This Apple cranberry quinoa salad is easy to make and packed with flavor from crunchy apples, creamy avocado and studded with dried cranberries. Perfect fall or winter side salad or light lunch or dinner.
This apple cranberry feta salad makes a great side dish for any holiday party or as a light lunch or dinner. Packed with flavor and healthy ingredients. For another tasty salad with apple, try this Harvest Salad with Apple, Celery and Avocado.
For another great fall salad, try this Quinoa salad with pumpkin or this Roasted sweet potato lentil salad.
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Ingredients
All you need to make this apple quinoa salad are just a few healthy ingredients listed below. For the full recipe with the quantities, see the recipe card.
- Quinoa, uncooked and any color works. I used a multicoloured quinoa for this recipe.
- Celery, thinly sliced
- Red onion, chopped
- Avocado, chopped
- Apple, chopped (I used Gala)
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- Walnuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
- Dried cranberries
- Arugula, or other leafy green like spinach or chopped kale.
Dressing
- Lemon juice, freshly squeezed always tastes better.
- Olive oil, use a good quality, preferably extra virgin olive oil, for the best taste.
- Honey, or maple syrup for a little sweetness to balance out the acidity of the lemon juice and mustard.
- Dijon mustard
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Making this healthy cranberry walnut quinoa salad is really fast and easy. See the step-by-step photos below.
For the full instructions see the recipe card at the bottom.
- Step 1: Start by rinsing and cooking the quinoa and let cool to room temperature.
- Step 2: In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.
- Step 3: Add the cooked and cooled quinoa to a salad bowl, then add all the remaining salad ingredients.
- Step 4: Pour the dressing on all the vegetables in the salad bowl.
Lightly toss together the apple cranberry feta salad to evenly coat with the dressing. Top with some extra feta cheese and chopped walnuts if desired.
Hint: This apple walnut quinoa salad is lightly coated in a zesty vinaigrette style dressing. If you like a lot of dressing I recommend that you double the recipe.
A great way to serve this salad is with some freshly baked bread like this Cranberry Walnut Bread or this soft whole wheat bread.
Substitutions and Variations
- Beans – Add some cooked beans like kidney beans, chickpeas or cannellini beans. Any kind of beans will work in this salad, use your favourite!
- Spicy – For a spicy salad, use hot honey in the salad dressing, top with some hot chill flakes or even sliced fresh chili to taste.
- Vegan – to make this apple cranberry salad vegan, replace the honey with maple syrup and use a vegan feta cheese alternative.
- Herbs – Add some chopped fresh herbs like parsley, basil or fresh thyme.
- Grains – Instead of the quinoa, use some cooked rice, couscous, farro, or barley for this apple walnut quinoa salad.
- Nuts – The walnuts can be replaced with pecans or for an allergy friendly salad, use toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds or just omit the nuts.
- Apple – Use a crisp, sweet apple like gala or pink lady. Pear can also be used instead of the apple.
- Leafy greens – Instead of the arugula, make this a kale apple cranberry salad by adding some washed and chopped kale.
For another easy to make side salad, check out this Mediterranean tomato and cucumber salad.
Storage
This salad tastes best when served straight away. The apple and avocado can easily get brown when it sits. If you want to prep this ahead of time, cook the quinoa and make the dressing but wait with chopping the vegetables until before serving.
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. The apple and avocado will start to turn brown. Always smell and taste any leftovers before eating to make sure they are fresh.
Top Tip
This apple cranberry quinoa salad makes an amazing side salad. If you would like to serve it as a main course, I recommend adding some extra protein like a can of chickpeas, or serve it with a pice of homemade bread like this Cranberry Walnut Bread. This salad can also be served with a side of Lemon dill hummus or with a bowl of this creamy Roasted sweet potato and red pepper soup.
FAQ
If you want to prep this ahead of time, cook the quinoa and make the dressing but wait with chopping the vegetables and adding the dressing until before serving. The apple and avocado can easily turn brown.
Yes! This apple cranberry quinoa salad can easily be made vegan by using maple syrup instead of honey for the dressing, and a vegan feta cheese alternate.
Yes, quinoa is naturally gluten free, make sure that it is certified gluten free with any allergies. Some brands can contain traces of gluten from other grains processed in the same factory.
More salad recipes
Looking for other recipes like this apple cranberry feta salad? Try these:
Soup recipes
Make it a soup and salad combo with one of these recipes:
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This Apple cranberry quinoa salad is easy to make and packed with flavor from crunchy apples, creamy avocado and studded with dried cranberries. Perfect fall or winter side salad or light lunch or dinner.
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 1 large avocado, chopped
- 2 small apples, chopped (I used Gala)
- 100 g feta cheese, crumbled
- ⅓ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups (50g) arugula
- 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
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Start by rinsing and cooking the quinoa in vegetable broth instead of water. Follow the package instructions and let cool to room temperature.
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Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside. Optional, I like to add the red onion to the dressing to marinade, it makes it a little less sharp.
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Add the cooked and cooled quinoa to a salad bowl, then add all the remaining salad ingredients.
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Pour on the dressing and lightly toss to evenly coat the salad.
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