This Carrot Quinoa Salad is filled with shredded carrots, red onions, bell peppers, and olives. It is gluten-free, vegan, filling, and very flavorful too.
Today I brought to you one of the easiest salads I’ve published on this blog, but yet very flavorful. The only work you will have is to chop the red onion, bell pepper, olives and shred the carrots. Well… You don’t even need to shred the carrots if you don’t want to because you can buy a package of shredded carrots at many supermarkets, right?
Hum… Carrots are the real deal, don’t you think? I mean they are so flavorful that we can eat them raw. They also are great cooked, especially because they become even sweeter and they go really well with rice or quinoa. I particularly love carrots with quinoa because the sweet taste of the carrots combines perfectly with the quinoa’s bitter flavor.
This was the first time that I made quinoa with carrots and now that I discovered this great combo I will be adding carrots to my quinoa salad much more often. It tastes wonderful at room temperature or cold, it is easy and quick to make and it tastes even better as a leftovers. I love having quinoa salad in my fridge for those days that you don’t even have time to breathe, right? When I have one of these days I tend to eat whatever I have on hand, so it is better to have something good for you in the fridge to avoid eating junk.
If you have quinoa cooked ahead of time you just need to combine all the ingredients to have your salad done. I made this awesome “How to cook fluffy quinoa” a while ago and if you are interested you can take a look. I use that recipe for everything from this Quinoa Salad with Roasted Asparagus, Quinoa Salad to Shrimp Quinoa Salad, to Sausage Quinoa Pasta!
I also like to make my vinaigrette before I make my salads and I store it in a mason jar in the fridge. By doing this I save lots of time. This homemade salad dressing is my favorite because it is made with only four ingredients and tastes very good. So, I encourage you to make this recipe today for lunch. I am sure you will love it. Enjoy!
Carrot Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 cup carrot shredded
- ½ cup red onions chopped
- 1 cup yellow bell pepper chopped
- ½ cup black olives chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1/3 cup homemade vinaigrette dressing
- salt and ground fresh black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients, except the vinaigrette and mix together.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss well.
- Taste to adjust the seasoning if necessary.
- It should be served at room temperature or cold.
Notes
- You can quickly shred carrots with an attachment on a food processor. You can also quickly dice the vegetables in a food processor.
- Feel free to swap the black olives for green olives or leave them out if you're not a fan of olives.
- If you don't have fresh parsley, try fresh cilantro or basil.
- To store: I recommend not adding the homemade vinaigrette dressing to the salad if you plan on storing it in the fridge as it can get soggy. This salad lasts for up to 4 days in the fridge when stored separately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Carrots totally are the real deal..I love how versatile they are! This quinoa salad it so on point – so healthful and tasty!
Thanks for stopping by, Ju 😉