Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Cashew Tzatziki (Vegan)

This rainbow quinoa salad with creamy cashew tzatziki is a fresh, vibrant vegan quinoa salad that’s perfect for meal prep, lunches, or easy summer dinners. Packed with colorful vegetables, protein-rich quinoa, and a dairy-free tzatziki sauce, this gluten free quinoa salad recipe is both satisfying and refreshing.

A Rainbow Quinoa Salad That’s Perfect for Meal Prep

I love a good quinoa salad in the summertime because I can prep a big batch at the beginning of the week and eat it straight from the fridge for lunch or dinner without worrying about re-heating or cooking! This rainbow quinoa salad is a longtime favorite inspired by a similar offering at JuiceLand. It’s packed with colorful sweet peppers, herbs, pistachios, and dried apricot then topped with a creamy dairy-free tzatziki made with soaked cashews.

I love this summer quinoa salad recipe because it’s naturally gluten free and vegan since the tzatziki is made with cashews. It’s perfect for meal prep and make-ahead lunches since it keeps really well in the fridge for several days without losing its fresh flavor. And, the quinoa and pistachios have a fair amount of protein! There’s also minimal cooking involved – just the quinoa.

Key Rainbow Quinoa Salad Ingredients

I really love using mini sweet peppers here because they’re often sold in multicolored mixes and have great flavor but you can also use sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange). Pistachios pair really well with the dried apricots and sweet peppers but can often be pricey. You can use an equal amount of sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds instead. I prefer using either an English cucumber or Persian cucumbers for the tzatziki because they have the best flavor in my opinion and also have really small seeds but feel free to use any cucumber variety you like. I HIGHLY recommend fresh dill in the tzatziki but in a pinch, you can use 1 teaspoon dried dill.

How to Make this Vegan Quinoa Salad in Less than an Hour

The quinoa will take the longest since it needs to cook for about 15 minutes then cool down a bit before you mix everything in. I like to speed up the cooling process by placing the cooked quinoa on a small sheet tray, spreading it in an even layer, and sticking it in the freezer! I recommend starting the quinoa first so that while it cooks and cools, you can chop the veggies and herbs and get to work on blending the tzatziki. You’ll need to soak the cashews in boiling water for about 20 minutes or you can soak them in room temp water for several hours. This makes it much easier to blend them up for the tzatziki!

More Summer Quinoa Salad Recipes You’ll Enjoy

Filling and packed with fresh summer flavor, my blistered shishito and sweet corn quinoa salad is ready in less than 30 minutes! There’s pinto beans in the mix making it higher in protein and perfect as a filling summer meal. As sweet potatoes come into season at the end of summer, I love to make this roasted sweet potato and black bean quinoa salad. It’s satisfying as well as both vegan and gluten free.

Rainbow Quinoa Salad with Cashew Tzatziki

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• Author: Courtney West
• Total Time: 52 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x
• Diet: Gluten-Free, Vegan

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Description

This rainbow quinoa salad with creamy cashew tzatziki is a fresh, vibrant vegan quinoa salad that’s perfect for meal prep, lunches, or easy summer dinners. Packed with colorful vegetables, protein-rich quinoa, and a dairy-free tzatziki sauce, this gluten free quinoa salad recipe is both satisfying and refreshing. 

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

for the quinoa salad:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water, or vegetable broth
• 1 medium lemon, zested
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
• sea salt, to taste
• 6–8 ounces mini sweet peppers, diced
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup raw pistachios
• 1/3 cup dried apricot, diced

for the cashew tzatziki:

• 1 cup cashews, soaked in boiled water for 20 minutes then drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 medium lemon, juiced
• sea salt, to taste
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced
• 1/2 cup cucumber, thinly sliced and pat dry

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Instructions

To make the quinoa salad combine the quinoa and water (or broth) in a pot. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook the quinoa for 15-17 minutes until the water has been absorbed.

Fluff the quinoa then scoop it into a large bowl and let it cool for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the lemon zest, parsley, diced peppers, red onion, pistachios, and apricot. Season with a pinch or two of salt then mix. Taste, then season with more salt as needed. 

To make the cashew tzatziki, combine the drained and rinsed cashews, water, lemon juice, salt, and nutritional yeast in a blender. Blend until very smooth. Pour the tzatziki into a bowl, then stir in the dill and cucumber. Cover and chill until ready to use.

When you’re ready to serve, top each portion of the quinoa salad with the cashew tzatziki.

Store leftover quinoa salad and tzatziki in separate airtight containers in the fridge. No need to heat the leftovers! Enjoy within 5 days.

Notes

• You only need 1 lemon total: you’ll use the zest in the quinoa salad and the juice in the tzatziki.
• You can use 2 medium/small red, orange, or yellow bell peppers in place of the mini sweet peppers if you prefer.
• I like using English or Persian cucumbers in the tzatziki for their flavor and smaller seeds!
• If you want to pack in some extra flavor, I recommend cooking the quinoa in low sodium vegetable broth!

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cooling Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 17 minutes
• Category: Dinner, Lunch