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Moroccan Style Salad with Chickpeas and Quinoa {gluten free}

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Gluten free Moroccan salad recipe with chickpeas and quinoa! This zippy healthy salad is far from boring. Layers of quinoa, spiced chickpea, dried fruit, pistachios, feta cheese, and vegetables. Great to serve as a gluten free and vegetarian main meal or side dish.  

Chickpea and Quinoa . Plant based and rich in protein. Great for meal prep too! #vegetarian #glutenfree #salad

Let’s continue with fresh and light quinoa recipes, shall we? Lately I’ve been hooked on all kinds of quinoa salads! Yes, the love is genuine and real, maybe even borderline obsessive.  Can you blame me?

Today’s recipe and quinoa food theme is just as LOVELY and somewhat SPRING-Y!  It also has a bit of Mediterranean and Moroccan flare. My favorite type of food!

That being said, let me present to you… drum roll please….

MOROCCAN Style Quinoa Chickpea salad

Swooning!

salad

Although, I have to give you the backstory on this salad and why I ended up making it.

First of all, I needed another simple meal prep dish for lunches. I should really update you on life, but let’s just say we’ve had more transitions, life transitions. And meal prep recipes have saved us!

Secondly, the Kiwi (aka my husband) has requested lighter dinners, like salad for dinner. WHAT? A salad? Soup and salad, yes. Salad for lunch, sure. Side salads, always.  I’m all about that. But I’ve never heard him request a salad as main DINNER meal. But it makes perfect sense. Spring and Summer is in the air. We’re craving those foods, naturally! And I shouldn’t be one to complain about a no cook meal for dinner.

That being said, if we’re going to have a salad for dinner, it’s going to be a WHOLESOME  and one with lots of FLAVOR!”

quinoa chickpea salad

Truth be told, I feel wrong serving a man a plain salad. Heck, I grew up with three brothers. They always said salad was just water, no lie. With their words in my mind,  I was driven.

 Ways to serve this Moroccan Chickpea Quinoa Salad!

  • Meal prep! Great to take to work or for kids/athletes looking for a quick nutrient dense meal.
  • Make it fresh and serve at a potluck or party. This salad is so fresh, beautiful, and flavorful!
  • Double the recipe and make this quinoa salad the Main dish around your dinner table. Toss in grilled chicken, fish, or uncured meat. Pair with soft boiled eggs or hard boiled eggs. Or keep as is, hearty and plant based!

ingredients for chickpea quinoa salad salad ingredients - chickpea and quinoa

The surprising thing is, this salad took little effort. And if you have a variety of leftovers in your house, it’s even better!

Ingredients to make a Moroccan Chickpea Quinoa Salad!

 

  • Leafy greens for the base layer
  • Chickpeas
  • Moroccan Spices – think turmeric, cumin, and/or paprika!
  • Cooked Quinoa
  • Fig or Dates
  • Fresh herbs such as Mint or Basil
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Carrots or Zucchini
  • Red Onion
  • Unshelled Pistachios
  • Feta
  • Balsamic vinegar and olive oil
  • Splash of Lemon if you’d like.

Gluten free fig, basil, and prosciutto Moroccan salad! This healthy cultural salad is far from boring. Perfect flavor combinations, including sweet and savory spices, and layers of dried fruit and vegetables. Great by itself or with a main protein like fish or chickenOH my, the layers alone were hearty but still fresh and light in texture. Does that make sense? See for yourself with the recipe!

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Healthy Moroccan Salad recipe with Chickpea and Quinoa

Moroccan Salad with Quinoa and Chickpeas

★★★★★

5 from 8 reviews
  • Author: Lindsay Cotter
  • Prep Time: 10 min
  • Cook Time: 15 min
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 3-4 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Healthy Moroccan Salad recipe with Chickpea and Quinoa . Plant based and rich in protein. Great for meal prep too!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup to 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 2/3 cup chickpeas (canned/drained chickpeas or pre roasted if you can find them)
    • toss fresh chickpeas in a pinch of ground turmeric, pepper, sea salt, and ginger (optional, but delicious.)
  • 1/3 cup chopped onion (red onion or green work best)
  • 4–6 cups leafy greens
  • 2/3 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup crumbled or cubed feta cheese (about 1 ounce)
  • 4 figs (dried or fresh) or pitted dated (sliced or diced)
  • 1 cup diced carrot or zucchini
  • 1/2 to 1 ounce pistachios

Dressing and garnishes:

