Fruit and Nut Quinoa Salad Recipe
An unusual Fruit and Nut Quinoa Salad Recipe from Dorie Greenspan hit the mark with a variety of textures, flavors, and colors.
If you like beautiful salads with nutritional benefits, this Quinoa Salad with Cranberries, cherries, and apricots will dazzle your taste buds!
Why You’ll Love this Quinoa Salad Recipe
- I was introduced to quinoa about 12 years ago by Dorie Greenspan, cookbook author, and was an instant fan. It’s slightly nutty and chewy, and a great base for a salad.
- It’s loaded with your favorite dried fruit and nuts (use what YOU love) and dressed with a tasty vinaigrette.
- Quinoa is super nutritious and makes this a tasty meatless lunch or dinner. And if you don’t add honey to the dressing, it will be vegan.
How to Make a Quinoa Salad
- Rinse the quinoa under cold water and drain.
- Boil in salted water, and simmer until the quinoa is tender. PRO-Tip; When the quinoa is done, you’ll see a little white ring around each grain. It should take 12-15 minutes. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Drain the cooked quinoa and cool to room temperature.
- Place it in a serving bowl and season with salt if needed and black pepper.
- Add the dried fruit, nuts, and seeds and stir together.
- Make and add the vinaigrette.
- Toss and let rest for an hour before serving.
Tips for Making the Best Quinoa Salad
- Rinse your quinoa before using to remove any bitterness.
- Make sure to cook the quinoa in salted water so the salt infuses into the grains.
- Add your favorite dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. I used dried cranberries, apricots, cherries along with pepitas, sunflower seeds, and slivered almonds. Raisins, chopped prunes, cashews and/or walnuts would work well, too.
- Use regular quinoa, red quinoa, or both!
- Make sure to use fresh herbs not dried. Even parsley works well.
- If you don’t want to purchase walnut or hazelnut oil, just use additional olive oil.
- Dorie has you shake up all the dressing ingredients in a jar. Whisking works well, too.
Ingredient Notes:
- Quinoa – Regular white quinoa is perfect, but other varieties work well, too. Always rinse before using.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
- Dried Fruit – Use 3 of your favorites, or just one or two. Chop large fruit into bite sized pieces.
- Seeds and Nuts – Again use 3 of your favorites. Toast your nuts briefly to bring out the essential oils.
- Chopped Fresh Herbs, optional. I used parsley with my first batch
- Lemon Juice – Always use freshly squeezed lemon juice for the best quality and flavor. I keep some on hand in the freezer.
- Ground ginger
- Olive oil – If you don’t use frequently, check the label for the expiration date.
- Walnut or Hazelnut Oil – Highlights the nutty flavors in the salad, but you can always substitute olive oil.
- Honey – My addition to Dorie’s recipe, but I recommend using honey to taste as it adds some sweetness to balance the acidity of the lemon juice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quinoa is an ancient pseudo-grain with so many nutritional benefits. It’s actually a complete protein on its own, with a high magnesium content which is supposed to help combat stress. The ancient Incas called it the “Mother Grain.” So load up on this salad!
Quinoa is pronounced KEEN-wah. It only has two syllables.
Quinoa has a natural coating called saponin that can taste bitter or soapy. Boxed quinoa may already be rinsed, plus the other ingredients in the recipe may be flavorful enough that you don’t notice any bitterness.
It’s up to the cook whether to do this extra step or not, but that step is included in this recipe.
A quinoa salad can be a green salad with quinoa added to the mix or a salad where quinoa is the main ingredient. Tossed in a dressing, a quinoa salad can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature.
Like when making rice or couscous, cooking in salted water is crucial. This will infuse the grains with a subtle salty flavor, otherwise, the quinoa will be bland. Additional salt, pepper, and flavorings can be added as the salad is tossed.
Since all the ingredients will hold up well mixed with a vinaigrette, this salad stores well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Treat quinoa like couscous or rice. Any salad recipes you have that use either of those as a base ingredient can be adapted to use with quinoa. I’ve gone Mediterranean with Greek salad ingredients. The options are endless.
This recipe begins by cooking quinoa with a technique similar to cooking rice, then adding a variety of dried fruits, nuts, and herbs, and, finally, tossing it with a lemony vinaigrette with a touch of ginger. I served it straight up, but you can also put it over a bed of fresh greens with a dollop of yogurt.
The Verdict
As is typical, my very suspicious family didn’t want to try new grains, especially those with funky additives like dried fruits and nuts. Sheesh. But it just makes more for the cook. Lucky me. This recipe can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table (affiliate link), a cookbook no home should be without.
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- More of the Best Salad Recipes
- Plus More Easy Healthy Recipes
Fruit and Nut Quinoa Salad Recipe
A nutty, flavorful quinoa salad filled with dried fruit and tossed in a lemon, ginger vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 ½ cups quinoa (white, red or ¾ cup of each)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ⅓ cups mixed moist, plump dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries and/or cut up apricots
- 1 cup mixed seeds and nuts, such as sunflower and pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and chopped or slivered almonds, cashews and/or walnuts
- ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley, cilantro, or mint, or a combination
Salad Dressing
- juice of one lemon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 T walnut or hazelnut oil
- 2-3 teaspoons honey, to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the quinoa under cold running water and drain.
- Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan, generously salt, and stir in the quinoa.
- Reduce the heat and let the quinoa simmer gently for 12-15 minutes, or until the grains have softened (look for a little white ring around each grain, a tip that the quinoa is fully cooked).
- Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Drain off any excess water. Cool to room temperature.
- Turn the quinoa into a serving bowl and season it to taste with salt and pepper.
- Gently mix in the dried fruits, nuts, and herbs
- .Put the lemon juice, ginger, olive oil, and nut oil in a small bowl. Whisk together. Taste and add honey, salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the quinoa and toss together.
- Let stand at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 483Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 25gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 126mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 9gSugar: 22gProtein: 11g
Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.
35 Comments on “Fruit and Nut Quinoa Salad Recipe”
Oh I love this! I love fruits and nuts, and overall the salad looks so good. I like that you used hazelnut oil!
I love that it’s loaded with nuts and fruit. Looks absolutely delightful!
Love, love, love this quinoa dish!
I love the large dried apricots! What a great idea. I agree, this is a great one to play around with and adjust slightly to get a whole new dish.
Great combination of fruit and nuts – using the two kinds of quinoa really makes it attractive, too.
I still haven’t tried quinoa, your salad is making me get pretty curious about it though. Great photos.
Love quinoa! The addition of dried fruit and nuts to this salad makes it a perfection.
I like the addition of dried fruit in this quinoa delicious and colourful
I love quinoa…very lovely salad 🙂
Beautiful pictures and presentation! I like how your dish looks with the red quinoa. I used apricots and dried cherries too and loved the sweetness it added. Great post!
Love quinoa and your look fantastic, gloria
Such a healthy, and nutritious salad. Love the color, and the mixture of the dried fruits and nuts. I would make this for sure…will have to check it out in Dorie’s book!
xoxo
I’ve only tried quinoa once and it didn’t go over well, but I’ve been meaning to try it again. I should make Dorie’s salad, it looks so bright and fresh!
I got my dad to enjoy it with me… we loved it! I actually liked the different textures that the nuts and fruits added to the quinoa. And the vinaigrette was really gooood! So glad I joined FFwD! 🙂
I love using quinoa, it’s yummy! Your recipe is wonderful and pictures are so delicious, can’t wait to make this 🙂
This quinoa looks beautiful and so healthy too. Great job!
I love the way the red quinoa looks with the white. Beautiful contrast. And those cashews look delicious. I also ate this straight up and it was a keeper!
The photos are beautiful and I love the colors. I thought about using dried apricots but used figs instead because I had them in my pantry. I like the two colors of quinoa and the cashews, I like that you had fun with this salad and enjoyed it;-)
Your photos are beautiful! I ate this salad alone last night too! But I agree more for me! I really enjoyed it.
We had to dabble in the red this week too 🙂 Nana and I really enjoyed trying this since it was a completely new ingredient for us. Thanks for sharing the background and info about being a protein. I had no idea it was so good for you- though I should have guessed when my kids turned their noses up at this one….like you said – more for those who appreciate it !!
Your salad looks great, especially with all of the colors from the fruit, and different types of quinoa. Lovely presentation.
Love the colors on your plate! I used white, red and black and called it “tricolor quinoa fruit and nut salad” 🙂
Your family so missed out! I have a pretty good Quinoa cookbook called Quinoa 365. There are some killer quinoa cookies in there that will totally sway your fam! For certain!
A little salty, a little sweet~ I could eat the whole bowl!
Your family sounds like mine. I will have to try this. It looks beautiful and I love the cashew and apricot additions.
It looks so pretty with both colors of quinoa. I am so glad that we finally tasted this wonderful grain!
Thanks for the nutritional info on quinoa! I had no idea it was good for you, I thought it just looked pretty. Nice job on this week’s recipe!
I ate most of this, I have to confess. I know Neil ate it but not sure if it’s his favourite. All the more for me, I say! Lovely photos!
You know, I’ve only be recently introduced to Quinoa. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it but I’m really liking it. Especially when it has other flavors added to it. Fruit and nuts with a nice vinaigrette – excellent!
I love the Inca Red – it always puts such a nice pop of color into a dish. The apricots are a great idea – they just never sit around in my house long enough to get used for anything besides eating…
Lovely dish.
So pretty and healthy looking! I love this idea and have become such a fan of quinoa lately! This is definitely a must try! I am so glad I found your site!
I love this salad, Lizzy! And I’m a newcomer to quinoa. Right now I have barley, bulgur and farro in the pantry. I think I’m covered! A beautiful salad!
Pretty! Oh, how I regret snacking on my dried apricots before making this salad.
You got me on this one. I made Quinoa only once, no one really cared much for it. I have almost half a bag left and its not inexpensive here or easy to find. I love the sweetness you presented here. I had a savory dish.. going to try this out over the weekend since we are all on a diet now with the summer coming.. I think this one will wow them all! thanks for the recipe.
Your dish looks perfect! So that’s what it looks like when you use dried fruit! y