🍅 🥒 A perfect Greek salad in a bowl filled with ripe tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, red onion, fruity Kalamata olives and feta cheese dressed with a simple vinaigrette and tossed together with fiber-rich, naturally gluten-free quinoa and shredded greens. Perfect on its own or as a side to grilled chicken!
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This salad is a great example of how recipes come together around here. Two aspects of this salad are borrowed (with modifications) from The Cafe Sucre Farine. The rest are ingredients that we love in our favorite tossed Greek salad. Those elements combine together to make this amazingly perfect salad.
Whenever I make this salad I think back to the years my three daughters were in college. We would make this salad every few weeks and then eat off it all week. Sometimes we would go crazy and add rotisserie chicken to it. I know, I know...we really know how to go crazy. 😉
🍎 Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
Quinoa: an ancient, naturally gluten-free grain
Chicken broth: Water or vegetable broth can be substituted but the flavor won’t be the same.
Kosher salt: The preferred salt in all Borrowed Bites recipes.
Greens: This ingredient is flexible. Spinach, kale, or swiss chard are all fantastic. Use whatever you like best or looks best at the store.
Cucumbers: English cucumbers have less water than regular variety cucumbers, but if you use regular cucumbers make sure to peel the waxy, thick skin first.
Cherry tomatoes: Sweet little bites of goodness. If you can’t get these, use roma.
Feta: Salty, creamy and tangy cheese that adds the bright point in this salad.
Olives: Fruity, bursts of salty flavor.
Red onion: Slightly milder flavor than regular onions.
Dressing Ingredients
Canola oil: A neutral flavored oil that allows the other flavors shine.
EVOO: A fruity, flavorful oil. Regular olive oil can be substituted and will work but will not have the same flavor.
Red wine vinegar: White wine vinegar will work as well.
Garlic powder: Concentrated deep garlic flavor.
Dried basil & oregano: Intense flavors of dried herbs work best in this dressing.
Kosher salt & pepper: To round out the dressing.
🔪 Instructions
- Cook quinoa. See this Perfectly Cooked Quinoa post for all the tips and tricks for achieving quinoa that is moist but not waterlogged.
- Add ingredients of dressing to a jar. Shake thoroughly. Pour a third of the dressing over the warm quinoa and allow to cool in the refrigerator.
- Prep toppings. Once the quinoa is cool, mix everything together and add dressing to taste.
👨👩👧👦 For a Crowd
This checks all the boxes:
✅ Make-ahead friendly
✅ Delicious
✅ Easy
Bottom line: This is a perfect salad for feeding to a large group or taking to a potluck.
🙋 Questions and Answers
The only part of this salad that is freezer friendly is the quinoa. See below for other prep ahead options.
• Quinoa can be prepped ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days and in the freezer for a couple months.
• Salad Dressing can be made up to a week ahead.
• Toppings can be cut up the day before assembling.
📖 Other Great Recipes
- Serve this alongside these Sweet and Zesty Grilled Chicken Breasts for an amazingly tasty dinner.
- Looking for another Instant Pot side? This Best Brown Butter Rice Pilaf has been in my family for decades, but has been adapted for electric pressure cookers.
- If prep-ahead salads are your thing, give this Easy Asian Slaw Salad a try. It holds all week long.
👨🏼🍳 Tips & Tricks
- Pour the dressing onto the still warm quinoa. The warm quinoa soaks up the dressing flavors.
- Dice the tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions the same size. Texture in a salad like this is important.
👋 Connect with us!
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it is! We’d also love to connect with you on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Tag @borrowedbites or hashtag #borrowedbites to show us your food! To get our new recipes straight to your email, subscribe to our newsletter.
📋 Recipe
Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl
Ingredients
Quinoa
- 2 cups quinoa
- 3 cups chicken broth
- ½ tsp kosher salt
Vinaigrette
- ⅔ cup canola
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- ¾ tsp garlic powder
- 1½ tsp dried oregano
- ¾ tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Toppings
- 1 cup chopped greens spinach, swiss chard, kale
- 2 cups cucumbers chopped
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes chopped
- ¾ cup red onion chopped
- 1 cup feta cheese
- Kalamata olives optional
Instructions
- Prepare quinoa according to Perfectly Cooked Quinoa.
- While the quinoa is cooking add all dressing ingredients to a jar and shake vigorously. Pour half of the dressing over the warm quinoa. Allow the quinoa/dressing mixture to cool completely.
- While the quinoa is cooling prep all the toppings. Once it is cool place all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss. Add more dressing to taste.
Notes
- Pour the dressing onto the still warm quinoa. The warm quinoa soaks up the dressing flavors.
- Dice the tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions the same size. Texture in a salad like this is important.
Julie says
Super refreshing and flavorful! I followed the recipe exactly, just leaving out the olives. Delicious!
Misty says
This is a really refreshing summer meal. Glad you enjoyed it!