Quinoa Salad With Feta and Cucumber

Quinoa salad with feta and cucumber is an incredibly light and tasty (as well as colorful!) dish. You’ll want to make this flavorful quinoa salad recipe again and again once you try a bite.

The flavors of the salad are result of ingredients that goes so wonderfully together, cucumber, feta, red onions, and of course, the honey vinaigrette, with flavors of mustard and garlic. This quinoa salad does have several ingredients, but it’s so easy to put together and well worth it.

This is the type of dish you can have on hand in the refrigerator, and then serve throughout the week. You can just grab a little bowlful whenever you need a tasty bite or serve it along with lunch or dinner.

The key to making this awesome quinoa salad with cucumbers is to get the proportions of ingredients correct, especially for the delicious honey vinaigrette.

Another thing that makes this quinoa salad (which is kind of a Mediterranean quinoa salad) a little unique is the peas. This recipe includes sweet peas for the extra burst of color and flavor. But they’re optional.

Looking for a great salad recipe? Try a Chopped Caprese Salad!

What You’ll Need in the Kitchen

To make this feta quinoa salad, you’ll need some basic equipment. Here’s what to have on hand:

• Rice cooker or pot with a lid: You’ll need to cook the raw quinoa just as you would cook rice. You’ll use proportions of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. (With the rice cooker, you simply add the ingredients and turn it on. With the pot with a lid, you bring the ingredients to a boil and then let it simmer covered about 15 minutes until all the water has absorbed.)
• Small or medium pot: You’ll also need a pot to briefly boil the peas, if you’re using frozen peas. You can cook your peas in the same pot that you cook the quinoa if you would like to do these steps in two different stages, which you can do easily.
• Grater: You’ll need your grater to grate a garlic clove for the honey lemon vinaigrette. (You can also grate some lemon zest into this dish if you were using a fresh lemon for the lemon juice.)
• Cutting board and sharp knife: You’re gonna be doing a bit of chopping with several of the ingredients. Get that knife sharp!
• Mixing bowls: Get a fairly large mixing bowl to combine the main quinoa salad ingredients. You’ll also need a smaller bowl to mix up with the vinaigrette.
• Serving bowl: Finally, have a large size serving bowl on hand to put the final salad in.
• Other: You’ll need a large spoon to mix the ingredients and serve the quinoa salad. You’ll also need a whisk or a fork to whisk the honey vinaigrette.

Ingredients for quinoa salad with feta and cucumber

Here are the ingredients for this fresh quinoa salad:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa: The quinoa in the photos with this recipe is white quinoa, but you can use any type of quinoa.
• 2 cups water: You’ll need the water to cook the quinoa. Or you can use 3 cups of cooked quinoa if you already have it made.
• 1 cup chopped cucumber: Basically any cucumber will do. The quinoa salad in these photos has 1/2 of an English cucumber.
• 1¼ cup frozen sweet peas: The quinoa salad is actually perfectly fine without peas. But the peas at another fresh ingredient, and another burst of color. Throw them in if you have them!
• ¾ cup chopped red onion (or ½ a red onion): Some chopped red onion also adds another beautiful color as well as an important sweet tangy flavor.
• ½ cup crumbled feta: Absolutely use fresh feta that has not been pre-crumbled. Don’t buy the crumbled feta, which tends to be dry.
• ½ cup fresh cilantro: Cilantro is so perfect with these other ingredients. But if you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute a little fresh basil.
• salt and pepper: For seasoning.

Honey Lemon Vinaigrette

• ¼ cup lemon juice (juice from about ½ a lemon)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 clove garlic
• salt and pepper
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 – 2 sprigs tarragon (optional)

How to make quinoa salad with feta and cucumber

The first step to a good quinoa salad is to get the quinoa cooking. Simply add one cup of quinoa and two cups of water to a rice cooker and start the machine.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, no problem. Simply use a pan and put the ingredients in, bringing it to a boil. Cover the pan and lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. The quinoa is done when the water has absorbed.

While the quinoa is cooking, you can also cook your sweet peas. Just follow the directions on the packaging. This will usually call for about a quarter cup of water to one and a half cups of peas. Boil the water then add the peas. Lower the heat and cook for about five minutes until the peas are tender, but not mushy.

If you want to use the same pan for cooking, the quinoa and the peas, no problem. Just wash the pan after the quinoa is ready, and then cook the peas.

Prepping other ingredients

While the quinoa and the peas are cooking, turn to preparing your other ingredients. This is the step when you’ll turn to your cutting board.

First, finely chop half a red onion. Next, chop about a half cup of fresh cilantro. Then, crumble about 1/2 cup of feta cheese. If you’re using a block of feta, it will usually be about half the block.

Finally chop about one cup of cucumbers. If you’re using an English cucumber, this will be about half the cucumber.

Combining the main ingredients

Add the cooked quinoa to a large mixing bowl. Then add the other ingredients that you’ve prepared so far: the red onion, the cilantro, the feta cheese, the peas, and the cucumbers.

Add a bit of salt and black pepper to season.

If you’re using a fresh lemon to make the lemon juice for the vinaigrette, consider zesting the rind to add a bit of lemon zest to the quinoa salad mix. It’s not necessary, but it adds a little more flavor!

How to make a honey lemon vinaigrette for a quinoa salad

Prepare to make a honey lemon vinaigrette by first grating a clove of garlic. Then , if you’re using a fresh lemon, squeeze the lemon until you have a quarter cup of lemon juice. Usually this will be half a lemon.

To make the honey lemon vinaigrette, just add all the ingredients, except the olive oil into a small bowl and whisk away. Slowly drizzle the olive oil in to emulsify it.

How to serve quinoa salad with feta and cucumber

To serve this dish, drizzle the honey lemon vinaigrette into the quinoa salad. Use a large spoon to gently mix until the salad is well combined with the honey lemon vinaigrette.

Then add to a serving bowl and use a large spoon to serve.

You can keep this feta and cucumber quinoa salad in the refrigerator for up to 5 to 6 days.

Try other incredible salad recipes from Bacon & Bevs:

• Strawberry Gorgonzola Salad
• Pomegranate and Pear Salad
• Asian Caesar Salad