Cranberry Apple Quinoa Salad
We don’t believe in boring salads at Delish, and crunchy apples and tart cranberries bring a lot of life to this one. The slightly sweet and lemony dressing is easy to make, and you’ll want to have extra on hand to pour it over everything.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c. water or low-sodium vegetable broth
- 3/4 c. tricolor quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 c. dried cranberries
- 1 large bunch curly kale (about 5 oz.), roughly chopped
- Kosher salt
- 2 medium unpeeled apples, such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, chopped
- 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 c. toasted pecans, roughly chopped
- 2 oz. crumbled feta
- 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp. honey
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Step 1In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is softened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Fluff with a fork, then add cranberries on top. Cover and let steam 5 minutes.
- Step 2Meanwhile, place kale in a large bowl; season with 1 teaspoon salt. Massage kale with your hands to combine, about 1 minute. Add quinoa, cranberries, apples, onion, pecans, and feta to kale and toss to combine.
- Step 3In a small bowl, whisk mustard, oil, honey, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes; season with salt and black pepper.
- Step 4Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.