Quinoa is so easy to cook that I created two dishes out of one cooking. One was a warm mushroom pilaf for dinner guests and the other was this salad with cooked spinach. I used the leftover mushroom pilaf as the base for the salad and added more plain quinoa and the other ingredients below. I happen to be sensitive to raw spinach – that is my stomach is sensitive – so cooked is better for me.
This recipe calls for vegetable broth and while you can buy it at the store, homemade broth is always better. Just make a big batch, then freeze it and use it when you need it. Good vegetable broth is essential to a plant-based lifestyle. This is a great video that shows how simple it is to make your own broth and keep it on hand. Also as an added tip fresh ground black pepper always works well with spinach. So, if you have a pepper mill I would use it for this dish.
Spinach is an excellent source of folic acid, magnesium, potassium, as well as carotenes, vitamin K, vitamin C, and lutein. However, spinach also has oxalic acid (as do other members of the family – chard, beet greens and several other vegetables.) Spinach has the most but some of it is lessened by cooking. Oxalic acid is so high in rhubarb leaves that it’s poisonous to us. So, only eat the stalks but don’t let that stop you from eating this nutritious plant.
Love quinoa? Here are a few more recipes to try:
- Quinoa Superfood Salad
- Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf
- Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa
- Oat and Quinoa Hot Cereal
- Creamy Mushroom Quinoa Soup
No oil is added to the dressing since the marinated artichoke hearts and the sun-dried tomatoes are soaked in oil.
I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Quinoa Salad with Spinach recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
Servings
Serving Size |
people
3/4 cup |
- 1 cup quinoa uncooked
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth or water
- 1 bunch spinach washed, stemmed and chopped
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts chopped
- 1/3 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 6-8 marinated sun-dried tomatoes chopped
- 6 leaves basil chopped
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup lemon
- 1 Tbl white wine vinegar
Ingredients
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- Heat water and/or broth in a pan along with the quinoa to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
- Add cooked quinoa to a large bowl and let cool for a few minutes.
- While the quinoa cools, saute the spinach with the water that clings to it when washed. Cook until wilted and tender.
- Add the chopped onion, artichoke hearts, walnuts, raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, basil to the quinoa and the spinach. Combine well.
- Dress with the lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.
sea salt not included
If I could give this dish 10 stars I would!!! I make this dish for the entire week for my lunches! Delicious!! I love the ingredients they mix so well together. Fabulous!