A harvest celebration of ingredients come together in this easy 🍁🍠🍂 Fall Quinoa Salad complete with roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, chickpeas and more! A light maple syrup and apple cider vinegar vinaigrette coats everything to perfection! Extremely flexible and customizable based on what you have on hand and enjoy.
Easy Fall Quinoa Salad Recipe
- I love this Brussels Sprouts and Chickpea Salad and today’s fall harvest quinoa is chock full of so many textures including tender roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts, soft garbanzo beans, and lightly chewy quinoa and dried cranberries. It’s a great addition to up your salad game!
- In the flavor department, I utilized lemon juice and apple cider vinegar like I used in my Mediterranean Quinoa and Chickpea Salad recipe and it adds the perfect tangy profile while maple syrup gives just the right sweetness and crumbled feta adds a savory pop.
- Whether you want to meal prep this recipe and enjoy it for weekday lunches, as a healthy and filling main dish, as a holiday side dish, it’s a winner. Bonus: It keeps incredibly well in the fridge so if you want to make this as a Thanksgiving side dish, feel free to do so the day before.
- As written this autumn quinoa salad is vegetarian and gluten-free, or use plant-based feta (or omit it) to keep it vegan.
Ingredients in Fall Harvest Quinoa Salad
- Roasted Vegetables: Sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts are what I used but you can easily sub with squash of any kind, incorporate sliced carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and more.
- Quinoa – I used white quinoa but any color is fine. I cook mine not only with water but with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and red onion for extra flavor. It’s possible to use rice, wild rice, lentils, etc. however you’ll have to play with the liquid amounts and the timing since all starches are different.
- Fresh spinach – Such an easy way to work in extra greens, fiber, and nutrients. Easily swap with kale or Swiss chard.
- Garbanzo beans – A can of chickpeas bulks up the protein and stretches the salad. Sub with any other type of cook bean you like.
- Crumbled feta – It works so well here but other types of cheese such as blue cheese crumbles, shredded Parmesan, aged Manchego and more all work well. Look for a cheese with bold flavor that can hold its own is my advice.
- Dried cranberries – I love the chewiness, the tart-sweet little flavor surprises in every bite but other dried fruit including apricots, plums, golden raisins, are great.
- Maple syrup – Helps drive home the fall flavor profile however honey is fine or even a little sugar. I personally think just a touch of sweetness is great to balance the earthiness of the Brussels sprouts, spinach, and garbanzos.
- Extras – Feel free to add toasted nuts such as slivered almonds, pecans, or walnuts, pomegranate arils, pumpkin seeds, lemon zest, leftover shredded chicken, and more.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Multi-TaskingTip
This recipe is possible to have ready in 35-40 minutes but you’ll need to multi-task and work ahead. While the veggies are roasting, make sure you’re quickly chopping the onion and sautéing it before adding the quinoa and get that simmering. That way the veggies will be done when the quinoa is ready, and you can combine everything, taste, and make any final seasoning and flavoring tweaks.
How To Quinoa Fall Salad with Roasted Vegetables
- Roast: Place the vegetables on a large baking sheet, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and bake in a preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes.
- Saute: To a large skillet, add olive oil, onions, and saute for 5 minutes over medium-high heat. Then add the quinoa and toss to coat it and toast it for 30 seconds.
- Simmer: Add the various liquids, cover and reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork.
- Add: Add the spinach, garbanzo beans, roasted veggies, cranberries, feta, maple syrup, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic powder, salt, pepper, parsley, stir to combine and serve.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Fall Quinoa Salad
🍁🍠🍂 Harvest ingredients come together in this easy side dish or healthy main. Roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, chickpeas, feta and more! A light maple syrup and apple cider vinegar vinaigrette coats everything to perfection! Extremely flexible and customizable and is great or meal prepping. Servings: If you're only serving this, it'll serve about 4 (depending on appetites); but if you're serving this as a side salad with other things, it'll serve 6-8.
Equipment
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 1 large or extra large sweet potato, peeled and diced into small 1/2-inch pieces (butternut or other squash may be substituted)
- 1 cup Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved or quartered
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, or as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Quinoa & More
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, finely diced (yellow or sweet Vidalia onion may be substituted)
- 1 cup dry uncooked quinoa, I used white; another color may be substituted
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups fresh spinach, loosely packed (about 2 heaping handfuls; kale or Swiss chard may be substituted)
- one 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I use reduced sodium)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 6 ounces crumbled feta cheese, crumbled goat cheese, crumbled blue cheese, shredded Parm, or another cheese may be used; omit or use a plant-based version to keep vegan
Vinaigrette
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, or to taste (honey may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional (I don't usually add it)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste if desired
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste if desired
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely minced; optional and to taste
Instructions
- Vegetables – Preheat oven to 425F and prep and chop the sweet potatoes (tip – make sure to keep them small so they roast through in 20-25 minutes because if not, the Brussels will start to burn) and the Brussels sprouts.
- Place them on a large baking sheet, evenly drizzle with olive oil, evenly sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for about 20-25 minutes, or until done. If possible, flip and toss once midway through roasting to ensure even cooking and browning. When done, set the baking sheet aside.While the veggies roast, begin the quinoa.
- Quinoa & More – To a large skillet, add the oil, onions, and saute over medium high-heat for about 5-6 minutes, or until the onion is becoming soft and translucent; stir frequently.
- Add the dry quinoa and stir it well into the softened onions. Allow it to toast for about 30 seconds like this.
- Add the water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, bring to a gentle boil, and once boiling, cover the skillet with a lid, reduce the heat to low, and allow the quinoa to cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until it's tender and all the liquid has absorbed. Tip – If after 15 minutes, the liquid hasn't absorbed, uncover the skillet, increase the heat, and any excess liquid will boil off in a minute or two, although I don't expect this to be an issue.
- When the quinoa is done, turn off the heat, add the spinach, and stir continuously to wilt it, about 1 minute.
- Add the chickpeas, cranberries, feta, and stir to combine.
- Vinaigrette – Add all ingredients from this section, stir to combine, taste, and make any necessary flavor adjustments. Flavoring Tips – If it tastes at all flat or boring, it likely will benefit from additional salt, and perhaps pepper. There's plenty of acid from the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar used in various places, but you can always add more of either one. I personally like to use 2-3 tbsp maple syrup or honey but I love overall savory dishes with a healthy undercurrent of sweetness. If you want it to have a hint of spiciness, a couple generous shakes of red pepper flakes or a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper will do the trick.
- Serve immediately; or cover, chill, and serve later. Salad can be served warm, at room temperature, or chilled. See Storage info below.
Notes
Meal Prep/Holiday Prep: This is a great meal-prep salad because it keeps well in the fridge and reheats well; or you can serve it at room temperature, or serve it chilled straight from the fridge. Because of this, it’s a great holiday side salad because you can prepare it the day before your event and it’ll be just fine.
Storage: Salad will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months, noting that the texture of the Brussels sprouts will change a bit after being frozen and thawed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 258cal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 1067mg, Potassium: 455mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 6461IU, Vitamin C: 20mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More easy quinoa salad recipes
Is there any olive oil in the viniagrette? Or is it only in the quinoa? I tried it roasting the onions with the veg
I don’t use any, but you certainly can add a tablespoon or two, whatever you’re thinking. And it will just change the consistency and the flavor a bit as you know. Although I personally don’t think it’s necessary.
Very delicious.
Simple to make, just took a bit of prep time. But very worthwhile.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Christine, and I’m glad you enjoyed this! Agreed, there is some chopping and prep but totally worthwhile I agree!