Spinach Apple Quinoa Salad is an amazing, delicious salad with cranberries, goat cheese, and toasted pecans! It’s a great side dish or entree!
Hi, friends! If you’re looking for a fantastic salad, I’m confident you’re going to love the recipe for spinach apple quinoa salad I’m sharing today. I found the original recipe online about a year ago and only have positive things to say about it.
This salad is packed with color, texture, crunch, protein, fiber and creamy goat cheese and it’s become one of my favorite salads! Topped with a delicious honey, lemon and Dijon salad dressing, it’s a wonderful side dish to compliment a variety of meals.
The spinach apple quinoa salad is also wonderful served as a healthy light lunch too, because it’s filling AND the quinoa in it provides a good amount of old-fashioned protein!
Apart from a tiny bit of prep (cooking the quinoa and toasting pecans), all it takes is “building the salad” layer by layer, adding salad dressing, and eating! Here’s how to make this scrumptious spinach apple quinoa salad.
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The Bottom Of The Page
A Little Prep – Cook The Quinoa
The first thing you’ll need to do is cook ¼ cup of quinoa and let it cool completely, before you can add it to the salad. Before cooking the quinoa, give it a good rinse and drain it well.
Bring a ½ cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan, then add the rinsed/drained quinoa. Stir to combine, then turn the heat down to Low (a simmer) and put a lid on the saucepan.
Cook the quinoa (covered) for 10-12 minutes OR until all of the water has been absorbed. I recommend checking on it and giving the quinoa a quick stir once or twice while it cooks.
Once all the liquid’s been absorbed, the quinoa is done. Use a fork to “fluff” up the quinoa, then transfer it out of the hot saucepan and place it in a bowl. Allow the quinoa to cool until it’s at room temperature before adding it to the salad.
Toast The Pecans
While the quinoa is cooking (and cooling), lightly “toast” the pecans. I prefer to roughly chop or break apart the pecans, but if you’d prefer to use intact pecan halves, feel free to do so.
Place the pecans in a small skillet, and heat them on Medium, stirring often, for 3-5 minutes to lightly “toast” them. Keep checking them and stirring, because the nuts can burn fairly quickly if you’re not keeping an eye on them.
When they become aromatic and are lightly browned, they’re done! Transfer the pecans out of the skillet and let them cool completely to room temperature before adding them to the salad.
Make The Salad Dressing
The ingredients you’ll use for the salad dressing are extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and black pepper. In a small bowl, combine these ingredients using a whisk or a fork until they have been fully incorporated together.
Time To Create The Spinach Apple Quinoa Salad
Place clean, dry baby spinach leaves in a medium sized serving bowl. Make sure the leaves are dry to ensure the salad dressing will coat them well.
Fluff the cooked and cooled quinoa again with a fork, then add it on top of the baby spinach leaves in the bowl.
Top the quinoa with the toasted pecan pieces and dried cranberries. Now this yummy salad is starting to look nice and colorful, right?
Top the salad with thin unpeeled apple slices (or chunks) and then add creamy goat cheese crumbles. Now all that is left to do is add the salad dressing, toss and serve!
TIP If you’re not going to serve the salad right away, toss the apple slices in some lemon juice before adding, so they don’t turn brown, once exposed to the air.
Dress And Serve The Spinach Apple Quinoa Salad
Give the salad dressing a final whisk, then add it to the salad. NOTE: Don’t add the dressing ahead of time- only add it right before you serve the salad, for best results!
Gently toss the salad until all the ingredients are covered with the salad dressing. Gently re-arrange some of the apples, cranberries, pecans and goat cheese back on top of the salad for presentation (if desired).
Serve and enjoy this delicious salad alongside a favorite main dish! You could also enjoy having the Spinach Apple Quinoa Salad as a main dish, dividing the full amount of salad in half (2 servings).
The quinoa packs enough protein and fiber that would make this tasty salad a wonderful and filling side dish or a “stand-alone” lunch meal.
I really hope you enjoy this fantastic spinach apple quinoa salad, and trust those you share it with will like it, as well! The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to meet your needs, which is a great thing!
Thank you for stopping by today, and I invite you to come back again soon for more family-friendly recipes. Take care, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day!
Looking For More SALAD Recipes?
You can find ALL of my recipes in the Recipe Index, which is located at the top of the page. I have lots of fantastic salad recipes (sweet, savory and main dish) to choose from, including:
- Traditional Greek Salad
- Apple Broccoli Quinoa Salad
- Caprese Salad
- Bacon Lover’s Spinach Salad
- Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
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Recipe adapted from: https://kristineskitchenblog.com/spinach-and-quinoa-salad-with-apple-and-pecans/amp/
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
Spinach Apple Quinoa Salad is an amazing, delicious salad with cranberries, goat cheese, and toasted pecans! It's a great side dish or entree!
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup uncooked quinoa rinsed, drained
- ¼ cup raw pecans (or walnuts) rough chopped or halves
- 3½ cups fresh baby spinach
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ½ large apple (unpeeled) cored/thinly sliced (or cut in chunks)
- 2 ounces goat cheese
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ⅙ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan; add rinsed/drained quinoa. Stir to combine, then turn heat down to Low (simmer) and put a lid on pan. Cook quinoa (covered) for 10-12 minutes OR until all water has been absorbed. Check on it and give quinoa a stir 1 or 2 times while it cooks.
Once all liquid is absorbed, quinoa is done. Fluff it with a fork, then transfer quinoa to a bowl and cool to room temp.
Place pecans in a small skillet. Cook on Medium, stirring often, for 3-5 minutes to lightly "toast" them. Keep checking them and stirring (they can burn quickly). When they become aromatic and are lightly browned, they're done! Transfer them out of the skillet and cool to room temp.
In a small bowl, combine salad dressing ingredients using a whisk (or fork) until fully incorporated.
To "build" the salad, put spinach in medium bowl. Top with (cooled) quinoa, dried cranberries, (cooled) pecans, apple slices and crumbled goat cheese. Right before serving, add salad dressing and gently toss to combine. Serve and enjoy!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!