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Harvest Quinoa Salad

November 11, 2015 by Danae 23 Comments

Butternut squash, apples, dried cranberries, pepitas and toasted almonds add plenty of fall flavor to this harvest quinoa salad. Dress it in cider vinaigrette for a healthy and seasonal side dish!

Harvest Quinoa Salad | This gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad is full of fall flavor and perfect for Thanksgiving!When it comes to Thanksgiving are you more about the turkey or the side dishes? I’m definitely more of a side dish girl! I love turkey, assuming it’s not all dried out, but all those colorful, flavorful side dishes really get me excited.

I’ve been to a couple Thanksgiving dinners where the fall colors were severely lacking. Basically everything was white. White potatoes, white rolls, white gravy…you get my point, it was pretty blah.

Harvest Quinoa Salad | This gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad is full of fall flavor and perfect for Thanksgiving!When I make Thanksgiving dinner I’m not only thinking about the flavors of the food, but the colors as well. I want the table to be full of color! Red cranberries, orange sweet potatoes, yellow butternut squash, golden brown turkey, green Brussels sprouts or green beans.

Your eyes should be overwhelmed with the beautiful colors covering the table. This Harvest Quinoa Salad is a perfect example of a gorgeous fall colored salad that really catches your eye!

Harvest Quinoa Salad | This gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad is full of fall flavor and perfect for Thanksgiving!Along with having lots of color on the Thanksgiving table, I think it’s important to have enough options so that everyone will have something to enjoy. With all the diets and food allergies out there right now, sometimes it can feel overwhelming when you’re trying to come up with a menu.

I like to make sure that I have a couple vegetable side dishes, at least one grain whether it be in the form of pasta, rice or bread, the meat of course, and then a couple of gluten-free options.

Mashed potatoes are an obvious gluten-free side dish, but this year I wanted to add something else that’s a little more unexpected. Not only is this harvest quinoa salad gluten-free, but vegan as well.

Harvest Quinoa Salad | This gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad is full of fall flavor and perfect for Thanksgiving!The salad is loaded with all sorts of fall goodies such as protein rich quinoa, butternut squash, baby kale, dried cranberries, toasted almonds, pepitas, an apple and then it’s dressed in my favorite fall cider vinaigrette!

This side dish is healthy, filling, a little sweet, a little savory, crunch and basically everything you could want out of a salad.

Recipe Runner

Yields 6 servings

Harvest Quinoa Salad

15 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

35 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked tri-color quinoa
  • 1 cup cubed and roasted butternut squash
  • 1 apple, diced (I used a Gala apple)
  • 1 green onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups baby kale or spinach, chopped
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds
  • 2 tablespoons pepitas (raw or roasted and salted)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Cider vinaigrette for dressing the salad.

Instructions

  1. In a medium sized saucepan bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil.
  2. Rinse and drain the quinoa then add it to the boiling water.
  3. Reduce the heat to low, cover and let the quinoa cook for about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.
  4. Remove the quinoa from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
  5. Prepare the cider vinaigrette and set aside.
  6. In a large bowl combine the cooled quinoa, roasted butternut squash, apple, green onion, baby kale, dried cranberries, almonds and pepitas.
  7. Mix in the desired amount of cider vinaigrette and season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper as needed.
  8. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

If you plan to make the salad ahead of time, wait until just before serving to add in the toasted almonds so that they stay crunchy.

7.6.8
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https://reciperunner.com/harvest-quinoa-salad/

Harvest Quinoa Salad | This gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad is full of fall flavor and perfect for Thanksgiving!More Thanksgiving Side Dishes

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Filed Under: Salad Tagged With: Almonds, Apple, baby kale, Butternut Squash, dried cranberries, Gluten Free, Quinoa, Salad, side dish, thanksgiving, vegan

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. [email protected] Faith Fitness

    November 11, 2015 at 5:39 am

    This looks like an amazing salad! Beautiful pictures :)
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 11, 2015 at 11:10 am

      Thanks Taylor! :-)
      Reply
  2. Shashi at RunninSrilankan

    November 11, 2015 at 7:37 am

    I am all about the side dishes and this is a stunner! Not only is it colorful but it's gloriously flavorful too! Gorgeous gorgeous photos!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 11, 2015 at 11:11 am

      Thanks Shashi! Side dishes are the best!
      Reply
  3. Julia

    November 11, 2015 at 11:39 am

    This is beautiful! Such a nice fall salad and hearty too!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks Julia!
      Reply
  4. Courtney

    November 11, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    Ahh, it looks so beautiful! And full of awesome fall flavors, too.
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:12 pm

      Thanks Courtney!
      Reply
  5. Ashley | Spoonful of Flavor

    November 11, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    This salad includes everything that I love about fall. I love the crunchy texture of the apples and pumpkin seeds and the tart flavor of the cranberries. I can see this on my lunch menu soon!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:24 pm

      Thanks Ashley! My salads have to include lots of crunch. It makes a great lunch!
      Reply
  6. David @ CookingChat

    November 11, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    what a great Thanksgiving side!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Thanks David!
      Reply
  7. Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction

    November 12, 2015 at 8:47 am

    What a beautiful fall salad! This definitely belongs on the Thanksgiving table!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:22 pm

      It sure does Jessica, thank you!
      Reply
  8. Margaret Ann @ MAK and Her Cheese

    November 12, 2015 at 9:17 am

    Beautiful! I love the bright colors and contrasting textures!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:23 pm

      Thanks Margaret Ann!
      Reply
  9. traci | vanilla and bean

    November 13, 2015 at 8:04 am

    I'm with you, Danae; the more color, the better! I love everything you've packed into this nourishing salad. In fact, give this and pumpkin pie to me and I'll be a happy camper! Beautiful and delicious my dear!
    Reply
    • Danae

      November 15, 2015 at 3:20 pm

      Thank you Traci! This salad and pumpkin pie would be the perfect meal for me too!
      Reply
  10. Kristen Berry

    October 5, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Thank you for a great recipe. I made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS!! I used all of the cider dressing which put it over the top!
    Reply
    • Danae

      October 6, 2016 at 12:43 pm

      Thanks for trying the recipe Kristen and I'm so glad you liked it!
      Reply
  11. Patricia

    January 8, 2017 at 7:27 am

    Do you cook/roast the squash, maybe I missed that part in the instructions? It looks delicious and the ingredients are some of my favs.
    Reply
    • Danae

      January 8, 2017 at 9:39 am

      Hi Patricia, The butternut squash is cut into cubes and roasted. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. Enjoy!
      Reply
  12. Renee

    January 19, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    I made variations of this recipe all through the holiday season. (Sometimes I used sweet potatoes instead of the squash. I also changed up the nut/seed combination, too.) It's so tasty and definitely a recipe I'll keep coming back to! Thank you! :)
    Reply

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Hi, I'm Danae! Welcome to Recipe Runner. This blog is all about my love of food, cooking, baking, and running. I hope that I can tempt you with my recipes and inspire you with my running stories! Enjoy! Read More ↝

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