa if you’d like.
- Broth: I usually use a low-sodium vegetarian broth. You can also use chicken broth if you’re not vegan or vegetarian, or opt for water.
- Chickpeas: for a boost of plant-based protein and feel good fiber. Yum!
- Dried cranberries: the sweetness from dried cranberries is SO delicious in every bite.
- Parsley: for the perfect boost of freshness.
- Sliced almonds: I love the crunch of sliced almonds, but pistachios or pecans would also be perfect.
Customize it with easy swaps
This chickpea quinoa salad is super easy to customize with the ingredients you have on hand. Here’s what I can recommend to swap or add:
- For the quinoa: this salad would also be delicious with pearl couscous, farro, or barley! Note that these grains are not gluten-free.
- For the cranberries: you could also use dried cherries, raisins, golden raisins, or chopped dates.
- For the almonds: keep the salad nut-free by omitting the almonds (you’ll also want to use olive oil instead of coconut oil). As I mentioned, you could also swap the almonds for pistachios or chopped pecans for a different flavor twist.
- Add extra veggies: I love adding peas to this salad! I recommend adding 2/3 cup of frozen peas after the quinoa is done cooking.
Looking for an extra boost of protein?
This Moroccan-inspired quinoa salad packs over 16g of plant-based protein as is, but you could also add cooked, cubed chicken if you’d like to add more protein (and aren’t vegan or vegetarian!)
We actually love serving it with these recipes for an easy weeknight dinner:
- Grilled Sesame Chicken
- Spicy Maple Glazed Salmon
- Whole Roasted Chicken With Potatoes, Lemon, Herbs and Feta
- Spatchcock Chicken
- Grilled Jalapeño Cilantro Chicken
Tips for making the best fluffy quinoa
Don’t forget to get all of my tips and tricks for making the BEST fluffy quinoa in this post!
Toast your own almonds
I know it can be tricky to find toasted nuts, but it’s super easy (and worth it) to toast your own!
- Add your sliced nuts to a pan on the stovetop over medium-high heat.
- Carefully toss them around until they begin to smell fragrant, which should be about 5 minutes.
That’s it! Toasting them really brings out their flavor and a wonderful crunch.
One pot Moroccan chickpea quinoa salad in 3 steps
- Cook the onion. Start by cooking down your onion in a large pot with coconut oil until it’s translucent, then stir in all of those cozy spices.
- Add the quinoa. Pour in the broth or water and your quinoa, bring it to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat. Cook it for 15 minutes, then remove it from the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- Add your mix-ins & serve. Fold in the chickpeas, cranberries, and parsley until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasonings, then top with your toasted almonds and extra parsley and serve!
How to meal prep this quinoa salad
This easy chickpea quinoa salad recipe makes the perfect meal prep lunch. Simply divide the recipe into 4 separate mason jars or meal prep containers and enjoy it for lunch throughout the week! Garnish your servings with extra toasted almonds. It’s actually delicious served warm or cold!
More salad recipes you’ll love
- Famous Crunchy Cashew Thai-Inspired Quinoa Salad
- Vibrant Curry Cashew Chickpea Quinoa Salad
- Scoop It Up Kale Couscous Salad
- Chickpea Arugula Quinoa Salad
- The Easiest Chopped Greek Chickpea Salad
Get all of my salad recipes here!
I know you’re going to love this Moroccan-inspired chickpea quinoa salad recipe. Please let me know if you make it by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. I’d love to hear from you and it helps encourage others to make the recipe too! Enjoy xo.
One Pot Moroccan-Inspired Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 cups vegetarian broth (or water)
- 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup finely diced flat leaf parsley
- ½ cup sliced toasted almonds
Instructions
- Add coconut oil to a large pot and place over medium heat. Once oil is hot add in onion and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the following spices: turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and salt and pepper; cook for 30 seconds more.
- Next add in broth (or water) and quinoa; bring mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for exactly 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.
- Stir in chickpeas, cranberries and parsley to the quinoa and mix until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with toasted almonds and extra parsley. Serves 4.
