A Moroccan Salad with Quinoa and Chickpeas — soon to be your new favorite lunch! This healthy and hearty vegan quinoa chickpea salad is loaded with veggies and plant proteins, and pulled together with a bright and zippy lemon vinaigrette.
Love vibrant vegetarian dishes? You’ll also love this Cold Beet Salad with Arugula and Quinoa, and this Pesto Green Bean Salad.
Contents
A Fully Loaded Moroccan Salad
This beautiful vegan quinoa chickpea salad is based off my favorite meal — possibly my favorite recipe on the blog — the Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad.
Recently, I meal prepped a double batch of the chicken salad. I eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! I knew I needed a second version, so I created a vegan version with crispy baked chickpeas.
This vegan Moroccan Salad is perfect for fall, when you need heartier meals to get you through the chilly days. This salad combines the best of fall and summer food.
It’s layers of textures and flavors, with quinoa with crispy Moroccan spiced chickpeas, and sweet roasted beets and butternut squash. Mix that with fresh tomatoes and cucumber, and lots of fresh herbs, and we’ve got something pretty special on our hands.
What brings all the flavors together is a bright lemony vinaigrette. This dressing is so easy to make, and you’ll find yourself pouring it on everything! Such a great way to add a pop of brightness and flavor to a meal.
What You’ll Need:
Moroccan Quinoa Salad
- Chickpeas (canned is fine! Learn how to cook chickpeas yourself, if you have dried garbanzo beans.)
- Quinoa
- Beets (fresh beets, peeled and chopped)
- Butternut Squash
- Cucumber
- Tomatoes
- Parsley
- Spices (Cumin, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon)
- Lemon Juice
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper
For the Lemon Vinaigrette
- Lemon Juice
- Olive Oil
- White Wine Vinegar
- Honey
- Dijon Mustard
- Salt and Pepper
How to Make a Moroccan Salad with Spiced Chickpeas
The blend of spices coating these chickpeas is what really takes this salad over the top! Cooking with spices not only adds flavor, but also antioxidants with powerful anti inflammatory properties.
Step 1: Combine spices in a small bowl. Drizzle the chickpeas with olive oil, then toss to coat in the spices.
Step 2: Add the spiced chickpeas, beets, and butternut squash to a baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes, until the chickpeas have a crunchy exterior and the vegetables are soft throughout.
Step 3: While the vegetables are roasting, add all the dressing ingredients to a jar, and shake to combine. Steam quinoa based on package directions.
Step 4: Layer cooked quinoa with the roasted chickpeas and vegetables. Add in the fresh cucumber, tomatoes, and parsley. Drizzle with the dressing an toss to combine.
Tips for Vegan Quinoa Chickpea Salad
Meal Prep this Salad (or prep to have leftovers!)
Step 1: Roast Chickpeas, beets and butternut, as in recipe.
Step 2: Layer quinoa, roasted veggies, and chickpeas in containers, and drizzle with the dressing. Keep the tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in a separate container, and mix together before serving. This keeps the veggies from getting soggy from sitting in the dressing for too long.
How to Prepare Quinoa
Quinoa is cooked similarly to rice. Add 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of cold water to a saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium high heat. Once it’s boiling, cover it with a lid, and reduce heat to low. Allow to steam for about 15-20 minutes, until all liquid is gone.
If you prefer, learn how to make Instant Pot Quinoa.
Other Quinoa Recipes:
- Moroccan Chicken Quinoa Salad, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- One Pan Mexican Quinoa and Rice, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Summer Greek Quinoa Salad, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Mediterranean Tuna Quinoa Salad, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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Moroccan Salad with Quinoa and Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa cooked to package directions
- 1/2 butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 2 beets peeled and cubed (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 cups cucumber chopped
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 1/2 cup Italian parsley chopped
Moroccan Chickpeas
- 1 can chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt less if chickpeas are salted
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Lemon Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey or date syrup for vegan option
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Add the chickpeas to a bowl, and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Mix all spices together in a small dish, then evenly coat chickpeas with the spices.
- On a large baking tray, lay out cubed butternut and beets, and spray with olive oil. Leave 1/3 of the baking tray to also lay out chickpeas.
- Bake butternut, beets, and chickpeas for 25-30 minutes.
- Layer quinoa, roasted veggies and chickpeas, and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with chopped herbs.
- Toss salad with lemon vinaigrette.
Hi! I don’t have an oven, do you think I could cook the ingredients in a pan? Should I maybe boil the butternut a but beforehand?
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Charlotte! You definitely can make this on a stovetop — it will just be a little more time intensive. I would saute the squash and the beets in a large skillet on medium — it will take a while, but it will work for sure! You can also buy precooked beets at the store and then just saute the butternut.
Hi,
Just wondering if the recipe calls for 1 cup of quinoa once it is cooked, or 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, which presumably becomes about 2 cups once cooked?
The nutrition information is for 1 cup of precooked quinoa. Add more if you like lots of grain in your salads! Enjoy 🙂 I adore this recipe.
It is so delicious I love the flavor the chick peas give
Thanks for letting me know, Olive! I adore that recipe.
LOVE this recipe !!
It is incredible! Glad you liked it. Thanks for letting me know.
Holy smokes! This is incredible. Just finished making this for my boyfriend and I literally had to jump back on the site to thank you Michelle. Absolutely delicious. This recipe is about to become a regular one 🙂
I am so glad to hear this! It’s a few steps between roasting veggies and chopping fresh ones — but the combo is incredible! Thanks for letting me know, Olivia. If you’re on Instagram, hop on over there and follow along! @sunkissedkitch
I am in mid-veggie roast and already have to give five stars for the aroma alone. Mmmm! Can’t wait to eat this tomorrow for our concert picnic.
Oh yay! You are going to love this flavorful and healthy combo! 🙂
This is Amazing! The aroma, the textures, the flavor all worth every single step! Perfect amount of spices to balance everything out! Nicely done Michelle! Definitely a meal prep staple in our home!!
Thanks for letting me know Laura! I agree — this is a perfect meal. It’s worth the effort 🙂
Any idea how long the dressing can last in the refrigerator?
For weeks! I almost always have this mixed up and ready to pour on salads. I just keep refilling my jar 🙂
Delicious and healthy although a bit time consuming. My grocery store was out of butternut squash so I roasted cauliflower instead. I didn’t feel like roasting beets so cubed whole beets in the can. Next time I’ll add a bit of goat cheese. Will definitely make again!
Healthy and delicious although a bit time consuming. My grocery store was out of butternut squash and beets. I roasted cauliflower in place of the squash and used cubed whole canned beets. I’ve added this to my favorite recipe folder. Might throw in a little goat cheese next time.
This looks so good! What a great healthy lunch meal prep for the week!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
I can substitute Butternut squash for pumpkin? My grocery store is out of Butternut squash.
Absolutely! I have made it that way many times.
You gave an approximate cup measure for the beets, but not the squash! Butternuts come in a wide variety of sizes, so how many cups of cubed butternut squash, please?
About 4=5 cups of butternut squash would work well!
Great recipe. Many thanks
Moroccan Salad with Quinoa and Chickpeas is fabulous! I’ve been making this recipe since 2020 and love the flavor, rich colors and textures. Make enough for leftovers, you’ll want them!
So glad to hear you love this! It’s been a very popular recipe. Such great flavors and textures! I also have a new quinoa salad with Tuna that’s much quicker to make for meal prep — and a good alternative! https://sunkissedkitchen.com/tuna-quinoa-salad/