Christmas Quinoa Salad
This healthy Christmas Quinoa Salad is packed with a plethora of flavors, textures, and colors! And you can have this vegan side dish ready in about 15-20 minutes.
- Prep time
- 5 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 jalapeño’s
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 1/2 cups Broccoli florets
- [OPTIONAL] 2 tsp coriander powder
- [OPTIONAL] 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
- [OPTIONAL] 1 tsp ground cayenne
- 1/2 cup Pecan pieces
- 1/4 cup dried Cranberries
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (or 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa)
- salt and pepper to taste
- [OPTIONAL] red chili flakes for garnish
Instructions
- 1
If you do not have any cooked quinoa on hand, add 1/2 cup of quinoa to a pan along with 1 cup of water. Bring it to a boil. Then, cover and let simmer for about 12-15 minutes.
- 2
Peel the onion, garlic, and ginger.
- 3
Chop up the onion, garlic, and ginger.
- 4
Add the olive oil to a large frying pan over medium heat/flame and add in the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic. Let saute for about 5 minutes.
- 5
Meanwhile, rinse and chop up the celery stalks, red bell pepper, and jalapeno. If you do not want this salad to be too spicy, scrape out some of the jalapeno seeds.
- 6
Break up the broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces.
- 7
Add the celery, red bell pepper, jalapeno, and broccoli florets.
- 8
If using the spices, also add in the coriander, smoked paprika, and cayenne.
- 9
Stir all ingredients well and let saute for about 3-4 minutes.
- 10
Add in the cooked quinoa, pecans, and cranberries, and stir well.
- 11
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- 12
If desired, garnish with chili flakes and serve warm or serve cold, tossed with some greens.