Arugula Quinoa Salad with Avocado

A healthy arugula avocado salad with quinoa served loaded with goodness like fresh dill, salty sunflower seeds, feta, and a quick 4 ingredient balsamic dressing. It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!

 

Quinoa and Arugula Salad

We all have our favorite salad green and arugula is definitely my go-to favorite to use in any sort of salad. I just love that peppery flavor baby arugula leaves add to any salad. We even love to it plain arugula just with oil and vinegar, you can't find a simpler recipe than that!

Our quinoa arugula salad recipe definitely has fall vibes, feel free to mix and match ingredients to suit your personal preferences. You can also leave out the bell peppers and mix in fall fruits such as apple slices, pears, or dried cranberries.

Serve the arugula quinoa salad with blackened chicken tenders and air fryer cubed sweet potatoes.

And if you love arugula, be sure to try our burrata arugula salad with peaches too!

Ingredient Notes

Our arugula and quinoa salad recipe call for pre-cooked quinoa, we show you how in the recipe tips or in the notes section of the recipe card if you don't already have pre-cooked quinoa on hand.

• arugula leaves
• cooked quinoa
• red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• avocado, peeled and cubed
• roasted and salted sunflower seeds
• feta cheese
• fresh herbs (dill, parsley, or cilantro are great options)
• balsamic vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• honey
• garlic clove

** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **

Variations

Other mix-ins or swaps- Instead of making the arugula quinoa salad as written, feel free to change up or add other ingredients such as tomatoes or roasted beets in place of bell peppers, use pumpkin seeds or your favorite kind of nut instead of sunflower seeds, and goat cheese in place of feta.

Diet Adaptions

The quinoa arugula salad is naturally gluten-free, vegetarian, and refined sugar-free, below are some adaptions you can do depending on dietary concern.

• Vegan- Skip the feta or use a vegan cheese substitute that can crumble.
• Whole30/Paleo- Skip the quinoa and feta cheese or use compliant substitutes.
• Keto/Low carb- Use a keto-friendly dressing that doesn't add honey or simply drizzle the salad with balsamic dressing and extra virgin olive oil. Quinoa is too high in carbs for keto, so skip the grains but it can be eaten in moderation for low carb.

Step by Step Instructions

There are just a few basic steps when making arugula quinoa salad, just make the 4 ingredients simple homemade dressing and layer the prepped salad ingredients, then toss.

Make the Dressing

In a small bowl or mason jar with a lid, combine the vinegar, oil, honey, and minced garlic.

Assemble the Salad

1. In a low salad bowl or on a platter, layer the arugula leaves, bell pepper, avocado, sunflower seeds, feta, and fresh herbs.
2. Drizzle the dressing over the salad or serve the dressing on the side, and serve immediately. Enjoy

Recipe Tips

• Instead of quinoa, you can entirely skip adding grains or you can use cooked brown rice, rye berries, wild rice, orzo, or any preferred grain.
• The salad recipe calls for precooked quinoa, to make it from dry: Place ½ cup dry quinoa and 1 cup of water into a medium-sized saucepan and bring the water to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and cook until the water is absorbed, which will take about 15 minutes. You'll only need ¾ cooked quinoa for the recipe, this will make about 1 ½ cups of cooked quinoa for leftovers.
• The homemade dressing can be skipped and your favorite store-bought brand can be used instead.
• The arugula avocado salad is freshest to serve the same day, added dressing causes greens to get soggy when stored and avocado starts to turn brown. The dressing can also be served on the side if you want to keep the salad fresh for an extra couple of days.

More Healthy Salad Recipes

• Avocado kale salad
• Arugula burrata salad
• Healthy bean salad with edamame
• Mexican shrimp salad