Try this healthy, delicious quinoa recipe. Only takes 30 minutes to make!
Click here for the White Balsamic Vinaigrette recipe.
Mediterranean Quinoa
Author: Angela Marinelli, M.S., M.Ed. – Nourishment Connection
This dish makes a great healthy salad side dish or a main dish for vegetarians or vegans (leave out the feta). It’s gluten-free, wheat-free, and packed with flavor!
Ingredients
Ingredients for Cooking the Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa (rinsed and drained)
- 1½ cups low sodium stock (chicken or veggie)
- ½ cup tomato juice (reserved from a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes)
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and diced
- generous pinch salt
Ingredients for Assembling the Quinoa
- ½ cup green onions (3-4) or red onion
- 1 cup diced tomatoes (reserved from the same 14 oz can of diced tomatoes above)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
- ¼ cup sliced olives
Optional Ingredients:
- One 15 oz can of no sodium garbanzo beans (I like Eden organic)
Top with ¼ cup of white balsamic dressing (See link for recipe below)
Instructions
Ahead of Time
- Rinse the quinoa in a bowl or fine strainer until the water runs clear then drain.
- Open the can of tomatoes and separate the tomatoes from the juice, pouring the ½ cup of tomato juice into a 2 cup measurer. If there isn’t a ½ cup of tomato juice in the can, just use more chicken stock to measure 2 cups of liquid.
- Peel, smash, and dice one clove garlic.
Cooking the Quinoa
- Bring stock and tomato juice to a boil.
- Once it boils add a generous pinch of salt to the liquid, add the quinoa and garlic clove, and reduce the heat to bring the quinoa to a simmer.
- Let it cook covered for 15-20 minutes on low to medium low heat until cooked.
- Then turn off heat. Let the quinoa sit for 5-10 minutes before fluffing it with a fork.
Prep the Rest
- While the quinoa is cooking cut the onion and fresh herbs.
- If you are using the beans, rinse and drain them well.
- Slice the olives.
- At this point I prep the ingredients for the dressing, too, since it’s easier to do it all at once. Dice the extra herbs, grate the garlic, and start putting ingredients into dressing mixing bowl as the directions instruct in the recipe.
Finish the Quinoa
- After you have fluffed the quinoa and finished the dressing, add all of the ingredients you are putting into the quinoa except for the dressing and lightly mix.
- Add the dressing a TBS at time.
- Gently mix and taste to decide how much you dressing you like for flavor. I use about 2-3 TBS, but you may prefer less or more than that – it will depend how many of the ingredients you choose to use and the overall volume of the dish.
Notes
DID YOU KNOW? For those with cow’s milk allergies, high quality Feta is made with 70% sheep’s milk and 30% goat’s milk, but there are 100% goat milk varieties available – the ones I’ve tasted don’t taste like traditional feta though IMO. As long as you use a quality feta, you should be cow’s milk-free!
Never Made Quinoa Before?
No worries. Cook quinoa with me. Or Check out the perfect quinoa simmer.
Check out my White Balsamic Dressing Recipe to top this dish.
