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.
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 that salad. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! I knew I needed a second version, 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.
I layer 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.
Perfectly Spiced Moroccan 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.
My favorite spices to work into my recipes daily are cinnamon, turmeric and ginger. They work well on meats, in sweet recipes or smoothies, and also as a flavorful coating for these crunchy chickpeas!
I use canned chickpeas, but if you’d like to cook some fresh, use this recipe for Instant Pot Chickpeas.
To coat the chickpeas, mix up some cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, salt and a pinch of cayenne. Stir them together.
First drizzle the chickpeas with olive oil and lemon juice, and the shake the spices over them, and stir to fully coat.
Lay them out on a baking tray with cubed butternut squash and beets, and they are ready to go in the oven. I used a can of chickpeas here (without added salt, since I would be adding this coating), but feel free to cook your own chickpeas if you use them a lot!
Tips for Serving this Vegan Quinoa Chickpea Salad
This salad is a great lunch or dinner, and is perfect for meal prep!
To make ahead of time:
- Roast Chickpeas, beets and butternut, as in recipe.
- 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.
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.
Video
Nutrition
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
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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?