Quinoa Salad With Chicken, Almonds and Avocado Recipe (2024)

A terrific base. Omitted chicken to make vegetarian. For dinner, I added roasted asparagus. For tomorrow’s lunch, I’ll add diced apple and cheese.

I swapped the parsley for cilantro since it's what I had on hand and cilantro goes nicely with avocado. It was quite nice. I think next time I will buy a chili lime rotisserie chicken and use cilantro again.

Just had this for dinner. It was delicious, and I'll definitely make it again. My only modification would be in the proportion of chicken to quinoa: more chicken and less quinoa would be my preference. In other words, I would probably make perhaps 8 ounces of quinoa with 2+ cups of chicken. Then of course I'd have to make adjustments to the quantities for the dressing. But it was a little on the dry side, so maybe I'd cut it back by 1/4 instead of 1/3.

Added roasted Brussel sprouts. Served salad bar style. Used pistachios and my own balsamic.

Quinoa is not cooked like pasta (in lots of boiling, salty water) but like other grains with just enough water so that it's absorbed in the cooking process. I used 9 ounces Lundberg tricolor quinoa, 2 cups water, and 1 tsp salt cooked for about 20 minutes until all the water was absorbed and the quinoa was fluffy (follow package directions). I cut the chopped parsley to 1 1/2 cups for the reduced amount of quinoa but kept all the other ingredients the same. Still served 4 nicely.

This comes together so quickly and is a lovely summertime meal. Would work well for a picnic or potluck. I was skeptical about the cranberries but they turned out to be an important burst of flavor. And the almonds for texture were key too. Next time I might try some mint along with the parsley.

Made this with leftover NYT Cooking Roasted Chicken with Maple Butter and Rosemary. It was perfect. Next time I will serve over a bed of arugula to up the veggie count. Really good flavors.

Did 1/3 cup quinoa, full sauce recipe with 1/4c oil. Needed more sauce. Add salt to the marinade. Maybe 1/2 tsp?

I used golden raisins because it's what I had, and I soaked them in sherry vinegar and water for a bit to plump them up. Added a nice dimension to their sweetness!

An elegant use of a rotisserie chicken. I increased the vinegar to give it a dash more punch. Some orange zest is also a nice touch. Quinoa in the rice cooker makes this a snap. Looks and tastes fancier than it is.

I’ve made this for the past 3 Sundays to have for my work lunches and my husband loves it so much, it’s gone by Tuesday.

Bumped up the acidity a bit. Subbed chopped dried pineapple chunks for the cranberries and pistachios for the almonds. Crumbled a lock of feta into the mix too. Delish! Bright, yet hearty. Came together quickly. Endlessly riffable. Will definitely make again

Delicious! Made as directed but halved the quinoa & doubled the dressing (after eating it with the original single serving of dressing). Will be great for lunch tomorrow.

Delicious, tasty lunch! I didn’t have almonds, and I subbed red wine vinegar. This was excellent and a great way to use the leftovers from a rotisserie chicken. I’ll definitely make this again.

Delicious easy dinner but would be fine for company as well as the family. I subbed pomegranate seeds for the cranberries. This is a keeper

I’ve found that quinoa always tastes better with a light toasting in an iron skillet before boiling.

Delicious! To use up some things in my fridge, I cooked the quinoa (I only had red) in chicken stock. I also didn’t have parsley but had mint and cilantro that needed using. Instead of cranberries, I used raisins. Despite the licenses I took, this turned out spectacularly. I’d say it’s quite forgiving. Excellent flavor. Dijon is a powerful secret ingredient.

Any substitution suggestions for the cranberries? Looking for something bright with less sugar.

Really yummy. My other half does not like quinoa so I subbed farro. I only had 1 cup of parsley; added 1 cup of chopped celery. Used Craisins. Toasted sliced almonds in pan. Next time will double dressing. Definitely adding to rotation.

Excellent! The chicken I had leftover was NYT’s exceptional oven- roasted shawarma, so keeping with that flavor profile I subbed cilantro for parsley, dates for cranberries, and pistachio for almond. A definite winner!

Double dressing or cut quinoa in half

Cooking your quinoa in vegetable stock adds great flavor to this