Erin’s Herbed Quinoa Salad

This recipe came about when someone was telling me about the “Jennifer Aniston” salad. When I did a little research it looks like we really don’t know if JA was the original creator and there have been so many variations. Anyway, I took a few ideas from it and “Erinified” them as I like to call it and voila! This is a super easy (pretty much just chop and assemble!), filling, and macro friendly recipe that I’m totally obsessed with at the moment! 

I’ve honestly never been a big quinoa fan because I feel like the little pearly things are so small that I’m like can you actually taste anything? In this salad (and this one!) I think it gives an awesome texture, some added fiber, and a little bump in protein. It’s honestly the perfect grain for this BBN (big bowl of nutrients!) A LARGE bowl of this has over 40g protein and 8 grams of fiber. If you’re a midlife lady (like myself!) this is the perfect way to get more protein and nutrients in your diet. If you make it, I can’t wait to hear what you think! 

Without further ado!

Serves 6

Prep time: about 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, bone broth to cook it in

• 21oz rotisserie chicken, pulled or leftover grilled chicken

• 1-1.5 large english cucumber, peeled and diced (about 9-12oz)

• 1/2 cup fresh Italian (flat) parsley, chopped 

• 1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped

• Diced red onion (about 9oz)

• 2 oz pepitas, toasted

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• Arugula or mixed greens (about 9oz)

• Crumbled feta cheese (about 4.5oz)

• Sliced cherry tomatoes (about 15oz)

• 2 TBSP lemon juice

Dressing:

• Juice of 3 lemons

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the quinoa according to package directions but use bone broth instead of water for a protein boost if you want! Stick it in the fridge to cool.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, parsley, mint, red onion, and chickpeas. I like to add 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice to the mixture to help keep it from clumping and it gives it extra fresh flavor too! 

3. If you’re using this for meal prep, I keep that part in the fridge, and it will stay fresh all week. For the rest of the ingredients, I assemble before eating.

   • Take a large salad bowl and place 1.5oz of your chopped green of choice in the bottom of the bowl. Add 3/4oz feta, 3.5oz chicken, 2.5oz tomatoes, 2oz cucumber, salt and pepper. 

   • Add ⅙ of your quinoa mixture (should be around 4-5oz)

   • Toss everything together, add dressing of choice. (see below for rec.) 

   • Top with 10g pepitas, salt and pepper to taste.

   • ENJOY!

4. If you’re serving this as a dinner salad, place chopped greens in the bottom of a shallow but large salad bowl. Top with remaining ingredients as listed above and toss with dressing or leave dressing on the side for each person to add the amount they want. 

For the dressing: juice 3 lemons and then add the olive oil and lemon juice to a jar. Add salt and pepper. Shake. This should make about 6 servings of dressing (1.5T servings). This is stupid simple but so delicious on this salad. With the herbs and lemon, it tastes so fresh and light-perfect for a spring or summer lunch or dinner! 

Storage

• Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Nutrition: Makes 6 servings: 462kcal: 45g protein, 41g carbs (8g fiber!), 15g fat. (no dressing). 

This makes a BIG, filling portion. You could certainly adjust the portion sizes to your needs. Dressing has about 50 cals per serving (4.5g fat)