Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl

🍅 🥒 A perfect Greek Quinoa Salad 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!

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. 😉

Skip to:

• Ingredients for Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl
• Helpful kitchen tools
• How to make Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl
• For a Crowd
• FAQs
• Other Great Recipes
• Tips & Tricks
• Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients for Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl

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

This is our favorite simple Greek Vinaigrette Dressing!

• 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.

Helpful kitchen tools

 

How to make Greek Quinoa Salad Bowl

1. Cook quinoa. See this Perfectly Cooked Quinoa post for all the tips and tricks for achieving quinoa that is moist but not waterlogged.
2. 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.
3. 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.

FAQs

Other Great Recipes

• Serve this alongside grilled chicken made with this 4-Ingredient Chicken Marinade 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.

Recipe