This Curry Quinoa Salad is adapted from Mandy’s Gourmet Salads is a hearty and protein-packed meal. It can easily be prepped ahead of time making it perfect for busy days.
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It’s summer salad season! You know…that time of year where it’s too hot to spend hours in the kitchen and you want to eat something simple and light but that will still fill you up and not leave you craving French fries afterwards. This curry quinoa salad is the answer – it’s packed full of protein-rich quinoa, cashews, and chickpeas and then topped with loads of veggies and a refreshing yogurt dressing. The recipe I’ve provided here serves one but I’d recommend doubling or even tripling it so you can enjoy this salad for lunches a few days in a row. As are most salads, this one is incredibly adaptable to whatever you have on hand – just make sure you are including lots of crunchy vegetables for texture, a salty nut or seed of some kind, and something sweet like fresh or dried fruit to balance everything out.
This Curry Quinoa Salad recipe comes from the cookbook Mandy’s Gourmet Salads (disclaimer: I was sent a promo copy of the book) which is filled with recipes featuring their famous salads, grain bowls, and smoothies. It’s written by Mandy and Rebecca Wolfe, the two sister’s behind the famous salad shop in Canada. I’ve never been super great at following a salad recipe (I adjusted the recipe you see here a bit from what was in the book to accommodate what I have on hand) but I love the creative combos they’ve come up with and plan to use them as a starting off point for what I have hanging out in my pantry and fridge. I’ve also tried a few of the salad dressing recipes and know I’ll be coming back to the book again and again for those recipes alone. The book also tells the story of how they started their salad shop and is a fun read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship in food. If you are into making salads, smoothies, and grain bowls on the regular, this cookbook is for you!
Want to browse more salad recipes? Check out these:
- Buffalo White Bean Kale Salad with Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing
- Celery Salad with Radish, Cranberries, and Walnuts
- Goat Cheese Fritter and Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Pecans and Maple Vinaigrette
- Vegetarian Potato Salad with Roasted scallion Salsa Verde Sauce
- Easy Broccoli Raisin Salad with pistachios and herbs
- Vegetarian Antipasto Salad with Pepperoni-Spiced Roasted Carrots Salad
- Citrus Salad with Rosemary Candied Walnuts & Red Endive
This Curry Quinoa Salad is adapted from Mandy's Gourmet Salads cookbook which features recipes for lettuce and life.
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups mesclun greens
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/4 cup grated carrots
- 1/2 cup pitted and halved cherries
- 1/4 cup drained and rinsed cooked chickpeas
- 2 Tbsp diced celery
- 2 Tbsp diced red bell pepper
- 2 Tbsp roasted salted cashews
- 2 Tbsp torn basil leaves
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Whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, honey, curry powder, garlic, hot suace, and a dash of salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Set aside.
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Add all the salad ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle in dressing and use tongs to toss until the salad is well dressed. Enjoy right away.
