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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 light, 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 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 like to add quinoa to recipes 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.
Recipe Ingredients
For exact ingredient amounts and instructions, see the full recipe card below.
- 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 Zucchini Quinoa Salad
Step 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.
Step 2. Combine Salad Ingredients: In a large bowl chickpeas, zucchini, green onions and parsley together.
Step 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.
Step 4. Stir in Quinoa: Add the cooked quinoa to the zucchini and chickpea mixture and combine.
Step 5. Mix Dressing: Mix in dressing and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with fresh parsley.
Ways to Modify This Salad
- Beans: Try adding black beans or white beans in place of chickpeas.
- 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 or tomatoes
- Cheese: Feta cheese is often used in my salads but goat cheese, blue cheese, parmesan cheese or sharp cheddar cheese are also great options.
- 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.
- 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.
Storage Tips
Store the leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
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
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Zucchini Chickpea Quinoa Salad
Video
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.
Notes
- 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.
- You can use any color quinoa {red, white or trim-color}. I personally like white quinoa. It is mild and fluffy.
- If you want crunch in your salad you can leave the zucchini 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This turned out delicious! Fresh and tasty! Going to pair it with your grilled tandoori chicken recipe and some green beans! Thanks for all your delicious recipes that you share!
So glad you liked it! It is one that I make time and time again. Love what you paired it with.
Amazing! I just made this and loved it! The only thing I did different was I cooked the zucchini and added more quinoa. A must try!
So glad you liked it! Yes some people prefer the zucchini to be cooked–great point!
Just made this tonight and AMAZING!!!! I grilles he zucchini and added some frozen corn (grilled as well). Next time i would use less oil as im sensitive to oil but ya overall SO GOOD!!! Will definitely be making over and over and over:)))))
I am so glad you liked it!! Yes-the dressing is very customizable so I can see doing less oil and it still tasting great!
Wow, Juia! You’re totally packing everything I love into one salad! I’m def a meal-prepper so I love that I can make this ahead 🙂
Love love love ! ❤️ I did substitute the green for fresh avocado ? and eat it hot ??? Also added some tomatoes ? chopped ?
Love these ideas! I have to try the avocado!
This recipe was excellent!!’ I doubled it to get rid of extra cooked quinoa in the fridge. I took the advice of a previous review to squeeze fresh Lemon juice over it before serving–I feel like this was a crucial step!! It also got better after being in the fridge a few hours. Would definitely make again!!
Thanks for letting me know that you liked it. I love that you used the lemon juice-I have to try that!
I doubled the recipe. Then cooked everything in a pot with the bean juice excluding the quinoa while the quinoa was cooking. Delicious meal in the winter as well.
That is a great idea to cook everything in the pot with the bean juice. Glad you liked it!
Love it, love it, love it. just made it for the family and everyone enjoyed this salad. I used a small Zucchini from my garden and it worked wonderfully.
So glad you liked it! This is one of my favorite salads, especially using fresh produce.
Gosh what a delicious looking recipe – off to my cupboard for my Chickpeas! TFS
Helen – Cape Town
Hope you like it! It is one of my favorites. <3
Oh my goodness! This is like all my favorite ingredients thrown into a bowl! Love this 🙂