Quinoa Zucchini Salad

An easy Quinoa Zucchini Salad with chickpeas, feta, zucchini noodles, and a zesty homemade dressing. It’s light, flavorful, and a great way to use up leftover cooked quinoa! 

This salad is one of my favorite summer lunches. It’s delicious when freshly made, but tastes even better after chilling in the fridge overnight. All of the flavors mingle together and the zucchini noodles soften a little (in a good way).

You end up with a cold veggie-packed salad that’s crisp, light, and refreshing. Just what you want to eat on a hot day!

Recipe Ingredients

• Cooked Quinoa: Leftover or freshly made (we like to cook quinoa in the instant pot mini). If the quinoa is still warm you’ll want to cool it to room temperature before adding it to the salad.
• Raw Zucchini: Spiralized, peeled into strips, or chopped into small pieces.
• Chickpeas aka Garbanzo Beans
• Grape Tomatoes: For little pops of sweetness.
• Bell Pepper: Adds a great crunch to the salad. I like to use an orange, yellow, or red variety.
• Kalamata Olives: Tangy, briny, and so yummy. Pitted olives are the easiest to chop.
• Feta Cheese
• Fresh Parsley: Rinsed, dried, and finely chopped. Sometimes I’ll add a little oregano or basil too.

Dressing Options: My favorite dressing for this salad is a quick vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and a few pantry seasonings. Alternatively, you can use a store-bought dressing. Or if you’re craving a little heat, try our spicy sriracha vinaigrette.

How Do You Make Zucchini Noodles?

We have a small hand-held veggie spiralizer made by OXO. It does a good job if you’re looking to turn one or two zucchini into noodles aka Zoodles.

I also use our spiralizer to make cucumber ribbons for these chickpea cucumber pita sandwiches. Best of all, it’s small enough to fit in a kitchen drawer!

If you don’t have a special tool and/or zero desire to store “one more gadget” in your kitchen, no worries. You can use a vegetable peeler or a julienne peeler to make zucchini ribbons. Or just chop the zucchini into small bite-size pieces.

Storing Leftovers

• This salad holds up well refrigerated in a sealed container for 3 to 4 days. Sometimes I’ll double the ingredients so we can both eat it for lunch all week.
• The feta can get mushy over time – if you’re meal prepping you might want to keep it on the side.

Serving Ideas

As a main dish, the recipe makes 2 to 3 larger portions depending on how hungry you are. It’s also great as a side dish paired with veggie burgers, falafel, or our very savory toaster oven tofu.

More Tasty Vegetarian Lunch Ideas

• Zucchini and Hummus Pita Sandwiches
• Greek Yogurt Chickpea Salad Wrap
• Zesty Zucchini Pasta Salad
• Broccoli Salad With Chickpeas
• Lemon Veggie Pasta For Two