With simple ingredients like canned chickpeas and pre-made tabouleh, this quinoa grape salad recipe is a delicious vegetarian lunch, dinner, or side dish. It’s a great choice to make ahead of time, pack, and bring to work, school, or a potluck.
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My college roommate Paige and I loved to cook together. We made weekly trips to Trader Joe’s and whipped up plant-based recipes for nearly every meal. Some of my best memories from college are in the kitchen of our senior year house!
At some point during that year, we discovered a recipe on the Free People blog for vegetarian wraps filled with quinoa grape salad. It was a great mix of sweet and savory ingredients — grapes, quinoa, fresh herbs, chickpeas, feta cheese, and lemon juice — and simple enough for busy college students. We totally fell in love with this recipe and made it on repeat.
Over the years, I have continued to make it but with some updates and substitutions along the way! Now, instead of chopping all of the herbs for the salad, I buy a container of pre-made tabouleh and use that instead. This has made an already simple recipe even easier!
I’ve been wanting to share our beloved quinoa grape salad with all of you for a long time. With my upcoming maternity leave putting me in meal prep mode, now seemed like the perfect opportunity. I’m planning lots of easy dishes that I can eat with one hand. And I have a feeling that all of you will enjoy the simplicity of this recipe, too…even if you won’t be holding a baby in your other arm while you eat it like me!
How to Make Quinoa Grape Salad
Check out a preview of this recipe’s VERY easy process here. For the full recipe card, scroll to the bottom of the post or click the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the post.
- Cook the quinoa according to package instructions.
- While the quinoa is cooking, gather the other ingredients for the salad and slice the grapes.
- Combine the quinoa, grapes, chickpeas, tabouleh, and feta cheese in a large bowl.
- Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Quinoa cooks relatively quickly compared to other whole grains. However, if you want to save even more time, look for frozen, microwaveable packets of quinoa at the store. Trader Joe’s and many other large retailers carry them.
- You can find pre-made tabouleh at most large grocery stores. One of my favorite hacks is getting it from the salad bar or the prepared foods counter. It’s usually really good if it’s freshly made at the store! You can also find packaged tabouleh by the hummus section. Cedar’s tabouleh is a good option that I have used many times.
- If you can’t find tabouleh, you can make it yourself following this recipe from Cookie and Kate. Or you can prepare a makeshift tabouleh by combining about ½ to ¾ cup chopped mint and parsley with ¼ cup diced red onion, a little olive oil, and little lemon juice. This is what I do when I can’t find tabouleh. Keep in mind that there are many ways to make tabouleh, so the ingredients vary across packaged tabouleh and online recipes. Any type of tabouleh adds great flavor to quinoa grape salad, so use what you want!
- For the freshest and tastiest feta cheese, buy a block and crumble it yourself. I find that this method adds more flavor than using pre-crumbled feta cheese. But it’s up to you, of course.
- Quinoa grape salad leftovers keep very well in the fridge for up to a week. Store in an airtight container. If the salad gets a little dry, just freshen it up with a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil before serving.
- Possible additions include vegetables like artichoke hearts, peas, or cucumbers, walnuts, sliced almonds, or sunflower seeds, and diced or shredded chicken. You can substitute white beans for the chickpeas and goat cheese for the feta cheese. If you want the recipe to be vegan, omit the cheese entirely.
More Quinoa Salad Recipes
Love this quinoa grape salad with feta?! I think you’ll also enjoy the Quinoa Arugula Salad with Pineapple, Sugar Snap Pea Quinoa Salad, and Lemon Braised Leeks and Quinoa Salad. The Quinoa with Vegetables and Maple Ginger Tahini is also a winner!
I’d love to hear how you like this recipe! Rate/review using the stars on the recipe card or in the comments, and follow the Veg World on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Looking for something totally different? Browse the recipe library.
Quinoa Grape Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 cups red grapes - halved
- 1 cup tabouleh
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas - drained and rinsed
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 lemons - juiced
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt - to taste
- Black pepper - to taste
Instructions
- Cook quinoa according to package directions to yield about 3 cups. Quinoa usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes to cook.
- In the meantime, prep the other ingredients. Slice the grapes, drain and rinse the chickpeas, crumble the feta, and squeeze the lemons.
- Combine the cooked quinoa, grapes, tabouleh, chickpeas, and feta in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Pour the lemon juice and olive oil over the salad and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy right away or put in the fridge for an hour to chill.
- Leave a rating or review by tapping the stars on this recipe card (above) or in the comments section (at the end of the post)!
Notes
- I buy pre-made tabouleh at the grocery store for this recipe, either from the salad bar or prepared foods counter. Sometimes I will get a packaged tabouleh, like Cedar’s tabouleh, that I find by the hummus section. If you can’t find tabouleh, you can make your own by combining ½ to ¾ cup chopped mint and parsley with ¼ cup diced red onion. Add a little olive oil and lemon juice to the mixture.
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. If the salad gets dry, freshen it up with a little lemon juice before serving.
Nutrition
Enjoy this blast from my past! – Lizzie
Tonya Crowley
This looks so good!
Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN
Thank you! It’s one of my favorite make-ahead lunch recipes.