A hearty Pesto Green Bean Quinoa Salad, perfect for a meatless meal or filling side dish. This healthy green bean salad is full of flavor, crunch, and tons of plant proteins from quinoa and cannellini beans.
If you love quinoa, also try this Moroccan Chickpea Salad or this incredible Quinoa Chocolate Cake!
Contents
A Perfect Pesto Quinoa Salad
You will adore this healthy, veggie-loaded salad! It’s a great option for meal prep, for meatless Monday dinners, or for a special lunch. I love to make this salad for picnics – it packs so well!
When your garden is overflowing with basil, whiz up some pesto in your food processor. I make pesto in the summer and freeze it. It’s great on veggies, on seafood (like this delicious Pesto Salmon), or used as a salad dressing, such as on this salad or my Pesto Zoodles.
For this salad, you’ll need:
- Quinoa, cooked to package directions. It cooks just like white rice, if you haven’t made it before! Simple. You can read this on how to cook quinoa.
- Green Beans, blanched or steamed and put in an ice bath
- Bell Pepper (I like to use a yellow pepper for a range of colors!)
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Olives
- Pine Nuts or Walnuts (to garnish, optional)
- Pesto Vinaigrette (which is pesto, lemon juice and white wine vinegar)
Make a Delicious Pesto Vinaigrette
I adore using pesto for salad dressings. Add a little lemon juice and white wine vinegar, and a delicious, flavorful dressing is born to drizzle over all your greens.
You can use your favorite store bought pesto, or try one of these ideas:
How to Make a Cold Green Bean and Tomato Salad
Step 1: Prepare the pesto vinaigrette by adding the pesto, lemon juice, and vinegar to a jar, and shaking it up well.
Step 2: And the blanched green beans, olives, tomatoes, peppers, and white beans to a large bowl.
Step 3: Toss the veggies and the beans with the pesto vinaigrette.
Step 4: Add quinoa to a serving dish.
Step 5: Add the vegetable mixture on top of the quinoa.
Step 6: Garnish the salad with whatever toppings you’d like. I recommend pine nuts, walnuts, fresh herbs, or parmesan cheese.
Tips for Pesto Green Bean Quinoa Salad
- Choose Clean Ingredients: To really ensure the best quality ingredients, make your own pesto for this recipe. It works perfectly with my Lightened Up Basil Walnut Pesto. If buying a store bought pesto for convenience (hey, I do it, too!), read the ingredient list carefully. Often, they aren’t made with olive oil. Soy, sunflower, corn, cottonseed and safflower oils are inflammatory, and should generally be avoided. Pestos can also be full of preservatives, so try to find one that sticks to the good stuff– pesto should have olive oil, lemon juice, basil, nuts, and parmesan cheese. Added starches or chemicals are not necessary or clean!
- Make it Ahead: This salad is perfect for Sunday meal prep, and is good for days after being made. I even add the dressing, and the veggies marinate and are even better on day 2 and 3! I keep the hard boiled eggs separate and add those in when serving.
- Make it Vegan: Use a vegan pesto. I love this Sun Dried Tomato Pesto by OhSheGlows.
If you love fresh gluten free salads, also try my Mediterranean Tuna Quinoa Salad!
Looking for more ways to use up green beans? Your family will adore these Cheesy Garlic Green Beans!
Other Vegetarian Pesto Recipes:
- Green Powerhouse Pesto Plate, by OhSheGlows
- Mediterranean Quinoa Zucchini Salad, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Summer’s Freshest 3 Bean Salad, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Quinoa Pesto Bowls, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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Pesto Green Bean Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quinoa uncooked, prepared to package directions
- 5 cups green beans fresh, trimmed and blanched*
- 1 15-ounce can cannelinni beans rinsed and drained
- 1 cup black olives
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 bell pepper I used yellow, seeded and sliced
- pine nuts or parmesan cheese to garnish, optional
- herbs basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, to garnish, optional
Pesto Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup Lightened Up Basil Walnut Pesto *see recipe notes
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Steam green beans for 3-5 minutes depending on preferred texture, then add them to an ice bath to cool.
- Make vinaigrette by adding all ingredients to a jar and shaking well.
