Greek Quinoa Salad with Garbanzo Beans

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Why we love it:

If you get the chance to go to Greece, you’ll see they serve Greek salad with a huge, incredible slice of feta on top. It’s drizzled with olive oil and the pure white color echoes the buildings around you. It’s awesome. It’s also easy, light and refreshing for summer (which is really the only season you should make it because the quality of ingredients here is everything! You cannot fake it with watery, soulless winter tomatoes.)

Print this recipe

Ingredients

1¹⁄₂ cups Quinoa
2¹⁄₂ cups Water
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 15-ounce can Garbanzo Beans
1 Lemon (zested and juiced)
2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
¹⁄₂ teaspoon Black Pepper
¹⁄₂ teaspoon Honey
5 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 English Cucumber
2 Heirloom Tomatos
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
¹⁄₄ cup Kalamata Olives
2 Tablespoons Pepperoncini
1 Green Bell Pepper
¹⁄₂ bunch Basil (or more, use up what you have)
4 ounces Feta Cheese

Cooking Instructions

1. QUINOA

Place the quinoa, cups water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the can of garbanzo beans - including the liquid! - in to a small pot. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir well and turn down the heat to medium and partially cover the pot. Cook for about 16 minutes, stirring occasionally during this time. After 16 minutes, turn off the heat and cover the pot fully for 3 minutes, then we’ll finish the quinoa (see below).
2. SALAD

Get a large bowl ready. Zest the lemon and juice half of it into the bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of oregano, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon honey. Whisk in 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Use your highest quality olive oil for this part.

Dice the cucumber into small cubes. Dice the tomato into wedges. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Drain the olives and cut then in half. Drain some pepperoncini to taste and cut them if you prefer.

Slice the bell pepper into large rings. When you get near the top, the seeds and membrane will be connected, you can easily pluck these out with your fingers.

Stack and slice basil leaves.

Toss the salad gently to coat in dressing.
3. FINISH QUINOA

To the warm quinoa in the pot, add: 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and the other half of the lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Toss the quinoa/garbanzo beans in with the veggies for the salad and toss to combine.
4. FETA

Slice the feta into a large square, about 1 ounce each. If you have softer, crumbly feta it’s ok to just crumble it in.
5. PLATING

Place a big portion of salad. Top with a square of feta. Drizzle the top of the feta with a bit of olive oil and a fresh turn of black pepper. Pluck out nice looking pieces of the salad to sit on top and really go for it on presentation!

Check out our new features!

Substitutions

PESCATARIAN:

Serve with a filet of salmon or shrimp skewers
DAIRY FREE:

omit feta. Serve with a generous dollop of hummus for creaminess
COW DAIRY FREE:

The firm feta used here for slicing is cow’s milk. Sheet or goat’s feta is very delicious though, you can use that, it just might crumble and not slice
GARBANZO BEANS:

omit them
KIDS CORNER:

There's a lot here for kids but perhaps they'd prefer the ingredients served separately in their own piles. My kids don't love dressing, so I'd cut the veggies, serve the quinoa, some beans, and a little bit a cheese underdressed with bread.