  • 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
  • 2  tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
  • Lemon + splash of juice
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1/4 tsp each ground paprika and cumin,
  • sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 c chopped parsley leaves (fresh)
  • 2 tbsp chopped mint (or 3 mint leaves)

Instructions

  1. First, prepare your quinoa according to package. Fluff with fork and set aside.
  2. Rinse your chickpeas (if using canned) and then toss them with pinch of turmeric, ginger, and pepper. Mix together with cooked quinoa.
  3. Next, layer your salad. Greens, grains, vegetables, figs, feta, chickpeas, onion, pistachio and so on.
  4. Whisk together honey, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, and remaining dressing spices.
  5. Pour over salad and toss. Mix in your chopped parsley.
  6. Add a splash of lemon and lemon slices to garnish.
  7. Fresh Mint on top to garnish (chopped or whole)
  8. Serve immediately or cover and place in fridge for up to 2 days. For longer storage or meal prep, keep the dressing separate until ready to serve.

Notes

  • Optional protein to toss in or layer on top of salad – grilled chicken, prosciutto, salmon, seared lamb, etc.
  • Category: salad
  • Method: mix
  • Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keywords: salad, chickpea salad, quinoa, gluten free, vegetarian, moroccan, mediterranean, healthy, gluten free

Can you just imagine diggin into all those layers? Gah, I’m pretty impressed with my man approved “salad” myself. Now, if only all men would be so open to eating a salad for dinner. I think I got lucky with my husband, the kiwi (lover of all foods) Cotter husband.

salad with dressing being poured

Okay, enough gushing over my salad. Let me know if you are known to make some pretty mean and green BIG A** salads (aka BAS)! If so,  what’s in it? Moroccan spices, chickpeas, all the veg?

Do share!

Cheers,

LC

Related Posts

Photo of Lindsay Cotter of Cotter CrunchHi, I’m Lindsay!  Gluten Free Nutrition Specialist, food photographer and author of Nourishing Superfood Bowls, and meal plan guru! I’d love to know you more! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and drop a comment below.

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  1. SuzLyfe (@suzlyfe) says

    August 12, 2015 at 5:47 AM

    You do realize that you have 3 of my favorite ingredients in the title, I love Moroccan food, and I love salad. Thus, You have essentially created me as a dish (not that I’m not positively dishy anyways). Good grief, Charlie Brown. I want to roll around in this and frolic.

    I like to think the my salad are, in general, not boring. I love salad because it has endless possibilities, and every bite has the potential to be different! But that said, you gotta mix it up. I love using different sauces and such as dressings (love bbq), putting together hilarious combos (hello, shrimp and blueberry!). At the end of the day, make it yours 😀

    Reply

  4. Cara's Healthy Cravings says

    August 12, 2015 at 6:26 AM

    So many of my fav things are packed into this delicious salad!
    One of my fav pizzas includes figs, proscuitto, basil, goat cheese and balsamic drizzle…so you should just dump some of this salad on one of your yummy naan breads and turn it into a pizza 🙂

    Reply

  7. Sam @ PancakeWarriors says

    August 12, 2015 at 6:56 AM

    I love salads as a meal! And with all these amazing ingredients, I bet people were coming back for seconds! I love figs and rarely think to add them to salads, that has just got to change! This is beautiful!

    Reply

  10. Heather (Where's the Beach) says

    August 12, 2015 at 7:44 AM

    Love this idea, especially the figs. I really never think to get figs and I do actually like them. Great flavor combos going on here. If you come here and make this for me (with tofu) I’ll give you TOOOONNNNSSSS of fresh basil. Have it coming out of our ears 😉

    Reply

  11. Lisa @ RunWi says

    August 12, 2015 at 7:59 AM

    What a gorgeous salad. I love figs! I just bought some from our farmers market. I can taste the salty proscuitto with the sweet figs. Fresh figs remind me of when I traveled through Turkey. Almost daily, I would buy them from a street vendor and eat like an apple. Such vivid memories of what seems like a lifetime ago.

