It’s almost March and I say it’s time to start the countdown to spring. What better way to start than with a brand new, super fresh salad filled with tons of sweet and savory elements.
This gorgeous chickpea arugula quinoa salad packs in 20g of protein and comes together in just about 30 minutes. AKA welcome to your newest lunch obsession. You’ll toss everything in the best lemon vinaigrette, then add tons of yummy toppings and mix-ins like feta, dates, toasty almonds, and avocado. But my favorite part? You can totally make this your own.
Serve this as a side dish with cozy main dishes, or enjoy an easy, flavorful lunch during the week! I included great ways to customize to your taste preference, and any way you do it up, you know it will be delicious.
Ingredients in this arugula quinoa salad
This is one of those clean-out-the-fridge salads that’s packing delicious flavors and textures. Freshness from arugula, herbs, and the light lemon dressing, nuttiness from quinoa, and a mix of sweet and savory mix-ins. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Quinoa: I mixed it up by using tri-colored quinoa in this salad because it adds a beautiful pop! You can, of course, use white quinoa instead, and see below for even more grain options.
- For the dressing: we’re mixing together my go-to lemon vinaigrette made with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, a little dijon mustard, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, sugar (or honey), and plenty of black pepper.
- Produce: I love the zippy arugula paired with all of the flavors here. You’ll also add fresh parsley and diced red onion.
- Chickpeas: we’re packing in the plant-based protein not only with the quinoa, but also with a can of chickpeas!
- For the mix-ins: make this salad extra special with crumbled feta cheese, toasted or roasted almonds, Medjool dates, and creamy avocado.
Make this salad your way
There are some super easy ways you can customize this arugula quinoa salad:
- Choose your grain: not into quinoa? Feel free to use farro, pearl barley or pearl couscous.
- Pick your dried fruit: instead of Medjool dates, chopped, dried apricots or dried cranberries would be delicious. Chopped apples or sliced grapes would be delightful, too!
- Try different nuts: I love using roasted chopped almonds, but slivered almonds, marcona or even pistachios are great. You can absolutely omit them to keep the salad nut free, too!
- Switch up the cheese: While this recipe calls for feta, I think a goat cheese or manchango could be lovely swap as well.
Can I make it vegan?
Absolutely! Keep the salad vegan and dairy-free by swapping in a dairy-free feta cheese or simply omitting the cheese.
Add extra protein
This arugula quinoa salad packs about 20g of plant-based protein from the chickpeas and quinoa, but you could add extra protein with cooked, diced chicken like my Baked or Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken, or even some cooked salmon like my Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon. I love rotisserie chicken in this one too!
Toast your own almonds
Get more flavor out of your sliced or slivered almonds by toasting them! There are two ways to do it:
- Stovetop method: Add your almonds to a pan and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 2-5 minutes until the nuts are slightly golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding them to the salad.
- Oven method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until fragrant and golden brown, stirring once halfway through baking. Watch carefully so that the nuts do not burn!
How to store this arugula quinoa salad
Because arugula tends to bread down quickly over time, this salad is best enjoyed day of. Want to meal prep it for the week? Store the ingredients in separate airtight containers in the fridge and assemble your portion when you’re ready to eat!
More salad recipes you’ll love
- Warm Roasted Vegetable Harvest Couscous Salad
- Asiago Arugula Pear Salad
- Brussels Sprouts Kale Honeycrisp Apple Salad with Maple Cider Dressing
- Curried Chickpea Couscous Salad
- Italian Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad
Get all of my salad recipes here!
I hope you love this chickpea arugula quinoa salad! 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
Chickpea Arugula Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- For the quinoa
- 1 cup uncooked tri-colored quinoa
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the lemon vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the salad
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ⅓ cup finely diced red onion
- For serving
- 3 to 4 cups loosely packed arugula (about 3 ounces)
- 4 ounces feta, crumbled
- ½ cup roughly chopped toasted/roasted almonds (slivered toasted almonds are great too)
- ½ heaping cup chopped Medjool dates or dried apricots (or sub dried cranberries)
- 1 slightly ripe avocado, sliced or diced
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa: Place quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and rinse it under cool water for about 30 seconds. Transfer quinoa to a medium pot, then add in the water and salt, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for exactly 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the pot from heat and let it stand covered for another 5-10 minutes. Next, fluff quinoa with a fork.
- Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl or mason jar: add the lemon juice, olive oil, dijon, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, sugar (or honey) and a few grinds of pepper. Whisk until well combined and emulsified, or alternatively, place a lid on the jar and shake until well combined. Set aside.
- Prepare the salad: In a large bowl, add the cooked quinoa, chickpeas, arugula, parsley and red onion. Add in half of the dressing. Gently toss to coat. Next add the feta, toasted almonds, dates and avocado on top. Drizzle with the remaining dressing (about ¼ cup) or serve on the side. Garnish with salt and pepper. If making and serving later, reserve toppings until it is time to serve.
- To store: Keep any leftover salad in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. This salad is also great with leftover shredded or chopped chicken.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This was INCREDIBLE!!!!! I have recently discovered the beauty of salads, and this one blew my socks off. I’m not a quinoa girlie (YET) so I subbed it for farro (yum) and I roasted the chickpeas instead of leaving them raw (personal preference, double yum). I inhaled this recipe and already need to go back to the store to make it again.
Also this is the only recipe I’ve made from Ambitious Kitchen and it was so good I ordered the cookbook immediately. That should tell you everything you need to know!
Amazing!! So glad you loved this one 🙂 I have tons of amazing salads in the cookbook, too! Hope you find some new favs in there.
Loved this!! Definitely will be making again!
So happy to hear that!
This was so delicious! I love all the ingredients and how well they work together. I added a little leftover rotisserie chicken, roasted the chickpeas, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. This is a keeper!!! Thank you!
Love that! Great boosts of protein 🙂
This salad is unreal. I am not a salad person at all and I loved this! It feels healthy but so satisfying to eat at the same time. I have made it a few times now and love that I can tweak it a bit to whatever I have in my pantry/fridge. I loved it with dried cranberries instead of dates. It kept well in the fridge for me and was perfect for work lunch for a few days. MAKE THIS SALAD. I’m addicted.
So happy to hear that! This one feels more like a hearty grain bowl (which I love, too!)