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Maple Balsamic Quinoa Lentil Salad

quinoa lentil salad with carrots, red pepper and pita chips in bowl
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★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

A delicious combination of flavors and textures happening in this Maple Balsamic Quinoa Lentil Salad. Cook the quinoa and lentils together, prep the vegetables, toss with a homemade balsamic dressing and enjoy as as side dish or with chips for dipping. Delicious, gluten free and vegetarian.

Ingredients

Scale

For the salad:

  • 2/3 cup uncooked french green lentils, rinsed
  • 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1/3 cup uncooked red quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and grated (or 1 cup bagged shredded carrots)
  • 1 large red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 bunch of scallions, green and white parts chopped
  • 6 oz feta cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 TBS pure maple syrup
  • 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

  1. Put rinsed lentils, quinoa, thyme, and salt in large pot with 1 1/3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes (until water has gone). Drain any excess water and let cool.
  2. In a large bowl combine grated carrot, diced red pepper, and chopped scallions. Set aside.
  3. Combine juice of one lemon, garlic, maple syrup, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt – whisk well or use blender.
  4. Add the cooled quinoa and lentils to the bowl of vegetables, add dressing and toss to coat. Fold in your crumbled feta.
  5. Let chill in fridge for 30 minutes until ready to serve. Serve as side salad or with chips for dipping.

Notes

Using either all red or all white quinoa is fine. The red quinoa tends to hold it’s shape better for cold salads like this one, but I like the mix of white in there as well.

1 cup or pre-packaged shredded carrots works just fine, but I prefer the freshly grated whole carrots as they aren’t as dry.

This salad is great to make ahead, as the flavors of the dressing will settle in overnight in the fridge.

Nutrition

Keywords: lentil salad recipe, quinoa salad, balsamic dressing recipe

Find it online: https://www.fitmittenkitchen.com/maple-balsamic-quinoa-lentil-salad/