Roasted Broccoli Quinoa Salad

Roasted Broccoli Quinoa Salad prepared with feta cheese, chickpeas, kale, sweet potatoes, and a delicious lemon dressing. vegetarian and gluten-free!

I must express my gratitude to my former supervisor for emailing me the original recipe, which I utilized as a model for creating this dish. She always finds the best recipes and she and I have similar culinary preferences, so if she comments that she cooked anything delicious, I pretty much put it right away on my list of things to do.

I knew I was going to adore this salad because it included so many of my favorite things. With roasted vegetables, you can never go wrong, and I adore how the kale is also toasted and becomes slightly crunchy. It is comparable to adding kale chips to your salad.

Broccoli Quinoa Salad Ingredients

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups water, or veggie broth
• ½ pound broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 sweet potato, chopped into ¼ – ½ inch chunks
• 1 can, 15 oz chickpeas
• 1 bunch laccinto kale, roughly chopped
• olive oil, as needed
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley
• 3 Tablespoons feta cheese
• juice from one lemon
• 1/2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• salt and ground pepper, to taste
• crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)

Instructions 

1. Set the oven to 425°F.
2. If necessary, rinse and drain the quinoa. In a medium saucepan, combine the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it cook for 15 minutes. Quinoa should be taken off the fire after 15 minutes and placed in a big dish to chill.
3. Your tinned chickpeas should be drained and rinsed. To dry, spread out the chickpeas on a hand towel or paper towel.
4. Add enough olive oil to coat the broccoli and sweet potato chunks, then generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Vegetables should be roasted for 20 minutes at 425°F. Add the greens and chickpeas to the roasting pan after 20 minutes. If necessary, add a little more oil, salt, and pepper, and stir. 15 more minutes of roasting. During the roasting process, stir the vegetables at least once.
5. Remove the vegetables from the oven once they are nicely cooked and mix them with the quinoa.
6. Add feta crumbles and chopped parsley to the quinoa and vegetable mixture.
7. Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, and maple syrup in a small bowl. Add oil slowly while seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mixture of quinoa and vegetables should be dressed. Before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
8. Any leftovers should be kept in the fridge for 4-5 days. The lettuce tends to absorb the dressing as it sits and gets drier. If necessary, add an additional squeeze of lemon before serving to brighten it up again.

Substitutions & Notes

• Have a variety of vegetables on hand or want to add your preferred roasted vegetable? Try it out!
• For this salad, I prefer lacinato kale, sometimes referred to as dinosaur kale, black kale, or Tuscan kale, but if that's all you can find, you may substitute curly kale.
• Roasted chickpeas are a great addition to this salad, but you could also use another kind of bean!
• Protein - This salad already has a nice amount of plant-based protein from the chickpeas and quinoa, but you could add some grilled protein to it to up the satisfying factor. The chicken in apple cider vinegar sounds delicious.
• Feta cheese - I adore the addition of feta cheese, but you can totally omit it or substitute a dairy-free cheese if you want to make this salad vegan.

How to Store Broccoli Quinoa Salad

This salad tastes delicious both warm, after combining the warm roasted vegetables with the quinoa, and cold. I made one batch, consumed it for lunch and snacks for days in a row after having it for supper one evening.

Any leftovers should be kept in the fridge for 4-5 days. The lettuce tends to absorb the dressing as it sits and gets drier. If necessary, add a second squeeze of lemon juice to restore its brightness before serving.