My weekend consisted of about 20+ hours cooking, baking, styling, and shooting cookbook recipes. It was intense, but luckily I always seem to have a lot of fun when there’s food involved. I managed to cap off the weekend by gouging my middle finger with a processor blade. Middle finger indeed. Side note – Have you ever tried to type with a band-aid on? This could get ugly…
As Hillary said on Instagram, my kitchen photo made her twitch:
I feel you, Hillary.
Anyway, it felt so good to kick up my feet Sunday night! This quinoa salad fueled my weekend, in addition to 3 summer appetizers, 1 breakfast recipe, and 2 entrées. Luckily, we had friends over Saturday night to help us eat all the appetizers we were drowning in. The plates were empty within an hour, so I’ll take that as a good sign!
This quinoa salad is served warm, which seemed appropriate for the cooler temps we had over the weekend. It’s all topped off with a lovely green sauce to infuse the dish with a tangy bite of fresh herbs, lemon, and olive oil. I used basil, chives, and dill because that’s what I had on hand, but feel free to use any herbs you like.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
Warm Quinoa Salad with 3-Herb Green Sauce
Yield
2-3 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 0.45kg/1 lb mixed cherry/Campari tomatoes
- 3 corn-on-the-cob, shucked
- 3 green onions, chopped
For the 3 herb green sauce
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup lightly packed basil
- 1 tbsp fresh dill*
- 2 tbsp fresh chives
- approx 1/4 cup yellow tomato*
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/8th tsp fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Directions
- Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Add quinoa to a medium-sized pot along with 1.5 cups water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Cook for 15-17 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes with the lid on before fluffing with a fork.
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Chop tomatoes and mince garlic. Remove corn from the cob by slicing down the ear of the corn with a chef’s knife. Add oil to skillet and the chopped veggies. Season generously with Herbamare or fine grain sea salt. Cook for about 7-8 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in chopped green onions.
- Meanwhile, make the green sauce in a food processor. Start by dropping the garlic into the processor to mince. Now add in the herbs and mince again. Next add the liquids – tomatoes, oil, and lemon juice. Stop to scrape down the side of the bowl as needed. Season to taste & add opt. nooch.
- To assemble, spoon quinoa into a bowl, layer the tomato and corn mix on top, and spoon on green sauce. Season with salt and pepper & enjoy!
Tip:
- You can sub any fresh herbs that you like.
- The yellow tomatoes in this green sauce acts as an oil-replacer. They thin out the sauce without needing a ton of oil. I used yellow tomatoes so the sauce would remain a lovely green colour. Red tomatoes will likely change the colour to be less vibrant.
- 3-Herb Green Sauce yield is approx 1/3 cup
The fridge is overflowing with simple, healthy food. It’s going to be a great week!
Mmm..this does look perfect for the cooler temps we might be having soon! Those blades can be nasty! Hope it heals fast!
Looks delicious! I love quinoa and the vegetable combination is wonderful!! Great dish! Makes for a perfect lunch!!
What a beautiful salad! The array of colors make this especially appealing to me. I could see this being a great dish to bring to a family gathering.
So pretty! Pretty salads are always fun to eat. :) The sauce sounds amazing – I can’t wait to try it!!
What a great recipe! I can totally relate to having a kitchen look like that after a marathon cooking day! those are the best!
I love your dinner/entree recipes the best!
I made this last night as part of my you-really-need-to-eat-some-nutrients kick, and it was just so delightful. The crunch of the corn is perfect in the dish, and I even sliced up a bit of avocado and put it on top!
Thanks for this recipe :)
This looks delish! Can’t wait to try it, you have the best sauce recipes and this is such a great time for tomatoes.
Thank goooooooooooooooodness I’m not the only one with a totally crazy kitchen! My husband wants to kill me sometimes!
I loved this recipe… Also don’t like corn so sautéed red peppers with tomatoes and carrots instead… Suprisingly tasty! The green dressing was amazing.. I was eating it out of the food processor…great recipe Angela!
This was AMAZING! (FYI, we added some chopped avacado and cucumber on top, and didn’t have any dill.) My husband and I couldn’t believe how delicious this was. Thank you!
Good call with the avocado and cuke!! Glad you enjoyed it.
Sorry about your finger! I understand – I fractured my middle finger a couple weeks ago, and it makes things like typing and cooking much more difficult than usual.
This quinoa dish looks fantastic. It is so pretty! I love the mix of vibrant summer colors. I bet it’s as delicious as it is beautiful.
I made the today – sooooo good. I added some fresh jalapenos, red pepper and some english cucumber to my salad (basically whatever was in the fridge. This dish is so yummy!
I had this for dinner tonight. So good!
Just wanted to say I so enjoy your new format on your website. Your creativity and healthy cooking have been such a help to me caring for my family. Thank you for sharing your gifting with all of us!
Thank you Julie! I will pass along your comments to Eric.
This recipe is amazing! I tried it over the weekend and I’ve gladly been eating the leftovers since then. All the flavours mix so well together, absolutely delicious!
I’ve made this salad twice in three days and I am in love! Truthfully, if you include the leftovers for lunch, I’ve eaten this salad every day for the past three days, and I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow! Thank you for another fabulous recipe!
I made the quinoa salad last week and it was yummy!! We went to the farmer’s market and picked up what we need to make it again! Thank you so much, recipe and directions…purrfect!
Holy moly. That 3 herb green sauce dressing was fantastic! This is a keeper
I have a problem with your blog. I want to make every recipe you post! It’s a little bit of an obsession. I’ve loved everything I’ve tried. Last night I made this one and it’s delicious. It’s great the next morning at room temp as a snack before a run, too! I’m eagerly anticipating your cookbook release.
This was so good and so filling.