This kale quinoa salad is perfect on its own, or as a side dish to any meal! It's a combination of kale, quinoa, roasted chickpeas, red onion, cucumber, almonds, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and a light lemon dijon dressing. This nutritious and filling salad has lots of flavor, and is sure to be a new favorite go-to!
How to Make Kale Quinoa Salad
Toast the Chickpeas
To toast the chickpeas, first preheat your oven to 375° Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Rinse off the canned chickpeas and pat them dry with a paper towel. You can peel off the skins to make the toasted chickpeas more crunchy, but it does take some extra time. Feel free to leave the skins on or take them off. Then toss the chickpeas with olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and sea salt. Spread the coated chickpeas on the baking sheet in a single layer so that they bake evenly. Then cook them in the oven for 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are crispy.
Cook the Quinoa
For the quinoa, rinse it off in a strainer and shake out the extra water. Add the quinoa to a sauce pan along with the vegetable broth, and turn the heat on high. Once the liquid is at a rolling boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the quinoa with a lid. Cook it for about 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed.
Assemble the Kale Quinoa Salad
To assemble the salad, first make sure to chop all of the ingredients either ahead of time, or while the quinoa and chickpeas are cooking. Remove the hard ribs of the kale and then chop it into small pieces. You will also need to dice the red onion, cucumber, and apple. Once the quinoa and chickpeas are done cooking and have cooled, mix them with all of the chopped ingredients, along with the almonds, dried cranberries, and feta cheese.
To make the salad dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey, minced garlic, dijon mustard, and salt in a small bowl. Then pour the dressing into the salad before it starts to separate. Mix the dressing into the salad, and then it's ready to eat! Serve this salad with some extra lemon slices to squeeze some extra juice on before eating if you'd like.
Other Favorite Salad Recipes
If you're interested in some other salad recipes that are great as a meal, check out some of my favorites:
Greek Chicken and Vegetable Quinoa Salad
If you try out this kale quinoa salad or any of my other recipes, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe. If you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.
Now get cooking, and enjoy!
Kale Quinoa Salad
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 can chickpeas (15 oz)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 5 oz kale, rinsed, stems removed, finely chopped
- ½ cup red onion, diced
- ½ cup English cucumber, diced
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds*
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup red apple** cubed, about one large apple
- ½ cup feta
- 1 sliced lemon for serving, (optional)***
Lemon Dijon Dressing
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon light olive oil****
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
Roasted Chickpeas
- Preheat the oven to 375° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Rinse off the chickpeas (15 oz can) and pat them dry with a paper towel. You can peel off the skins to make them more crunchy, but not necessary.
- In a bowl, toss the chickpeas with the olive oil (1 Tbsp), paprika (½ tsp), garlic powder (½ tsp), and sea salt (½ tsp).
- Spread the coated chickpeas on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 30 minutes or until crispy.
Quinoa
- Rinse the quinoa (½ cup) in a strainer and shake out the extra water.
- Add the quinoa to a sauce pan along with the vegetable broth (1 cup) and turn the heat on high.
- Once at a rolling boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cover the quinoa with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed.
Salad Assembly
- Add the finely chopped quinoa (5 oz), diced red onion (½ cup), diced cucumber (½ cup), slivered almonds (⅓ cup), dried cranberries (⅓ cup), cubed apple (1 cup), and feta cheese (½ cup) to a large bowl. Once the quinoa and chickpeas are done cooking and have cooled, add them. Mix well.
Dressing
- Whisk together the lemon juice (1 Tbsp), apple cider vinegar (2 Tbsp), olive oil (2 Tbsp), honey (1 Tbsp), minced garlic (1 tsp), dijon mustard (1 tsp), and salt (¼ tsp) in a small bowl.
- Pour into the salad and mix well.
- You can serve with additional lemon slices if you'd like to add some more lemon flavor. Enjoy!
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