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Lemon Herb Quinoa Salad with Parmesan

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Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that’s bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

Sometimes people ask me if my blog is all healthy food, and sometimes other people will ask if I get sick of “all the desserts” that must come along with running a food blog.

In all honesty, neither is super applicable. I know I don’t have a narrow niche, with the nearly 400 (!) recipe posts ranging from better-for-you main meals to special occasion desserts to nearly everything in-between.

That’s not to say I haven’t flirted with the idea of having a stronger central theme for my recipes. But rather I chose for the recipes on this blog to mirror how I eat in real life: a fair amount of health-minded recipes that don’t feature too many processed ingredients but are still bold and flavorful. And it sounds like a lot of you eat the same way. 🙂

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

Here’s a time when this balance comes into play. After a few weeks of indulgence, including one friend’s wedding, another friend’s bachelorette weekend, and quite a few rounds of chips and queso, it was time to take a break from all the celebratory foods and lean into something healthier – quinoa.

As we dig into this lemon herb quinoa salad, a fair warning: lemon haters might want to skip this one.

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

Reason being is that the lemon flavor definitely shines through! I included the juice and zest of two lemons, which brings a bold citrus flavor to the final dish.

Since this recipe is as simple as preparing the quinoa and stirring in all of the other ingredients, you can certainly start with the zest and juice of one lemon and taste at that point to see if you want to add another. The same goes for any of other ingredients, really…more or less Parmesan, herbs, almonds, etc.

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

The only place I wouldn’t veer off-recipe would be with the quantities of quinoa and broth. Two cups of liquid to one cup of dry quinoa are what you need to result in fluffy cooked quinoa. Since we’ll be adding some liquid later on (lemon juice and olive oil), we want our quinoa to be as fluffy and dry as possible once it’s done cooking.

I like to use reduced-sodium broth as the cooking liquid because it’s a one-stop-shop to add flavor and saltiness to quinoa, but you can also use water if you like. If using water, I’d also add a big pinch of salt.

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

  Recipe notes:
  • Be sure to rinse the dry quinoa before cooking, as this helps remove the quinoa’s bitter coating (called saponin) and leads to better tasting cooked quinoa.
  • Zest the lemons before you juice them as they’re easier to hold onto while whole.
  • You can use any kind of broth or water. Just be sure to follow the one part quinoa to two parts liquid ratio.
  • After you add the olive oil and lemon juice, the quinoa may appear too wet. The grated Parmesan will soak up some of the excess moisture. If you like you can also put the sauce pan back on the warm burner (turned off) to help speed up the process of reducing the moisture.
  • If you’re not a huge lemon fan, start with using the zest and juice of one lemon and then do a taste-test. Add the other one at that point if you want!
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Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.
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Lemon Herb Quinoa Salad

Lemon herb quinoa salad is a hearty side dish that's bursting with bold flavors. Parmesan, onion, and garlic pair well with bright lemon notes and herbs in this healthy flavored quinoa recipe.

Course: Side Dish
Servings: 6
Author: Alyssa
Ingredients
  • 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
  • 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (or water)
  • Zest and juice of 2 lemons (see note)
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp diced onion
  • 2 tsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • 2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/3 cup sliced almonds, roughly chopped
Instructions

  1. Rinse uncooked quinoa using a strainer. Add rinsed and drained quinoa and broth to a medium-sized sauce pan and stir.

  2. Let broth come to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer, letting quinoa cook for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

  3. Once all of the broth has been absorbed by the quinoa, remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Let quinoa sit in the pot for a few additional minutes to cool off a bit and soak up any extra liquid.

  4. After quinoa has cooled slightly, stir in remaining ingredients until quinoa is evenly coated. This lemon herb quinoa salad is great to eat warm, or after being chilled in the refrigerator. Garnish with extra almond slices and herbs for serving.

Recipe Notes

The two lemons I used yielded approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons of zest and 1/3 cup of lemon juice.

Liking the flavors in this lemon herb quinoa salad?

Then check out another oldie but goodie recipe – lemon chicken quinoa soup with spinach. It’s a speedy soup recipe that uses leftover or rotisserie chicken. Healthy, too!

Lemon Quinoa Chicken Soup with Spinach | mysequinedlife.com

This post was originally published in August 2014. The photos were updated in June 2018.

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Comments

    • Oh man Kristi, you’ve got to give it a shot! Haha it’s so versatile and can ‘fit in’ with so many different cuisines. Perfect!

      Reply

  4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE lemon and will add it to almost anything. I’ve just added this Quinoa salad to my list of favorites! It sounds absolutely delicious and will be making this side dish to share with the family this holiday weekend.

    Keep those recipes coming!!!!

    Reply

    • Thanks Terri! Yes, lemon is a favorite, in both sweet and savory dishes. So light and refreshing! 🙂 Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!

      Reply

  7. Nom Nom Nom! Quinoa is tha bomb. We use it as a substitute for pasta, rice and starch in my household. 🙂 Reckon this salad would go down a treat, a bowl of lemony goodness mixed with yummy delicious fresh herbs. Hmmm… Feeling hungry now. 🙂

    Reply

  8. Bahaha I would love to see you eat this out of a plastic bag!! That would be kinda amazing.

    And I can totally see why you do it. This sounds so good – loveee the lemon and all the herbs!

    Reply

    • Hahaha! Truthfully I was getting a little hangry and had forgotten to get a paper bowl from the work kitchen. No time to waste, bag it was! This quinoa is worth getting the side eye from my coworkers. 🙂

      Reply

    • Thanks Deb! I love lemons in both sweet and savory dishes, too. Tart lemon bars are one of my very favorite desserts. The more lip-puckering, the better! 🙂

      Reply

  11. Nah … don’t worry, I wouldn’t think you were weird – I would probably be sitting there eating something similar. I love quinoa – and of course it’s so healthy – but often ‘forget’ about using it. Thanks for the reminder to get using it again!

    Reply

    • Haha…whew! It’s funny how ‘on display’ people’s eating habits are in a big office setting. I tend to ‘forget’ to use certain ingredients, too. Right now it’s a bag of brown rice I’ve had every intention of cooking for the past month. Whoops! Glad I could serve as a reminder for you and quinoa!

      Reply

  13. Oh, this sounds so nice and lemony, which has to taste so great with all of those fresh herbs! This is a quinoa salad I would love! And I wouldn’t think you were weird to eat it out of a bag. Why waste a bowl? 🙂

    Reply

    • Lemon and fresh herbs is such a wonderful flavor combination, Marcie. I’ve been adding basil to just about everything lately thanks to the overabundance our one mighty basil plant has produced. And glad to hear my bag vs. bowl decision isn’t too weird! 🙂

      Reply

    • This is definitely the perfect lunch, Annie! I eventually graduated beyond eating it straight from the bag haha – it’s great as the protein element in a wrap, too!

      Reply

    • Thanks Chris! There are few things in our kitchen that sriracha doesn’t find its way into…quinoa is no exception!

      Reply

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