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Home » Recipes » Vegetarian Recipes

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette

Published: Mar 17, 2014 · Modified: Oct 10, 2022 by Samantha Ferraro · This post may contain affiliate links · 12 Comments

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Rainbow quinoa salad with all the gorgeous colors of the rainbow with a sweet and light honey citrus vinaigrette.

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette via LittleFerraroKitchen.com

I have become newly obsessed with quinoa and last week and made a huge batch to keep in the fridge for on the go salads like this. With veggies prepped and dressing made, this gorgeous and eye-popping salad was my go to lunch on busy days and it was pure bliss. The quinoa was hearty enough to keep me full and was amazing the the ultra sweet strawberries and spicy arugula.

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette via LittleFerraroKitchen.com

On the other side of the salad was the most peppery arugula we have ever had! Our other neighbors M and E have a small garden plot they they tend to every year. M will often leave bags of peppers, oranges and arugula and whatever else is growing wild at our doorstep time to time. Last week it looks like arugula was sprouting like crazy! Their arugula is so hearty and spicy, you need something sweet to counteract the peppery-ness. But my oh my..it is wonderful!

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette via LittleFerraroKitchen.com

The fun thing about this salad is that you can either have it in a beautiful rainbow pattern or you can chop it all up and enjoy all the colors in one delicious bite!

If you are planning on making this salad for week lunches, I suggest making the vinaigrette in a little mason jar and keeping it separate from everything else. I think the dressing would sog the leaves quickly so add it as soon as you're ready to enjoy your salad.

And honestly, this salad is so versatile, you can include any of your favorite fruits and vegetables. Later in the week I added  blackberries and avocado!

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette via LittleFerraroKitchen.com

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Honey Citrus Vinaigrette

Samantha Ferraro

LittleFerraroKitchen.com

Rainbow quinoa salad with all the gorgeous colors of the rainbow with a sweet and light honey citrus vinaigrette.
5 from 10 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Assemble 5 minutes mins
Total Time 15 minutes mins
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings
Calories 293 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • ½ cup quinoa cooked
  • 1 cup strawberries sliced
  • 1 cup arugula
  • 1 carrot any color, peeled into strips with a vegetable peeler
  • 1 yellow beet roasted, peeled and sliced

Other salad additions

  • Avocado cubed
  • Blackberries
  • Blueberries
  • Spinach

Honey Citrus Vinaigrette

  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 1 Tb honey
  • ½ lemon zested and juiced
  • ½ orange zested and juiced
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions
 

  • 1) Add all your salad ingredients to your bowl in a rainbow pattern or you can chop it all up.
  • 2) Add all the vinaigrette ingredients into a mason jar, close the lid tightly and shake vigorously. The dressing should thicken. Taste for seasoning.
  • 3) Dress the salad right before eating.

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 4gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gSodium: 30mgPotassium: 360mgFiber: 4gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 2720IUVitamin C: 40mgCalcium: 43mgIron: 2mg
Did you make this recipe?Let us know by leaving a comment and 5 star rating!

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Comments

  1. Jamie says

    April 21, 2024 at 2:37 pm

    Can you add vinegar to the salad dressing? If yes, what kind would you add? thanks!

    Reply
    • Samantha Ferraro says

      April 21, 2024 at 6:06 pm

      Hello Jamie, A vinaigrette is a mixture that includes an acid, like lemon juice or vinegar. In this case we used Lemon juice. With that said If you were to want to add Vinegar use champagne or apple cider vinegar,so 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 lemon juice would be yummy. I have not tried it myself but I will now. Let me know how it turns out. Thank you so much for the GREAT Question, Samantha.

      Reply
  2. Dordogne says

    December 23, 2021 at 9:33 am

    5 stars
    blackberries and avocados sound great!! You truly have beautiful neighbors! This serving of mixed greens is beautiful

    Reply
  3. Naelo says

    December 23, 2021 at 9:20 am

    5 stars
    What a wonderful serving of mixed greens, love everything about this. Continuously good to be encircled by incredible individuals

    Reply
  4. Js says

    May 06, 2014 at 3:19 pm

    5 stars
    Wonderful! I love quinoa. I didn't know there were yellow beets - I'll look for them the next time. Where can we get Rainbow Quinoa?

    Reply
    • Samantha says

      May 06, 2014 at 5:41 pm

      Hi Js! Yup...yellow beets do exist..lol I find them right next to the fresh red beets at my local store (usually whole foods may have them if you have that by you). As far as rainbow quinoa..I've seen that in the bulk section of my local store as well! Hope you find them!

      Reply
  5. Julie @ Julie's Eats & Treats says

    March 24, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    5 stars
    This is my kind of rainbow! It's totally packed with flavors. Nice neighbors 🙂

    Reply
    • Samantha says

      March 24, 2014 at 5:56 pm

      Thanks Julie! Isn't awesome to eat the rainbow? 🙂

      Reply
  6. Tanya says

    March 20, 2014 at 1:59 pm

    5 stars
    Ooo blackberries and avocados sound good!! You really do have lovely neighbors! This salad is gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Samantha says

      March 20, 2014 at 2:23 pm

      Thank you so much Tanya!

      Reply
  7. cheri says

    March 17, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    5 stars
    What a beautiful salad, love everything about this. Always nice to be surrounded by great people!

    Reply
  8. Karla @ Foodologie says

    March 17, 2014 at 9:24 am

    5 stars
    I absolutely love this! I'm a huge fan of big salads like this. Recently, all I want to eat is vegetables, which is a good thing in my book!

    Also yay for beet greens! I wish more people used them!

    Reply
5 from 10 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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