- To serve: Place in mason jars or meal prep containers for lunch throughout the week. Garnish with extra toasted almonds.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on February 15th, 2018, republished with new photos on February 21st, 2023, and republished on May 14th, 2026.
First time cooking this recipe and I followed the instructions exactly (against my better judgement). Two cups of water to one cup of quinoa was way too much water. Even after 15 minutes of cooking I was left with a soup! The standard 1:1.5 ratio would have worked perfectly. Instead I had to drain the excess liquid. I suggest anyone following this recipes starts with less water and adds more if required.
So strange – I’ve always used this ratio for all of my quinoa recipes. Did you bring it to a boil first before letting it simmer on low?
Delicious. Have you thought about adding a cooking mode button? Really handy on other websites and would be great on yours also
Glad you enjoyed! And we’re working on big updates to the site as we speak 🙂
This is good, I serve it over greens, add shredded carrots, dates, pistachios. If I don’t have chickpeas, I add lentils
Perfect! Such a great lunch!
Is this served warm, or room temperature? Or cold?
It’s delicious all three ways!
Made this for the first time today, and it came out pretty good, but I wanted the flavor to be a bit more robust. I added about 3/4 tbs of fish sauce (coconut aminos might be a good sub if you’re vegetarian) and about 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Then I squeezed a lime wedge over it before serving. Made a big difference!
Perfect! Glad those additions helped!
OMG so good! I cooked the quinoa in 1.5c broth rather than 2c since that is how I am used to cooking it. I used a mixture of golden and red raisins not the cranberries. It was good when fresh, but even better the next day. Thank you!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
I made this to bring to a group gathering. Easy, nutritious and tasty. I swapped in unsalted chicken bone broth because I had some to use up. Otherwise followed the directions as is. Thank you!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
Unlike most other commenters, I do not like to cook. HOWEVER, this simple recipe is one I fall back on to have for a quick lunch, light dinner, or even just a snack. This recipe gives me six individual small servings which suits me perfectly. Note: I do prefer strong flavors, so I always double the spices. Will make again next week!
Easy and delicious! Glad you enjoyed!
I found this a bit dry and lacking in flavour, more of a base than a finished dish, so I added chopped fresh mint and a generous squeeze of lemon, which improved it. It would have been better still with more spice and also preferably a tahini or yoghurt-based sauce drizzled over it, or some kind of sharp herby dressing. I made do with a drizzle of sriracha mayo.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t love this one! I’ve always found it to have plenty of flavor with all of those spices, but let me know if you try it with another sauce 🙂 This sunshine dressing would be delicious!
I made some changes but this recipe was a wonderful base. Used a little more cumin and cinnamon than called and added urfa pepper. Used thinly sliced spinach that I put in when it was still warm, kalamata olives, and lemon zest. And will add sliced red bell pepper and salted, roasted pistachios instead of almonds. All based on what I had in the ouse. Chickpeas would be so good with this if I had any! FYI – if this hadn’t come out good I would not have given IT a rating – it would have been on me, not you! I appreciate a flexible recipe like this so felt fair to do a 5 star rating!
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Glad you enjoyed!
This is simple and easy yet so flavorful! We ate it with salmon. Officially added it to our recipe rotation! It also tasted even better the next day.
Amazing! Yes, this one’s great for meal prep 🙂
Love the colors, spices, and almonds with this recipe. I did add grilled chicken for extra-protein. I feel like it’s need’s a light sauce though, it’s a little dry, but I haven’t figured out what to add (lemon juice with a little honey, or apple cider vinegar with a little honey)? Thank you for another great recipe without gluten.
Glad you enjoyed! You could try adding a little of this Curry Tahini Dressing!
Fun fact since I’m spamming you the past two days with great reviews: my coworker gifted your cookbook to me for Christmas two years ago, and I’ve been raving about the book and your online recipes ever since. She always jokes that she’ll never be able to top that gift! I love to cook but was in a rut- I have a lot of food sensitivities and it seemed to me that, beyond the Mediterranean-style food I was making, that I could only find recipes that relied heavily on spiciness/hotness or fattiness for flavor.
Your website has introduced me to so many different food styles and flavor profiles that taste amazing AND make me feel good. Like this quinoa recipe, which I’ve been devouring for lunches.
