I discovered this simple, yet tasty, quinoa salad recipe when I was looking for a good potluck dish for a goodbye party. The quinoa is the bulk of the salad and the arugula, walnuts, and goat cheese give it a pretty-factor plus a little something for your tastebuds to get excited about too.
Quinoa + Arugula Salad
Serves: 8
Cook time: 45 minutes
Cook ahead: steps 1-3 can be completed the day before. Place quinoa bowl, covered, in refrigerator overnight.
- 2 C quinoa
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 C avocado oil or coconut oil, for cooking
- 1/2 C olive oil
- 1 C walnuts
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 handfuls baby arugula, chopped
- 8 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer (your tastebuds will thank you for doing this step).
- Put the rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan with 3 1/2 cups water and 2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer about 12 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water and each grain has “opened.”
- Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl. Add 1/2 C olive oil, stir and set aside.
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat up the avocado oil or coconut oil. Add the walnuts, sprinkle with a large pinch of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the nuts are dark brown, about 5 minutes.
- Pour the walnuts and their oil into the quinoa bowl. Then add lemon juice and arugula to the quinoa bowl and stir. Add salt, to taste.
- Sprinkle goat cheese over the top with olive oil.
- Serve!