    Reply

  13. Brittany @ Barr & Table says

    August 12, 2015 at 8:40 AM

    This looks AMAZING! I’m such a salad person and when I would take salads into work people would ask what I put on them.. uhh, whatever was in the fridge today? Haha I might have to go get a few things for this one though 🙂

    Reply

  25. Carly @ FitLiving blog says

    August 12, 2015 at 3:58 PM

    Yum!! This salad looks delicious. I’ll be pinning this one for later. I feel the same way as you about serving salad to my husband… it better be substantial or else he’s will give me “the look”. Ha! Thanks for the sharing this recipe 🙂

    Reply

  27. Nagi@RecipeTinEats says

    August 12, 2015 at 4:59 PM

    I love everything you listed about what you wanted to prove with this salad. And you nailed it. I would happily scoff this down as a meal. Adore on so many levels. Especially because I LOVE moroccan food! Pinning! What a fab gluten free salad that you wouldn’t even consider being gluten free!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  29. Natalie says

    August 13, 2015 at 1:02 AM

    I just bought a bunch of fresh basil today for a recipe I am going to make!
    Figs and basil sound heavenly and this salad looks gorgeous.
    I have made salads as the main course before and my kids have loved it! I think if it’s colorful and interesting they are all over it. I can’t wait to try this!
    Thanks friend! 🙂

    Reply

  30. neil@neilshealthymeals.com says

    August 13, 2015 at 4:05 AM

    The word in the title “Moroccan” drew me in straight away there! I am a huge fan of Moroccan recipes. Mainly tagine recipes, of which I’ve done a few. I was lucky enough to live in Gibraltar for 2 years in the 1980’s and we spent our holidays in Morocco.

    You’ve opened up my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities with “Moroccan” salads. Adding to my yummly recipe box and pinterest!

    Lovely! 😀

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  32. Lemonade Wise says

    August 13, 2015 at 11:39 AM

    Wow that looks so colourful! I like to put fruit in my salads as I can find some leaves quite bitter. One of my favourites at the moment is to sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the salad. Little rubies of flavour and crunch to keep things interesting 🙂

    Reply

  37. Maggie says

    August 16, 2015 at 10:46 PM

    Oh I won’t mind to serve salad as a main dish at all! Actually dish has been our main dish for dinner for almost a month! It’s truly hot in Austin.
    Love the flavor combination here and the quinoa and beans provides good feuls and protein. Pour me a glass of wine and I can enjoy a big bowl of this 😉

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  38. Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets says

    August 17, 2015 at 6:07 PM

    This salad is stunning!

    Also I love having salads as my main course, but like you it needs to be all about the toppings. Nutrient dense, filling, satisfying and of course tasty. I tend to color block my toppings too but that’s because I’m neurotic.

    Reply

  39. Jolene says

    August 18, 2015 at 5:35 PM

    I love that he requested a salad! M does like salad but doesn’t usually request them, just knows I’m gonna make one for him 😉 This looks utterly divine. LOVE the combo of flavors!!

    Reply

  41. Heidi says

    January 17, 2019 at 10:04 PM

    Delicious and easy to make. I didn’t have squash on hand but roasted cauliflower and carrots instead and worked well as a substitute.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  42. Liz S says

    April 1, 2019 at 4:06 AM

    THIS should be the photo in the dictionary, next to the word “salad,” so that all anti-salad folks know how real, delicious nourishment should look.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  44. Cassie Autumn Tran says

    April 2, 2019 at 10:19 AM

    How nourishing! I always love chickpeas and quinoa in a salad. Yours ultimately looks like a massive rainbow bowl of beauty–so much color and all types of delicious vegetables in one glorious salad!

    Reply

  46. Nanette Autera says

    April 11, 2019 at 12:42 PM

    I made this salad just according the the recipe and it is delicious!! The only thing I personalized was the greens: I had beet greens in hand from having roasted beats so I mixed those half and half with red leaf lettuce. And I tossed a few roasted beets on top to use them up. This is fantastic!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  47. marjorie says

    April 13, 2019 at 10:17 AM

    Is it 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup olive oil?
    Chickpeas mixed with quinoa or separate layer? Stated both ways in recipe.

    Reply

    • Lindsay Cotter says

      April 13, 2019 at 3:09 PM

      For the dressing? Depends on how much you want on your salad, ya know? And you can totally mix the chickpea and quinoa together or keep separate. This salad is very good either way! Hope that helps!

      Reply

  48. Rhodena says

    April 20, 2019 at 10:40 AM

    This was amazing! First thing I have tried on your sight. I used both yellow zucchini and carrots. I also “roasted” the veggies on the stove top. A little bit of olive oil in a cast iron pan—add onions and cook 3-4 min. Add carrots, chickpeas and zucchini for another 3-4. Turn off heat and add tomatoes. Layered as you said. Wonderful! The dressing is great. Leftovers were great as well.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  49. Brenda says

    May 22, 2019 at 5:07 PM

    One of the best salads I have ever made. My dinner guests raved and I shared the recipe with everyone. Well done!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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