Zucchini Quinoa Chickpea Salad mixes zucchini, chickpeas, quinoa, fresh parsley and green onions, all tossed in a spiced olive oil dressing. This quinoa salad recipe has the rich, warm flavors of cumin, turmeric and paprika and makes a healthy, filling lunch.
Do you meal prep on the weekend?
I try each week to do some each week to make meal time easier.
Today’s recipe for Zucchini Quinoa Chickpea Salad is a vegan salad I make on weekends and eat for lunches throughout the week. This salad is fresh, full of warm, rich spices and makes a healthy, hearty lunch.
It also works nicely as a side dish to your weekly meals, like this Air Fryer Cod, these Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs, Moroccan Chicken Thighs or this Black Sea Bass recipe.
I don’t know about you, but I like warm spices like turmeric, cumin and paprika and I especially like them when they are mixed together.
In today’s recipe they are mixed with olive oil to create a delicious dressing.
I use chickpeas in the salad, but white beans would also work nicely. I also like to use zucchini, but a variety of vegetables would be great in this salad.
I love quinoa salads like this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad, Greek Quinoa Salad, Tomato Cucumber Feta Quinoa Salad and this Avocado Kale Quinoa Salad.
I am a big fan of quinoa in salads and soups. It gives the meal texture and is gluten-free.
Quinoa is also high in protein and one of the few plant foods that contain all nine essential amino acids. It is small, soft and perfect for kids.
I like to add it to things like this Slow Cooker Turkey Quinoa Chili, this Tropical Kale Quinoa Salad this Greek Quinoa Bowl Recipe, Cilantro Lime Quinoa and these Thai Turkey Quinoa Lettuce Wraps.
When I meal prep, I like to make a big batch of quinoa and keep it in the fridge to add into recipes like today’s Zucchini Chickpea Quinoa Salad.
If you make a big batch, then you can split it up for a variety of uses!
Recipe Ingredients
- Quinoa: This salad uses quinoa which is a nice gluten-free grain for salads. Feel free to use your favorite grain. I think bulgur wheat, farro or wheat berries work nicely.
- Fresh Vegetables: For this salad it uses zucchini but other ideas that work great are carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, bell peppers and cauliflower.
- Fresh Herbs: The fresh herbs help this salad come alive. It uses fresh parsley and green onion. Other herbs that would be nice include basil and dill.
- Chickpeas: I love chickpeas { garbanzo beans } in salad. They add protein and texture to salads. You can leave them out if you don’t like them or try white beans in their place.
- Dressing: The dressing on this salad is very flavorful. It includes extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, turmeric, cumin and paprika. The spice mixture is great together!
How to Make This Quinoa Salad
1. Cook the Quinoa: First rinse the quinoa and then add the rinsed quinoa to a pot with the appropriate mount of liquid and cook quinoa according to package. Set aside to cool.
2. Combine Salad Ingredients: In a large bowl chickpeas, zucchini, green onions and parsley together.
3. Mix Together the Salad Dressing: In a small bowl or mason jar whisk together the dressing ingredients: olive oil, turmeric, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper for the dressing. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper.
4. Stir in Quinoa: Add the cooked quinoa to the zucchini and chickpea mixture and combine.
5. Mix Dressing: Mix in dressing and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with fresh parsley.
Store the leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Ways to Modify This Salad
- Beans: I used chickpeas in today’s salad but I also really like white beans, red beans or even black beans.
- Spices: Spices are a nice way to add flavor to the salad dressing. Some good ones are sumac, za’atar, cumin, paprika or oregano.
- Vegetables: There are a lot of vegetables that would be nice in this salad. Some are carrots, red bell peppers, celery, red onion, radish, bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli or mushrooms.
- Cheese: Feta cheese is often used in my salads but goat cheese, blue cheese, parmesan cheese or sharp cheddar cheese are also great options.
- Spices: You can mix up the spices and try paprika, chili powder, sumac, za’atar or Italian seasoning.
- Protein: A chickpea salad is a nice opportunity to add your favorite protein. If you have leftover grilled chicken, shrimp, salmon or steak add it in. Tofu is also a nice addition.
- Other Ingredients: There are a variety of other ingredients that you might like to add. One option for the dressing is you can sub in lime juice for the lemon juice or try adding a bit of honey for sweetness. Also some other great ingredients to put in this vegan quinoa salad are artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, creamy avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, green olives, black olives, pickled vegetables or pickled red onion.
Recipe FAQ
It depends on the texture you want in the salad. For more crunch you want to leave it raw. For a more tender texture you will want to roast it or cook it in a skillet. For a smoky flavor you can grill the zucchini.
You can use any color quinoa {red, white or trim-color}. I personally like white quinoa. It is mild and fluffy.
This is a great make-ahead or meal prep salad. I think it actually gets better the next day before the dressing really soaks into the quinoa and hold the flavor well.
More Salad Recipes
Mediterranean
Easy Lebanese Salad
Salads
Summer Orzo Pasta Salad
Vegetarian
Greek Orzo Pasta Salad
Vegetarian
Fattoush Salad
Zucchini Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked according to package
- 1 – 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped into small chunks {about 1 1/2 cups}
- 3 green onions, green parts chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice {optional}
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package and set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl mix chickpeas, zucchini, green onions and parsley together.
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together the olive oil, tumeric, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper for the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Add the quinoa to the zucchini and chickpea mixture and combine.
- Mix in dressing and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Garnish with fresh parsley.
Are you able to reheat warm quinoa bowls in microwave sprinklings of water and do vegetables stay fresh / mushy?
You can reheat quinoa in the microwave. As far as the veggies they usually do pretty well as long as you aren’t heating it too much in the microwave.
Can we maybe freeze and thaw day before? I’d love to use this recipe for meal prep for the week.
I have honestly never frozen this salad but you could try it! The only thing I worry about is the herbs and the zucchini not being as fresh but it is worth a try! I think this salad would last for maybe up to 4 days in the fridge. You can always add more dressing later in the week to freshen it up with more herbs if that helps!