Orange Quinoa Salad
"I love grain salads, especially when they combine sweet and savory. There are several possible variations for this: add some chopped orange sections, shredded roast chicken, crumbled feta cheese...or all of the above! From Cooking Light, July 2006"
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
6-10
ingredients
-
Dressing
- 1⁄4 cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
-
Salad
- 1 1⁄3 cups uncooked quinoa
- 2 3⁄4 cups water
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup green onion, thinly sliced
- 1⁄3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
directions
- Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cook raw quinoa in a large skillet for 4 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.
- Pour quinoa into a sieve and put the sieve in a bowl.
- Add enough water to cover the quinoa and rub the grains between your hands for 30 seconds. Rinse and drain.
- Do this two more times. If you skip this step, your quinoa will be bitter. (If you don't want to go to so much trouble, try making this with couscous instead.).
- In a large saucepan, combine rinsed quinoa with 2 3/4 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt.
- Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Bring to room temperature, then stir in remaining ingredients and dressing.
- Cover and chill.
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Reviews
-
Loved this salad! I served it with grilled salmon and lemony green beans and it was the perfect side dish! It was really not an excessive amount of work to do the toasting and rinsing. Next time I think I will try it with some feta crumbles. Thanks for the recipe and the extra suggestions! -
Salad was great with feta cheese, roasted chicken, and tangarine. My husband and daughters loved it. Will make again. -
Yum! I tried this recipe with the three suggested additions (1 large can of mandarin oranges, One whole chicken breast, de-boned, skinned, halved, cubed, and sautéed, and one package of reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled) plus two additions of my own which included 1 cup of dried cranberries,1 small can of black olive slices,drained, Fresh chopped celery leaves from bunch of celery were substituted for the parsley and diced Vidalia onion for the green onions. I also substituted nonfat yogurt for the buttermilk and doubled the dressing recipe because I was afraid it was a bit dry. With these additions I managed to include all five color groups of fruits and veggies thus providing all the photochemicals and antioxidants as well as all the areas in the food pyramid, for complete nutrition in one dish! I will be making this again!
Tweaks
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Yum! I tried this recipe with the three suggested additions (1 large can of mandarin oranges, One whole chicken breast, de-boned, skinned, halved, cubed, and sauted, and one package of reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled) plus two additions of my own which included 1 cup of dried cranberries,1 small can of black olive slices,drained, Fresh chopped celery leaves from bunch of celery were substituted for the parsley and diced Vidalia onion for the green onions. I also substituted nonfat yogurt for the buttermilk and doubled the dressing recipe because I was afraid it was a bit dry. With these additions I managed to include all five color groups of fruits and veggies thus providing all the photochemicals and antioxidants as well as all the areas in the food pyramid, for complete nutrition in one dish! I will be making this again!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
JeriBinNC
United States
I was born and raised for the most part in Georgia. Since 1997 I've lived in the beautiful mountains of western NC, where I spend way too much time at work and not nearly enough time camping! I have a partner of 15 years (Lee) and 3 kids--2 grown and 1 teenager still at home. Lee doesn't cook, but she's my cooking cheerleader, and she and my son will always at least try anything I make, no matter what.
Camping is one of my favorite things to do. Other favorite ways to spend my time are doing beadwork, knitting, and making homemade soap. I should also admit that I spend waaaay too much time on the internet, but the bright side of that is that it brought me to Zaar! I spend a ridiculous amount of time here, but I love every minute of it. It's also has helped cure me of my pathological cookbook buying. I used to call cookbooks with full-page glossy photos my food porn. ;-) Now, thanks to all the talented photographers here, I can get all the food porn I want!
I love to read recipes, which most of my friends think is just weird. I suspect, though, that a lot of you don't think it's weird at all! I love to cook, but only when I want to. I also love to entertain and wish I had time to do more of it. I love trying new recipes. I was a vegetarian (vegan, actually) for several years, and that's when I got hooked on trying so many different cuisines. I still love vegetarian foods, but I do eat some meat, fish, and dairy/eggs now. I still try to keep it healthy and eat as little processed food as possible, but I'm not totally strict about it. Sometimes I want some good old junk food--I just try to make it home-made junk, so at least I know what's in it!
My pet peeve is willful ignorance. Grrrr