I’m a big fan 🙂
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for your reviews – they mean the world 🙂 I’m glad you’re loving the cookbook recipes, too!
This dish is delicious! I made it for dinner last night to serve as a side with fish, then I ate it at room temp for lunch with added sautéed chicken. I will be making it again. My family enjoyed it as well. I will make it again
Love it! Glad it was a hit!
This recipe is delicious and so easy to make as it’s written, but also really easy to adapt if needed. I was short on quinoa and it still worked with half as much (also halved the stock). I was also out of parsley and mint went with it just as well (maybe both would be nice!). To use up some other leftovers, I pimped it with some finely chopped cucumber and tomato and a boiled egg – I’m sure a bunch of other veggies would also be delicious add-ons, like chopped broccoli or roasted carrot.
Absolutely! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Those mix-ins sound delicious!
The taste profile is yummy, but a bit salty for me and my quinoa came out very wet. I used kirkland organic quinoa so each quinoa may absorb different amounts. Also was salt-heavy for me using low sodium better than bouillon, rinsed salted chickpeas and measured salt called for in recipe (using kosher salt) – I recommend adjusting for your taste. A recipe with potential just recommend trying first to adjust to your products and taste. Thanks for something easy, using pantry ingredients and new to try. Worth tweaking in my book for personal preferences.
Yes, feel free to reduce the added salt next time – I hope it turns out more to your liking that way!
Very flavourful! I used half dried cranberries and half dried cherries, tricolour quinoa, and added the green peas as suggested. My only “complaint” is that each serving is only 2 cups… and I’m a “volume eater”. 🙈 Next time I’ll serve this over a giant bed of baby spinach with a squeeze of lemon juice, and I expect this will do the trick! This recipe is simple and comes together quickly, and is quite balanced. One I’ll come back to. 🙂
Perfect! Yes, feel free to add some greens!
This got even more delicious as it sat in the fridge! Served over a bed of baby spinach with a splash of lemon juice thus is absolutely 👌. Dreaming about making it again!
Love that!
I’ve made this recipe countless times. It’s a popular dish for potlucks because it can be served at room temperature. The only modification I’ve made is to add 1/4 TSP red pepper (paprika) to the spice mix. This recipe is a real.winner!
Amazing! Love a salad that can be room temp, too. Glad it’s a hit!
I’ve made this multiple times! I love that it has no dressing so it doesn’t get soggy. Depending on what I have on hand, I have added finely chopped (or grated) carrots with the onions, and frozen peas, frozen edamame, and or finely diced red and yellow peppers at the end. My HAVE to though is that I DOUBLE the spices.
Delicious! This one’s great for customizing 🙂
Very good and so many flavours! Both hubby and I loved it. Will make it again
Thanks for sharing this recipe
So happy to hear that!
This is such a good recipe, it’s delicious warm or cold! I’ve been making it on repeat since I found if. Thank you!
Agreed! So glad you love it!
While this was good as written, I like a little more….. je ne sais quoi……so I added 1 1/2 tsp, curry powder and the juice of one lime. Spot on perfect for me. Will be making this recipe again for sure!
Perfect! Such a great lunch 🙂
Delicious!! Easy recipe.no weird ingredients and lots of flavor. This will be on a regular rotation.
Absolutely! Glad you loved it!
Such a tasty lunch to meal prep! So quick and easy! I swapped in dried apricots for the dried cranberries and added some grilled chicken. Delicious!
Absolutely! Dried apricots sound delicious 🙂
Wow. This is so good. Simple but with a depth of flavor.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
This recipe lacks acidity. I paired it with some lemony kale to create some balance.
Sounds delicious! Feel free to squeeze a bit of fresh lemon into the quinoa if you prefer that flavor, too.
This was SO good!! I used golden raisins in place of cranberries, perfect lunch. I love it paired with pita chips
One of my favs! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I just love this power filled salad, will make it every weekend 😀. From Toni Smith
One of my all-time favs, too!!
This was superb, thank you!
So delicious! Added some shrimp and feta cheese think I might make this every week! So flavorful!
That sounds perfect!!