- In a bowl, combine green beans, white beans, tomatoes, olives, and bell pepper. drizzle with pesto vinaigrette, and toss to coat.
- On a serving dish, layer the quinoa, top with the vegetable mix. Garnish with pine nuts, parmesan, and extra basil or some cilantro, if desired.
- Refrigerate leftovers for 2-3 days.
Video
Notes
- Choose Clean Ingredients: To really ensure the best quality ingredients, make your own pesto for this recipe. It works perfectly with my Lightened Up Basil Walnut Pesto. If buying a store bought pesto for convenience (hey, I do it, too!), read the ingredient list carefully. Often, they aren’t made with olive oil. Soy, sunflower, corn, cottonseed and safflower oils are inflammatory, and should generally be avoided. Pestos can also be full of preservatives, so try to find one that sticks to the good stuff– pesto should have olive oil, lemon juice, basil, nuts, and parmesan cheese. Added starches or chemicals are not necessary or clean!
- Make it Ahead:Â This salad is perfect for Sunday meal prep, and is good for days after being made. I even add the dressing, and the veggies marinate and are even better on day 2 and 3! I keep the hard boiled eggs separate and add those in when serving.
- Make it Vegan:Â Use a vegan pesto. I love this Sun Dried Tomato Pesto by OhSheGlows.
Wow, Michelle, such a beautiful salad! I’m with you – so ready for lighter fare. I’m craving citrus and green onions and all the Thai flavours.
This salad is something I can make once a week and it will be very filling for us. But first I’ll take a photo cos it’ so gorgeous! I think you’re loving your new camera, lol. Pinnng and sharing.
I’m with you on the Flexitarian diet as well. We don’t have to subscribe solely to one diet and it takes some experimenting to see what works best for each of us. I was a vegetarian for many years but missed my fish! Now I eat it 3 times a week 🙂
I owe you an email. Thanks for sharing my dish!
I completely understand what you mean – after a while, it’s hard to look at another bowl of soup. I also get the struggle when it comes to interesting vegetarian food. I eat meat, but I’ve been focusing less and less on it over the last few years. You do find some true gems when you start experimenting with pulses though – and I think you’re onto something with the amazing pesto and egg combination here too. Kudos on making a great looking bowl that’s vegetarian AND filling! Flexitarian eats FTW! 😀
This looks both delicious and beautiful! I love how colorful and healthy it is too. Yummy!
I’m so with you on getting close to loathing the sight of soup at this point in the year lol. Plus I too advocate omnivorously, ethical eating rather than strict veganism or other lifestyle. I am really contemplating the Whole 30 thing at the mo but I need to read more about it before I decide if it’s a sensible choice for me. I love the vibrant colours of this salad – and that it’s hearty enough to not go hungry after eating 😀
The Whole30 is great if you need a reset. I needed a reset after my son was born and I didn’t have time to eat proper meals for months– just relied on cookies! It helped me feel balanced again, and then I reintroduced the things I know are healthy for my body– some grains and legumes, and of course, healthy treats! 🙂
Such a well balanced, nutritious bowl of food. Great idea for meat free Mondays for the meat eaters of the world.
I love dishes like this, with so much flavour and wholesome foods. A perfect combination of ingredients. Lovely.
Thanks Helen– we have been thinking the same! It’s been the perfect lunch the last couple of weeks.
We are very big on soup in our home but I totally get you… there is only that much soup one can have. This looks so filling.
We are big on soup too– I make it year round. But I have made so many pots this year! Time for salads!
Wow so pretty! I’d probably add some chicken and I could eat this for lunch all week no problem!
We’ve added both chicken and salmon– it’s a great combo. And eaten it plain a lot also.
I love quinoa salads! This looks beautiful and delicious. Going to try it for lunch this week 🙂
That’s a seriously good lookin’ salad!
Wait, I need to do a happy dance! I have all the ingredients on hand to make this today! 🙂
Good Mira 🙂 We’ve been loving that salad. It’s really pretty simple, too!
Love all the colors! This salad is packed with goodness and screams spring to me. Thanks for the recipe!
Pesto is just so delicious and packed full of flavour. Your salad looks fresh and inviting!